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How to use AI to prepare for a job interview

1 Reply Christopher Roberts

AI isn’t just for big organisations, there are many ways you can use AI tools to help improve your speed and effectiveness at completing everyday tasks too.

One example is to help you prepare for a job interview. It can be difficult to know how to spend your time effectively, so why not enlist the help of an AI chatbot like Bard or ChatGPT to come up with ideas, and better still, get it to do some of the work for you?

Job Spec

Where to start? First, try feeding ChatGPT the job description you’ve been given, and ask it to suggest how you should approach interview prep. Here are a few examples of prompts to try:

Prompt 1

I've got an interview for the attached role, could you give me a 50 word summary of how you'd advise I prepare?

If you can’t upload documents, just copy the text after the prompt instead.

Prompt 2

I need to prep for an interview tomorrow. I only have 20 mins. Please read the background info doc (attached) and give me a list of 5-10 bullet points walking me through how to use the 20 minutes to get ready. The list should take me no more than 3 minutes to read.

The more specific you are on your requirements, the better the answer will be. For example, you could ask for it to answer in a numbered list, or to display it in a table. You could ask for it to be no more than 50 words, or for it to be written so that it could be easily understood by a five year old.

Prompt 3

Help! I've got an interview and I'm really out of practice. Could you read the job spec and give me some pointers on what I should be doing?

Sometimes being more creative with your prompt can lead to a more interesting response from the AI.

An example conversation you could have with ChatGPT

Gather More Info

Don’t forget, if you don’t get the response you want, or you need more information, try using follow-up prompts. For example, if it tells you to check out the organisation’s website, ask it to do the legwork for you, here are some examples of how you can ask that.

Follow-up prompt 1

That's great, thanks. Here's the library's website, could you read it and provide me a consise summary that I can use to quickly get up to speed before my interview? www.example-library.org/about

Follow-up prompt 2

I don't know if they have a website actually. Could you search the web and see if you can find one? If they don't, how would you suggest I research the libary more, in the most time effective way, given I've only got 20 minutes to prepair?

Most AI chatbots are designed to understand natural language, so write back as though you were talking to a person. Good spelling and grammar will help you get a better response the first time around, but don’t be afraid to be creative with the instructions you use.

Caution: be mindful not to share personal information with an AI chatbot. If you wouldn’t tell something to a random stranger, don’t type (or paste) it into a chatbot either.

Questions

In any interview, you’re going to be asked questions, so why not practice with the help of AI?

Question prompt 1

I haven't interviewed for this sort of position before, could you give me a list of 5 questions that you think I could be asked, based on the job description?

Question prompt 2

Let's role play the interview, you ask me a question the interviewer is likely to ask, and I'll type my reply. You can then give me feedback on my answer and tips to improve.

Question prompt 3

Could you provide a list of the 5 most common interview questions and 2-3 bullets on how to answer them?

It’s also a good idea to turn up with a few questions of your own. You can ask the AI to help you format these, or if you’re running short of ideas, ask it to give you some suggestions!

Follow-up questions prompt

What questions could I ask the interviewer to help them see I'm interested in the role and want to work for this organisation?

Sharing Ideas

Do you have any tips on how to use ChatGPT to prepare for an interview? Why not help others too, by sharing your prompt ideas below.

If you’re early to this post and the comments section is a little empty, why not ask Bard to come up with some ideas for you instead!

Asking Bard how to prompt ChatGPT to get ready for a job interview

The Future of Work: Preparing for AI

2 Replies Christopher Roberts

This is the first in a new series on AI – Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way we work, bringing about new opportunities and challenges. In this article, we’ll explore how we can prepare for the changes ahead.

Efficiency

AI is being increasingly used to automate tasks and processes in the workplace. By taking on mundane and repetitive tasks, AI can free up employees to focus on more complex and creative work. For example, AI can automate data entry and analysis, freeing up time for employees to focus on strategy and decision-making. This can lead to increased efficiency, productivity, and profitability for organisations.

An AI future - an image generated by DALL·E

AI can also support decision-making processes by providing real-time data and insights. This can help businesses to make better decisions faster and more accurately, improving their competitive edge. AI can also help to identify patterns and trends in large datasets, providing valuable insights that can be used to inform strategy and decision-making.

