Prompting 101: How to Get Useful Career Advice from Large Language Models (LLMs)

Why Prompting Matters for Job Seekers

Prompting is the inescapable new literacy that most of us must learn. Whether you're drafting a resume, preparing for a promotion conversation, or planning a career pivot, knowing how to effectively communicate with AI tools like ChatGPT can drastically improve the quality of results you create for yourself.

Unlike a search engine, generative AI responds best to context-rich, intentional questions. Learning to prompt well transforms AI from a gimmick into a strategic partner in your career journey. Interestingly, it can also help you to communicate more effectively with the people around you, too.

What Is Prompting, Exactly?

Prompting is the practice of giving clear, structured instructions to an AI tool to get helpful, tailored responses. It involves more than asking questions—it's about:

• Providing context
• Setting the role (e.g., "Act as a recruiter")
• Asking for a specific outcome or response structure

Note how different this structure is from going to an AI text box and asking for something simple like a recipe for blackened chicken or a new exercise routine. Without a solid prompt structure, you are virtually guaranteed to receive generic results.

Anatomy of an Effective Prompt

To get career-related answers that are useful, your prompt should ideally include:

1. The role of the AI: What expertise do you want the AI to draw from? "Act as an executive coach..."
2. The specific task: What specific task do you want help with? "Help me prepare for a leadership interview..."
3. Your context: What are the most critical points about your background that will enable the AI to help you? "I'm transitioning from finance to tech with 15 years of experience..."
4. Output format: What form do you want AI’s help to take? "Provide a bullet list of 3 strengths and sample stories."

Example Prompt:

"Act as a career coach. I have 20 years of experience in product development and am applying for VP roles in sustainability. Help me write a powerful LinkedIn summary that showcases leadership and innovation."

While this prompt is still on the generic side, it’s more structured and strategic than the early efforts you may have seen or engaged in. Baby steps, right?

Prompting for Specific Career Needs

Taking the above advice a bit further, here are simple (though not yet super-strategic) prompt examples you may have already tried. Can you make them more strategic by following the format suggested above?

For Resumes:

• "Rewrite this resume to align with the keywords in this job description."
• "Summarize this experience section to highlight executive-level outcomes."

For LinkedIn Profiles:

• "Suggest 3 variations of a headline for someone with 15 years in global logistics."
• "Turn this resume summary into a compelling LinkedIn 'About' section."

For Interview Prep:

• "Generate 5 STAR-format stories for a manager transitioning to a director role."
• "What are common behavioral questions for VP-level product leaders?"

For Cover Letters:

• "Create a persuasive intro paragraph for a cover letter targeting this specific role."
• "Suggest closing statements that feel warm but professional."

Tips for New AI Users

1. Be iterative. Don’t expect any AI to nail a response on the first try. Ask follow-up questions or provide additional instructions to the AI you’re using to refine the output.
2. Add your voice. Remember, you want AI-generated content to sound like you. Use AI for structure, not soul. Always use your preferred writing style and infuse your personality in your documents.
3. Review for accuracy. Always fact-check names, stats, and formatting. LLMs can make mistakes and make details up and only you will suffer the results. Verify and validate!
4. Stay specific. The old GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) rule still applies. Vague inputs = vague results. Just as resumes and other career documentation tools need to be hyper specific, so does any content you create via ChatGPT or similar LLMs.

Tips for Experienced AI Users

1. Build prompt templates. Save not just what AIs create for you but the prompts you use and craft a custom library of go-to prompts by career scenario. Save these because they are certain to evolve over time.
2. Test temperature settings. Check the settings in tools that allow you to do so for more or less creativity. This is a feature you can and should control when and where it’s available.
3. Use multi-step prompting. Ask AI to brainstorm, then refine, then format in a sequence of prompts to edge toward your LLM goal. Let go of “once and done” prompting habits that are sure to damage your output.
4. Explore related helpful AI tools. There’s a whole universe of services and tools emerging that can help you in search. Check out apps like AIPRM, FlowGPT, and PromptHero, for example for curated career-related prompts.

Final Thoughts: The Power of Prompting Well

Learning to prompt is like learning to delegate. The better you explain the task, the better the result. AI is a powerful assistant, but it works best when you lead. You don’t need to become a Prompt Engineer (unless you’re planning a career pivot). But staying on the edge of prompt innovation is key if you don’t want to experience the potentially negative effects of poor prompting.

Start small and iterate often. Stay in the driver's seat. This is your career after all.