Endless sourcing. Writing job ads. Prepping interviews. It all adds up and slows you down.
But what if AI could help you knock out these tasks without sacrificing quality?
This guide gives you 20 recruiter-tested ChatGPT prompts you can copy, tweak, and use to:
- Source candidates more effectively
- Craft personalized outreach
- Write job ads that attract quality hires
- Prepare interviews & assessments
- Collaborate better with hiring managers
- Navigate offers, onboarding & even exits
Plus, we’ll break down what prompt engineering actually means for recruitment and how to avoid generic, AI-written outputs that scream “robot.”
What is prompt engineering?
Prompt engineering is the skill of giving AI tools like ChatGPT clear, detailed instructions so they can actually help you, not slow you down.
Think of it like briefing a new recruiter on your team:
- The more context you provide, the better the output.
- The vaguer you are, the more generic (and useless) the results.
Anyone can type “write a job ad” into ChatGPT. But only with proper prompt engineering will it write a compelling, role-specific description that sounds like you.
20+ ChatGPT prompts you can use right away for recruitment
1. Candidate sourcing prompt
Prompt:
“You are a recruiter with 5+ years of experience in talent acquisition for SaaS companies. I’m looking for a senior backend engineer with expertise in distributed systems. Create a targeted profile that includes skills, industries, job titles, competitor companies, and where the candidates are most active (for example, Slack, Discord, Indeed, etc).”
2. Prompt for effective candidate outreach
Prompt:
“Act as a senior recruiter with 10+ years of experience in high-response outreach. I would like you to draft a personalized outreach message to a product manager who has recently collaborated with a reputable organization and consistently shares insights about product growth. Keep the message conversational, simple, and friendly; refer to their work, and add details that describe why our opportunity perfectly aligns with their interests.”
3. Prompts to generate stellar job descriptions
Prompt 1:
“Act as a senior content writer and draft an engaging, candidate-focused job description. Write it for a senior product designer that highlights creative impact, growth opportunities, perks & benefits. I want you to make it inspiring and relevant for experienced applicants who give importance to meaningful and productive work.”
Follow-up prompt:
“Act as a social media manager with 5+ years of experience. Write a concise, engaging, and crisp LinkedIn post with a compelling job description promoting a position for a software engineering role. It should focus on opportunities, technical specifications, career growth, and team culture. Do not include metaphors such as “change the world.”
4. Interview preparation and assessment prompts for hiring
Prompt 1:
“You are an HR professional with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. I would like you to create a list of five interview questions for the Product Manager role. It should assess adaptability, skills, decision-making, and problem-solving ability. Include responses based on how strong and weak answers look.”
Follow-up prompt:
“Act as an experienced HR business partner who supports hiring managers in building a fair, structured interview process. Create a scorecard for assessing collaboration, communication, and expertise for a Product Manager role. I want you to include a bias-free and clear rating for each level.”
5. Reference check prompts to hire reliable candidates
Prompt 1:
“Act as a senior recruiter with expertise in reference checks. I need you to draft six open-ended questions for the reference of a Senior Developer. The questions should reveal technical ability, teamwork, adaptability, and areas of improvement.”
Prompt 2:
“Act as an HR manager, requesting a reference letter for the Sales Executive we are considering as a potential hire. Draft a short and professional email asking their former manager for a written reference highlighting their performance, ability to manage client relationships, work ethic, and team collaborations. Keep the tone clear, concise, and specific.”
6. Hiring manager collaboration prompts for recruiters
Prompt 1: You want to prepare for the hiring manager intake meeting for a job role
“Act as a professional recruiter, preparing for a strategic intake meeting with a hiring manager. Suggest a detailed list of questions to clarify the requirements, team culture, key deliverables, and priorities for the product marketing manager role. I want you to include questions in such a way that reveals what they want and may not say it upfront.”
Follow-up prompt:
“Now, act as a project coordinator, helping align with the hiring managers. Draft a concise, actionable follow-up email to send to them, summarizing the agreed candidate profile, terms, success metrics, timelines, interview process, and the next steps to be implemented.”
7. Job offer & salary negotiation prompts
Prompt 1:
“You are a recruiter, skilled in closing candidates with precision and utmost clarity. Draft me a personalized, clear, and engaging job offer email for a senior backend engineer, highlighting not just salary perks but technical challenges, career growth, and differentiators.”
Prompt 2:
“Act as a professional recruiter with more than 10 years of experience in handling salary negotiations. Suggest five practical, candidate-friendly negotiations that balance fairness, budget limits, and competitiveness.”
8. Prompt for candidate onboarding support
Prompt:
“You are a People Operations Manager welcoming a new remote Product Manager to your team. Write a clear, concise, and warm email that includes their start date, onboarding schedule, access details to tools, and tips for adapting to the team culture. I want you to avoid jargon and make it friendly yet practical.”
9. Exit interview prompts
Prompt 1:
“Act as an HR business partner, conducting an exit interview. I want you to provide me with a clear list of 10+ questions to uncover the reasons for leaving, feedback on leadership and team culture, and suggestions for improving the candidate experience.”
