Paste a Job Description, Get a Complete Interview Prep Kit
Why this prompt matters
Candidates who prepare with structured STAR stories outperform those who rely on improvisation — but most people spend their prep time reading company Wikipedia pages instead of building specific talking points. Interviewers identify unprepared candidates within the first 10 minutes; vague answers to 'tell me about yourself' rarely recover. Leaving the salary question to intuition typically costs $15,000-$40,000 in the first year alone.
What we use it for
You have an interview in 24-72 hours for a role you want. You have the job description and your resume. You need structured talking points, realistic anticipated questions, sharp things to ask, and a salary anchor — built around your specific background, not generic advice.
Prompt
Act as an elite career coach and interview strategist with 15 years of experience preparing candidates for competitive roles at top companies. I am interviewing for the following position: [PASTE JOB DESCRIPTION HERE] My background: [PASTE YOUR RESUME SUMMARY OR 4-6 BULLET POINTS ABOUT YOUR RELEVANT EXPERIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS] Target company: [COMPANY NAME] Interview round: [e.g., First screen / Technical round / Hiring manager / Final panel] My target salary range: [e.g., $150K-$180K or "not sure — advise me"] Produce a complete interview preparation kit with these six sections: 1. ROLE ANALYSIS (4-5 bullet points) What this role really needs beyond the job posting — likely pain points the team is solving, what a successful hire delivers in the first 90 days, and what the hiring manager probably actually cares about most. 2. TAILORED TALKING POINTS (5 items) For each of the top 5 requirements or responsibilities in the job description, map one achievement from my background using the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Include specific metrics and outcomes. Make these sound like me, not a template. 3. ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS (10 questions) The most likely questions for this specific role, level, and interview stage — not generic questions anyone could find on a career blog. Include a 2-3 sentence answer framework for each, drawing on my background where possible. 4. SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK (5 questions) Thoughtful, specific questions that signal strategic thinking and genuine preparation. Avoid clichés like "what does success look like here?" Generate questions a person who has deeply researched this company and role would ask. 5. RED FLAGS TO PROBE (3 items) Based on the job description, identify anything that could signal a dysfunctional team, unclear scope, unrealistic expectations, or a role in trouble. Suggest how to surface each diplomatically during the interview without signaling doubt about the role. 6. SALARY ANCHOR Based on the role level, company type (startup vs. enterprise, Series B vs. public), and the industry, suggest: (a) a specific first number or range to state when asked about compensation expectations, (b) what to say if they push back, and (c) one non-salary benefit to prioritize in negotiation.
Result
<p><strong>Example output for a Senior Product Manager role at a Series C fintech startup:</strong></p><h3>1. Role Analysis</h3><ul><li>The emphasis on "0-to-1 experience" and "launching products in regulated markets" signals the team wants someone who can navigate compliance constraints without slowing execution — likely a current pain point</li><li>At Series C, the PM is expected to build and defend roadmaps to the board, not just internal stakeholders — your ability to tell a coherent strategy story will be tested in the final round</li><li>The mention of "cross-functional alignment with engineering and compliance" three times in a 400-word JD suggests these relationships are currently fractured</li><li>A successful hire in 90 days likely ships one feature that cleared compliance review, not a completed roadmap — set that expectation in the interview</li><li>The CTO is listed as a key stakeholder, not the VP of Product — expect significant technical depth questions in the final panel</li></ul><h3>2. Tailored Talking Points (STAR format)</h3><p><strong>Requirement: "Launch experience in regulated industries"</strong><br/>At [Company], I led the launch of our instant account-opening feature — a 6-month project requiring coordination with legal, compliance, and three engineering squads. We shipped on deadline, passed our SOC 2 audit on the first attempt, and reduced onboarding drop-off by 34% in Q1 post-launch.</p><p><strong>Requirement: "Strong data orientation"</strong><br/>When our mobile retention dropped 12% after a major UI redesign, I built a cohort analysis in Mixpanel and identified the drop was concentrated in users who completed fewer than 3 transactions. A targeted onboarding nudge sequence recovered 70% of the regression within 6 weeks.</p><h3>3. Anticipated Questions (2 of 10 shown)</h3><p><strong>"Tell me about a time you shipped something that failed. What did you learn?"