Ethics

While AI can bring about many benefits in the workplace, it’s important to consider the ethical implications of its use. One key concern is the potential impact on employment. As AI becomes more advanced, it’s likely that it will replace some jobs that are currently done by humans. This could lead to job losses, particularly in industries that rely heavily on manual labor or routine tasks.

Another concern is bias. AI systems are only as unbiased as the data they are trained on. If this data is biased, the AI system will be biased too. This can lead to discrimination and inequality in the workplace. It’s important to ensure that AI systems are trained on diverse and representative data to avoid bias.

Preparing for the Future

To prepare for the future of work in the age of AI, it’s important to focus on skills that cannot be automated. These include creativity, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. By focusing on developing these skills, employees can enhance their value in the workplace and prepare for the changes ahead.

An AI minimalist future - an image generated by DALL·E

It’s also important to consider the ethical implications of AI use. Organisations should prioritise diversity and representation in their data and AI systems to avoid bias. They should also provide training and support to employees who may be affected by the introduction of AI.

Conclusion

AI is going to take bloggers jobs!!! The content of this post was written entirely by the AI ChatGPT, based on a few prompts I gave it. All I’ve done is add this conclusion and the opening lines. Oh, and the images were generated by DALL·E – completely new images, generated specifically for this post.

How?

I’ll share that and more in future posts.

Quality vs quantity – the blogging dilemma

8 Replies Christopher Roberts

When I write, I want to write quality articles; articles which interest, amaze and inspire. Mediocre content annoy me. If ever I write something which I consider of low quality, I never publish it – I will either review it or scrap it.

A Wordle of blogging wordsI want to make a difference in the world, be it a small or big difference (I would prefer big) I have to start on a personal scale. If I can improve your life by changing the way you think and feel (for the better), and enriching your knowledge and understanding, then I am doing my job.

I love reading Jonny’s posts every week, they always interest me and many have inspired me to make (usually small) changes in my life and have often caused me to write something myself. Jonny posts once a week, on a Thursday – with the odd exception. Would he be able to post such great content if he posted twice a week? What about three times? I don’t know.

I am not meaning to pick on Jonny, once a week is just great and very appreciated. One day Jonny will stop writing as often, and one day he will stop writing all together. I hope that day is a long way off, and by that time I have no doubt that we will have other writers writing the quality and quantity of content that he writes.

The same goes for me. I get a lot from blogging at the moment, I love the researching and crafting process that goes into making an article, and I also love the responses. But one day I shall probably stop too.

Think about your favourite TV show, how often does it air? Usually (with exceptions) the best shows/series take months to produce and don’t launch every day/week of the year.

Blogging is the same. I want us to post 6 great articles a week. Jonny gives us one of those posts. I am usually able to provide another, and we often get the third from another writer – like Steve, Ron, Alan or another writer. Usually we only post 4 or 5 articles a week, and that’s fine. I would like to post 6, but would rather post 4 quality articles than 6 mediocre ones.

Blogs that post less often, usually don’t have such a great readership. It’s a fact. There are exceptions of course. What would a news site be, if it only published once a week?

If I was able to monetise Technology Bloggers so that I could run it as a business, then I could dedicate more time to it, as it would become a job, not just a hobby. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we do host the odd bit of sponsored content, to help pay the hosting bills, and fund competitions, but this site is never going to make millions. I am not sure I would still want to blog, if it was solely for money though, so I don’t want to monetise the site.

So, here is the dilemma I have: produce okay content, daily; or produce quality content, less often.

I want to post 6 articles a week, only 3 are provided, who plugs the gap? Usually me. If I don’t I feel bad, as I don’t feel I have fulfilled my duty to the site. If I post the extra posts needed, but they aren’t quite as good as content I have produced before, I am angry that I let the posts go live.

There is a very fine balance which needs to be struck, and I am not sure I am there just yet.

Would you prefer to read 5 star articles once a week, 4 star articles twice a week, or 2 star articles daily?

The reason I am writing this is because I feel we had a great 2012, I had a great 2012 as a blogger, especially in the last few weeks. That said, I know my diary for 2013 is already looking pretty full. Friends, family, education, work and recreation all take a lot of our time, and rightly so. However other commitments I have, do mean that I will have less time to write in 2013.

Rest assured, I am not throwing in the towel and am going to continue to do my best to keep us up and running at full capacity, but there is a lot to do.

If you want to help, I am more than happy to accept suggestions. I would love to promote more users to author status, and give everyone more control.