The short answer
To prepare for an interview with AI, give an assistant the job advert, your CV and what you know about the company, then ask it to predict the questions, help you shape true STAR stories and run a mock interview. OpenAI's ChatGPT Free includes limited voice chats and Google's free Gemini plan includes Gemini Live, so you can practise out loud. Anthropic's Claude Free can keep everything in one of its 5 free Projects. Always check company facts against the company's own site.
What you need before you start
- The job advert, saved as text or a file. It is the single best predictor of the questions.
- Your CV as it was sent, so the AI asks about what the interviewer will see.
- Five to eight real stories from your work, written as rough notes: a problem you solved, a conflict, a mistake, a result you are proud of, a time you led something.
- Company material you have gathered yourself: the About page, recent news, the annual report or product pages. Paste or upload them so the AI works from sources, not memory.
- A free AI account. ChatGPT Free (unlimited text chats with GPT-6 Luna, limited voice), Gemini free (includes Gemini Live) or Claude Free (Sonnet and Haiku models, up to 5 Projects). Any of them will do.
- A quiet room and 30 minutes for the spoken mock interview. Practising out loud is where most of the value is.
How to prepare for an interview with AI, step by step
- Put all your material in one place. In Claude, a Project keeps files available across chats; Anthropic's help centre says files can be uploaded to a project's Files section for reference across conversations. In a single chat, click the + button in the lower left of the chat box, choose Add files or photos and add your CV and the advert. In the Gemini web app, click Add files, then Upload Files.
- Get a company brief from your sources. Ask for a one-page brief using only the pages you supplied, with each point tied to its source. If the assistant can search the web, ask it to cite every link. Then open those links yourself.
- Predict the questions. Ask for the 15 most likely questions for this role, split into motivation, experience, behavioural and technical, with the reason each is likely.
- Shape your stories. For each behavioural question, pick one of your real stories and ask the AI to help you structure it as Situation, Task, Action, Result. It should ask you for missing details rather than filling them in.
- Run a mock interview. Ask the AI to act as the interviewer, ask one question at a time, follow up like a real interviewer, and save feedback for the end. Use voice if you can: ChatGPT Free includes limited voice chats and Gemini Live is in Gemini's free plan.
- Get honest feedback. At the end, ask for scores on clarity, evidence and length for each answer, and the one change that would most improve each.
- Prepare your own questions. Ask for five questions to ask the interviewer that show you read the company material, and cut any that could be answered by the website.
- Do one final timed run the day before, then stop. Over-rehearsed answers sound scripted.
A worked example: a product marketing interview
Tom has a second-round interview for a product marketing manager role at a software company. He creates a Claude Project called "PMM interview", uploads the advert, his CV, the company's latest product announcement and its About page.
- He asks for a company brief using only those files. Claude returns eight points: the main product, the customer type, the new feature from the announcement, and so on, each with the file it came from.
- He asks for likely questions. One is: "Tell me about a launch that did not go to plan." Tom has a story: a webinar series that got few sign-ups.
- Claude asks him what the numbers were, what he changed and what happened next. The structured answer becomes: the first webinar had 40 sign-ups against a target of 200; he moved the invite from a newsletter to a direct email from the product lead and shortened the title; the second webinar had 230 sign-ups.
- He switches to ChatGPT voice on his phone for the mock interview, pastes the same advert and the list of questions, and asks it to interview him for 20 minutes.
- The feedback says his answers run long and his launch story buries the result. He trims each answer to about two minutes and leads with the outcome.
Nothing in Tom's prep came from the AI's memory of the company. Every fact traces to a page he can quote in the room.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Trusting company facts from the AI's memory. Models can be months out of date or simply wrong about a company. Fix: give it the company's own pages, ask for sources, and check them.
- Letting it invent your stories. A polished story you did not live will fall apart at the first follow-up question. Fix: tell it to use only your notes and ask for missing details.
- Memorising scripts. Fix: learn the structure and the numbers of each story, not the sentences.
- Only practising in text. Typing an answer is far easier than saying it. Fix: use voice mode for at least one full mock interview.
- Feedback that is too kind. Fix: ask it to act as a sceptical interviewer and to name the weakest answer.
- Sharing confidential material from your current employer. Fix: describe results in general terms and switch off training (ChatGPT: Settings, Data controls, Improve the model for everyone; Claude: Settings, Privacy, Help Improve our AI models; Gemini: turn off Keep Activity in Gemini Apps Activity).
Which AI tool to use for interview prep
| Job | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping all prep material together | Claude Projects | Up to 5 Projects on Free, files stay available across chats |
| Spoken mock interview | ChatGPT voice or Gemini Live | Both are in the free plans, with limits on ChatGPT Free |
| Company research with links | An assistant with web search, plus the company's own site | You need sources you can check |
| Polishing answers in writing | Any of the three | All handle STAR structuring well when given real notes |
Our opinion: use whichever assistant you already know for the written prep, and make sure at least one mock interview is spoken. For more, see prompts for job interviews, the best AI for job applications and how to write a CV with AI. Tool guides: ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Choosing between them? Read ChatGPT vs Gemini.
Using AI after the interview
Straight after the interview, while you remember it, dictate or type the questions you were asked and how you answered. Ask the AI which answers were weakest and how to improve them for the next round. Then ask it to draft a short thank-you email that mentions one specific thing from the conversation, and edit it so it sounds like you. Keep the notes in the same Project or chat; if you get a second round, you start with a record of what they already heard. For email help, see how to write better emails with AI.
Prompts to copy
Company brief from your sources
Using only the pages I uploaded about [company], write a one-page brief: what they sell, to whom, recent news, and what this role likely needs to deliver. Tie each point to the file it came from. If something is not in the files, say so instead of guessing.
You get: A sourced brief with no invented facts
Predict the questions
Here is the job advert and my CV. List the 15 questions I am most likely to be asked for [job title], grouped as motivation, experience, behavioural and technical. For each, say which line of the advert or CV makes it likely.
You get: A focused question list with reasons
Build a STAR story
Help me answer "[question]" with this real story: [rough notes]. Structure it as Situation, Task, Action, Result in about 200 words. Ask me for any missing numbers or details; do not add anything I did not tell you.
You get: A true, structured two-minute answer
Run a mock interview
Act as the hiring manager for [job title] at [company]. Interview me for 20 minutes. Ask one question at a time, ask a follow-up when my answer is vague, and do not give feedback until I say end interview. Then score each answer for clarity, evidence and length, and name the weakest one.
You get: Realistic practice and honest feedback
Handle the hard question
I am worried about being asked about [gap in CV / short job / missing skill]. Give me three honest ways to answer it in under a minute, and the follow-up questions each answer might trigger.
You get: Calm, honest answers to the question you dread
Questions to ask them
Based on the advert and the company material I uploaded, suggest eight questions I could ask the interviewer. Remove any that the company website already answers, and mark the two that best show I prepared.
You get: Smart questions for the end of the interview