How to Use ChatGPT to Prepare For Procurement Job Interviews

Conventional wisdom tells job seekers to practice their interview answers. It’s a good idea to prepare standard answers for age-old queries like ‘What is your biggest weakness?’ and ‘Tell me about yourself’.

But it’s hard to come up with answers that seem original. But job seekers now have help. New artificial intelligence large language model tools like Google Bard and ChatGPT can help you prepare for standard and unexpected interview questions and practice your responses. We’ll look at how these new artificial intelligence tools can help you hack the job interview process.

These large language models, like Chat GPT and many others, are powerful tools for natural language processing and were built for a variety of applications, such as chatbots, virtual assistants, and customer service automation.

These chatbots draw from existing material in their database and present it in new ways when you type in a prompt. There’s plenty of internet fodder to work with, as people have been asking job interview questions since the days of quill pen and parchment paper.

A chatbot can help you prepare for your interview by simulating a hiring manager, asking typical questions you’ll likely hear once you’re in the actual interview. After the first answer, you can ask the AI to regenerate responses, which takes a different perspective on the same information.

Don’t rely solely on what the chatbot comes up with. Personalize and customize the AI responses for the job and your background.

‘Be sure to customize the AI replies based on your experience and career goals,’ says Al Clark, owner of Management Recruiters of Chattanooga, Tennessee. ‘Review the questions and make sure you are prepared to answer and use examples whenever possible.’

How to use AI tools to prepare for job interviews:

• Ask the AI to write a list of common interview questions a potential employer might ask. You can set a limit of 10 or 20 questions.
• Ask the AI to develop questions based on the job description.
• Enter the questions into the AI and ask it to respond.
• Input your resume without any personally identifiable information, and ask it to use the resume to generate responses to the questions based on the job description.
• Input these or your own questions and ask the AI to write answers.
• Ask the AI to analyze your responses to see how effective they are. Tweak them until you’re comfortable with the answers to deliver them naturally.

To get the most out of the exercise, give the AI something to work with. Provide the job description and your resume, with identifying information removed.

You can also roleplay with the AI, asking it to take on the persona of the interviewer. Or, to interview you as if it were the hiring manager. You can also cut and paste the job description into the AI and ask it to interview for the job. 

After the AI interview, ask the platform to provide feedback on your responses and ask for its opinion regarding a job match. Don’t use the AI responses as is. Use them as thought starters to help you refine your personalized talking points.

‘It’s definitely a helpful tool, but it’s not the ‘end all’ solution to ace a job interview’, says Jason Leverant, president and CEO of AtWork, a staffing franchise in the US. ‘There are still soft skills required to make a lasting impression on a hiring manager, so prepping with another human as well as artificial intelligence is extremely helpful as well.’

One internet commenter offered a unique perspective: do the opposite of what the AI recommends. It’s called the ‘Argue with AI Strategy.’

What is Argue with AI Strategy?

The theory is that because the AI database is built on almost everything that’s already been written on a topic, it will give you the average answer. You won’t likely get the innovative, outlier response that sets you apart. You’ll get the most common information to be found online. If you go by the AI’s response, you’ll end up with bland, non-controversial answers that won’t help you stand out from the competition.

According to the strategy, if you want to be memorable, do the opposite of the average advice. Now, you run the risk of being too controversial or non-traditional. But it’s worth a try to see if you can come up with engaging, interesting answers to the standard interview questions.

This strategy could help you craft unique answers to standard interview questions like, ‘Talk about a time you had to overcome a challenge on a project.’

As you hone your interview strategy, there are other ways to use AI in your career search, including:

•  Help you customize your resume and cover letter
• Give you interview tips (like what clothes to wear and positive body language)
• Help you write a follow-up thank-you email after an interview

There are free versions of many artificial intelligence tools, so there’s no reason not to put them to work for you. You can take the edge off the anxiety of preparing for an interview and hone your answers to make the best impression you can.