</strong><br/>Framework: Name a real failure, quantify what failed, own your decision rather than blaming externals, and articulate the specific process change you made afterward. Interviewers want intellectual honesty, not a failure that was secretly a success.</p><p><strong>"How do you prioritize when everything is urgent?"</strong><br/>Framework: Name a specific prioritization framework you use (RICE, opportunity scoring), give a real conflict you resolved with it, and be honest about when frameworks fail and judgment takes over.</p><h3>4. Red Flags to Probe (1 of 3)</h3><p><strong>Flag: "Entrepreneurial environment" appears twice with no mention of team size or existing processes</strong><br/>Ask: "Can you walk me through how the product team makes a major prioritization decision today — who's in the room and what data drives it?" A confident answer indicates structure. Vagueness confirms the flag.</p><h3>5. Salary Anchor</h3><p>For a Senior PM at a Series C fintech in a major US metro: target $185K-$205K base. When asked first, state $195K. If pushed back, respond: "I'm flexible depending on the equity structure and total comp picture — can you share the band?" Request 0.3-0.6% equity as the top non-salary priority given the stage.</p>
<h2>The Problem With How Most People Prepare for Interviews</h2><p>Most candidates spend their prep time reading about the company on Wikipedia and rehearsing vague answers to "tell me about yourself." They walk in with generic talking points that could apply to any job at any company. Interviewers know this within minutes, and the interview becomes a formality.</p><p>The candidates who land competitive roles do something different: they reverse-engineer the job description to understand what pain the hiring manager is actually trying to solve, then map their own experience directly to that pain. This prompt does that work systematically, in minutes.</p><h2>How the Prompt Works</h2><p>The prompt asks you for three inputs: the raw job description, a short summary of your background, and the interview stage you're preparing for. From those, it generates six structured outputs that cover every dimension of interview preparation.</p><p>The <strong>Role Analysis</strong> section goes beyond what the job posting says. Most job descriptions are written by HR with input from the hiring manager — they describe tasks, not goals. This section extracts what a great hire actually needs to deliver in the first 90 days, what the team's real pain points likely are, and what "success" means beyond the stated responsibilities.</p><p>The <strong>Tailored Talking Points</strong> section is where the prompt earns its keep. It takes each key requirement from the job description and maps one achievement from your background to it using the STAR format — Situation, Task, Action, Result — with specific metrics. This gives you five combat-ready stories instead of five vague claims.</p><p>The <strong>Anticipated Questions</strong> section produces 10 questions specific to the role and level, not a generic list you could find on any career blog. A senior engineering manager interview has different questions than a junior developer interview. The section includes a 2-3 sentence answer framework for each.</p><p>The <strong>Smart Questions to Ask</strong> section generates five questions that signal strategic thinking rather than checkbox compliance. The section produces questions a person who has deeply researched this company and role would actually ask.</p><p>The <strong>Red Flags to Probe</strong> section is often the most valuable. Job descriptions sometimes telegraph dysfunction: "fast-paced environment" can mean "no processes," "wear many hats" can mean "understaffed," "self-starter" can mean "no manager support." This section identifies potential warning signs and suggests how to probe them diplomatically without tanking your candidacy.</p><p>The <strong>Salary Anchor</strong> section gives you a context-appropriate number to say first — or a range to offer if pushed — calibrated to the role level and company type. This is the part most candidates wing entirely, often leaving tens of thousands on the table.</p><h2>Which Model to Use</h2><p>Claude Opus 4.8 produces the most coherent STAR-format stories and tends to write more naturally for narrative-heavy sections. GPT-4o is faster and handles structured output well. Both produce usable results — Claude is recommended if you want the talking points section to sound like you wrote them rather than an AI.</p><p>Run the prompt in a long-context window and include as much of your background as possible. The more specific your input, the more specific and useful the output.</p><h2>When to Use It</h2><p>The night before any significant interview. Paste the JD, paste your resume bullet points, specify the round, and work through the output once. Reading the STAR stories aloud twice is more valuable than three hours of passive research.</p>