Follow-up prompt:
“Now, you are an HR manager following up after an exit interview. I want you to draft a professional, appreciative email thanking the candidate for their contributions, wishing them success, and inviting them to stay connected.”
10. Boolean search prompt
Prompt:
“You are a sourcing specialist. Analyze the profile of a content writer and create a Boolean search string for LinkedIn. Highlight necessary skills to select the right candidate.”
Prompt:
“You are a recruiter promoting a client’s open role for a digital marketer. Create a social media post promoting this role. Highlight technical challenges and the team culture. Adjust your tone accordingly. Sounds authentic and credible.”
12. Prompt for talent engagement
Prompt:
“You are a recruiter with 5+ years of experience. You want to build a talent pipeline for candidates. These are the candidates who were not selected or did not apply due to a lack of interest but could still be beneficial for future opportunities. Provide a strategy to help connect with them.”
13. Prompt for talent market research
Prompt:
“You are a talent market analyst. Create a market report for a product manager in the fintech industry. Include competitors, job titles, backgrounds, and locations where talent is found.”
14. Prompt to create a candidate persona
Prompt:
“Act as a recruiter. Create a candidate persona for a Senior SEO expert, including their motivations, preferred communication channels, and relevant experience.”
Crack the candidate persona with this quick guide!
15. Prompt for global recruitment compliance checklist
Prompt:
“Act as an HR expert. Draft a global recruitment checklist to ensure the hiring process meets data privacy, documentation, and standards across regions.”
16. Prompt to draft a polite rejection email
Prompt:
“You are an expert recruiter. Draft an empathetic rejection email for candidates who were interviewed but not selected, encouraging them to stay connected.”
Download free email rejection templates now!
17. Prompt for internal job promotion communication
Prompt:
“You are a content writer with 5+ years of experience. Draft an email for all employees of the organization for an internal job opportunity. The email should be encouraging enough to ask the employees to apply by highlighting growth benefits.”
18. Prompt for candidate resume summary
Prompt:
“You are a recruiter. Scan each resume and create a summary for it. Emphasize the candidate’s experience, skills, education, and notable achievements. Analyze if they suit the requirements for the [job role]. Keep the summary concise and provide bullet points for the same.”
19. Prompt to create killer job ads
Prompt:
“Write a job ad for a senior software engineer at ABC company as if you were a senior content writer. The job ad should highlight key responsibilities, what the company is looking for in an applicant, perks, benefits, projects, a unique team culture, and skills that are welcomed. Keep the tone approachable. Avoid generic phrases.”
Excel at job ads with this practical guide for recruiters!
20. Prompt to create a candidate assessment
Prompt:
“You are a recruiter. Devise an assessment for a financial analyst. The assessment should challenge the candidate, test skills, and address challenges. Mention the scoring criteria as well.”
Frequently asked questions
1. How much context do I need to give to ChatGPT for it to work well in recruitment tasks?
The best way to answer this is to treat ChatGPT like your new team member.
You must instruct ChatGPT appropriately by giving it as much context as possible.
For example, instead of just instructing ChatGPT to write a job description, specify it by mentioning:
- What is the role?
- The industry or company type
- Key responsibilities or must-have skills
- The tonality you prefer
- Any specific expectations
You don’t need to write a whole essay, but you can always clarify it by providing appropriate context.
2. How do I know if my prompt is relevant?
A good prompt should feel like it’s saving you time!
If you’re confident that you can send the output immediately, you’re probably on the right track!
You’ll know your prompt is solid when your output:
- Sounds natural and aligns with your tone
- Includes relevant, role-specific information
- Includes strategically what you asked for
- Feels like you’ve written it by yourself
However, if you have any second thoughts, such as “This feels too generic” or “I’d need to rewrite this more,” that is your hint to revise it.
The best way to do this is by training ChatGPT, as you would train a new recruiter on your team.
3. What is prompt engineering in recruitment?
Prompt engineering refers to the skill of crafting the optimal instructions to achieve the desired results from AI tools like ChatGPT.
It isn’t just about typing in a question to the AI; it’s all about explaining and guiding the AI to act like your sourcing assistant, content writer, or even interview prep friend.
Anyone can write a prompt as “write an email” or “research the candidate’s profile”, but all you get are generic, vague, and robotic answers.
This can be avoided through a good prompt that says, “Act as a recruiter with more than 5 years of experience. Help me analyze the candidate’s profile and see if they align with my preferences.”
That is how prompt engineering works.
Blog Summary
20+ ChatGPT prompts for recruiters who hate wasting time!
This blog will give you a clear idea about what prompt engineering is and how to use it in your recruitment process. For recruiters who want to save time without sacrificing quality, this guide gives you access to more than 20 ChatGPT prompts to make your hiring process easy and fast.
It doesn’t end here.
It includes ready-to-use ChatGPT prompts that you can copy and get effective results in seconds!
From candidate sourcing, interviewing, to writing compelling job descriptions, you have a shortcut here. These aren’t generic prompts that could be found easily.
You also learn how to effectively use these prompts, and they answer common questions asked by recruiters, so you can stop wasting time and move towards a smarter approach.
