The short answer
The best prompts for job interviews give the AI your real job description, CV and rough notes, then ask it to question you before it writes. Use them to decode the advert, build STAR stories, run a mock interview one question at a time and write a thank-you note. Claude is our pick for editing your stories, ChatGPT voice mode for spoken practice and Perplexity for sourced company research. Remove contact details from your CV before pasting it into a free plan.
How to use these interview prompts
These 12 prompts follow the order of a real job search: understand the role, build your stories, practise out loud, then close well and follow up. Each one gives the AI a role, your real material and a clear output, and most of them tell the AI to ask you questions or say when it is guessing. That matters, because the biggest risk with interview prep in an AI tool is a polished answer full of experience you do not have. An interviewer's follow-up question will find that in seconds.
Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own detail. The more you paste in (the full job description, your CV, rough notes on what really happened), the better the result. A prompt with one line of context gets you an answer that could belong to anyone. For a step-by-step plan around these prompts, read how to prepare for an interview with AI, and for the application itself see the best AI for job applications.
Prompts to research the company and the role
Start with Decode the job description, Build a sourced company brief and Map my experience to the role. The first makes the AI read the advert the way the hiring manager does, and asking it to quote the line behind each point stops it inventing priorities. The second is the one prompt on this page where you want a tool that searches the web and shows its sources. Perplexity is built for this, since every answer lists numbered sources you can open, and Claude and ChatGPT both cite links when they search. Check any figure you plan to say out loud in the interview, because a wrong revenue number is worse than none.
The match table is the most useful 10 minutes of prep you can do. It tells you which stories to lead with and which gaps need an honest, practised answer.
Prompts to build your interview stories
Use Turn a rough memory into a STAR story, Build a story bank for the likely questions and Answer the hard question honestly. The STAR prompt asks the AI to question you before it writes, which is the single best habit to copy into your own prompts: you supply the facts, the AI supplies the structure. Aim for six to eight stories that each cover several questions, rather than a script for every possible question.
Claude is a strong choice here because it is good at keeping your meaning and voice while cutting length, and its free plan, which runs on Claude Sonnet and Haiku, is enough for this work. Keep a Project for your search (the free plan allows up to five), so your CV, job descriptions and stories stay in one place across chats.
Prompts to practise like the real interview
Run a mock interview, one question at a time, Practise a panel or case interview and Tighten a rambling answer do the work a patient friend would do. The instruction to wait for your answer and hold feedback until the end matters, because otherwise most assistants answer their own questions.
Practise out loud, not by typing. ChatGPT's voice mode is included on the free plan with limits, and Gemini Live is included in Gemini's free plan, so you can do a spoken mock interview without paying. Speaking exposes the rambling that typing hides. Record yourself, paste the transcript into the tightening prompt and you will hear the difference in two or three rounds.
Prompts to close the interview and follow up
Finish with Ask questions that show you did the work, Write a thank-you note that adds something and Debrief after the interview. The thank-you prompt bans the clichés that make AI emails easy to spot. Read the note aloud before you send it and change anything you would not say. If the interview goes well and an offer arrives, move on to our prompts for negotiation.
How to adapt these prompts
- Add the seniority. "Graduate role", "first management job" and "director" change what a good answer sounds like. Say which one applies.
- Name the format. Phone screen, video call, case study, presentation or panel each need different prep. Add it to the mock interview prompt.
- Set the language and market. Interviews in Germany, the UK and the US reward different levels of directness. Tell the AI where the job is.
- Keep a running thread. Do all prep for one company in one chat or Project, so the AI remembers your stories and the brief.
- Never memorise word for word. Use the AI's version to find structure and evidence, then say it in your own words.
Which AI tool works best for interview prep
For writing and editing your stories, Claude is our pick, because it keeps your voice and tells you plainly which part of an answer is weak. For spoken mock interviews, ChatGPT voice mode is the easiest place to start, and free users get GPT-6 Luna, which handles interview questions well. Gemini is a good free alternative with Gemini Live. For company research you plan to quote, use Perplexity or any assistant with web search, and open the sources.
One privacy note: your CV contains your address, phone number and work history. On the free and personal plans of Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity your chats can be used for training unless you switch it off. Remove contact details before pasting, or turn training off first: in ChatGPT under Settings, Data controls, Improve the model for everyone, and in Claude under Settings, Privacy, Help Improve our AI models. Our guide to keeping your data private in AI tools covers the rest.
Prompts to copy
Decode the job description
Here is a job description for [job title] at [company]: [paste]. Act as the hiring manager who wrote it. List the five things I will really be judged on, ranked by importance, and quote the line in the description that tells you so. Then list two things the description hints at but does not say outright, such as a team problem they need fixed. Say clearly when you are guessing.
You get: The real scorecard behind the advert, with quotes you can check
Build a sourced company brief
Research [company] for a job interview on [date]. I need: what they sell and to whom, how they make money, three pieces of news from the last 12 months, their main competitors and one challenge they are publicly dealing with. Search the web, link a source for every fact and leave out anything you cannot source. If you cannot search the web, say so instead of answering from memory. Keep it to one page.
You get: A one-page brief with links, ready to read on the train
Map my experience to the role
Here is the job description: [paste]. Here is my CV: [paste]. Make a table with three columns: what the role needs, my strongest matching evidence from the CV, and how strong the match is (strong, partial, gap). For every gap, suggest an honest way to talk about it in the interview. Do not invent experience I do not have.
You get: A match table that shows where you are strong and where to prepare
Turn a rough memory into a STAR story
Help me turn this experience into an interview answer using STAR (situation, task, action, result). Here are my rough notes: [paste]. Ask me up to five questions first to fill in missing detail, especially numbers and what I personally did. Then write the answer so it takes about 90 seconds to say out loud, in plain spoken English, with the result in the last sentence.
You get: A 90-second story built from your real detail, not invented detail
Build a story bank for the likely questions
Based on this job description: [paste], list the ten behavioural questions I am most likely to be asked. Then look at my stories: [paste a short line per story]. Match each question to the best story, flag questions where I have no good story and suggest which part of my experience I should mine for one.
You get: A question-to-story map with the gaps flagged
Answer the hard question honestly
In my interview I expect to be asked about [a career gap / why I am leaving after one year / a failed project]. The truth is: [paste]. Write three versions of a short, honest answer: one direct, one warm and one that moves quickly to what I learned. Each under 80 words. Point out any phrase that might sound defensive.
You get: Three honest answers to the question you dread
Run a mock interview, one question at a time
Act as the interviewer for a [job title] role at [company]. Interview me for [30] minutes: ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. Mix behavioural, technical and motivation questions based on this job description: [paste]. Ask a follow-up when my answer is vague. Do not give feedback until I say or type "end interview", then score each answer from 1 to 5 against the job description with one concrete fix each.
You get: A realistic practice round with scored, specific feedback at the end
Practise a panel or case interview
Run a [case interview / panel interview] for [role]. For a panel, play three people: a hiring manager focused on results, a peer focused on collaboration and an HR partner focused on values. Rotate who asks. For a case, give me a realistic business problem from [industry], let me ask clarifying questions and only reveal data when I ask for it. Debrief me at the end on structure, not just the answer.
You get: Practice for the formats that catch people out
Tighten a rambling answer
Here is a transcript of my answer to "[question]": [paste]. Cut it to under 120 words without losing the key evidence. Then tell me the first sentence I should say, the number I must not forget and the place where I lost the thread. Keep my words where possible so it still sounds like me.
You get: A shorter answer in your own voice, plus the three things to remember
Ask questions that show you did the work
Using this company brief: [paste] and this job description: [paste], suggest eight questions I could ask at the end of the interview. Each should show I have done my research and help me decide if I want the job. Group them by who to ask: hiring manager, team member, HR. Avoid anything I could answer with a quick search.
You get: Smart questions to ask, sorted by interviewer
Write a thank-you note that adds something
Write a short thank-you email to [interviewer name] after my interview for [role] today. Mention [one specific thing we discussed] and add one useful point I did not get to make: [paste]. Under 120 words, warm but not gushing, no clichés like "I am thrilled". Give me a subject line too.
You get: A follow-up email that is remembered for the right reason
Debrief after the interview
I just finished an interview for [role]. Here are my notes on the questions and how I answered: [paste]. Tell me which answers were strongest, which were weakest and why, and what I should prepare differently for the next round. Then list anything I learned about the role that I should weigh before accepting an offer.
You get: A clear-eyed debrief while it is still fresh