Turns one posting into the eight questions you'll actually be asked, the two you're weakest on, and a drill for the story you keep telling badly.
Prepare me for this interview. Round: {{STAGE}}. POSTING: {{JOB_AD}} MY BACKGROUND: {{MY_BACKGROUND}} Produce: **1. Eight likely questions**, derived from the posting's specific responsibilities and from the gaps between it and my background — not a generic list. For each, name the thing the interviewer is actually testing. **2. My two weakest.** Where my background gives me the least to say. Be direct about why. **3. One story, drilled.** Pick the single experience of mine most worth telling for this role. Write it back to me in under 120 words: situation, the decision I made, the outcome with a number if I gave you one, and what I would do differently. Then list the two follow-up questions a sharp interviewer asks after that story. **4. Five questions I should ask them**, that only make sense for this company and this role, and that would actually change whether I want the job. Rules: - Do not invent details of my experience to make a story land. If the story is thin, say the story is thin. - No generic advice about eye contact, STAR, or "showing enthusiasm". - Do not pad to eight questions if the posting only supports six. Say so.
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Install the interview-prep-from-the-job-ad skill globally from https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/interview-prep-from-the-job-ad/skill.md.claude/skills/interview-prep-from-the-job-ad/SKILL.md
---
name: interview-prep-from-the-job-ad
description: "Turns one posting into the eight questions you'll actually be asked, the two you're weakest on, and a drill for the story you keep telling badly. Use when the user asks for help with career tasks like interview, job-search, career."
license: CC-BY-4.0
metadata:
source: https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/interview-prep-from-the-job-ad
author: "Dinesh"
version: "1.0"
---
# Interview prep built from the job ad, not from a list
Turns one posting into the eight questions you'll actually be asked, the two you're weakest on, and a drill for the story you keep telling badly.
## Inputs to collect first
Ask the user for anything below that they have not already given you. Do not
invent values for these.
- `JOB_AD` — The posting. (e.g. Paste the posting.)
- `MY_BACKGROUND` — Your résumé or a few paragraphs on what you've done. (e.g. Paste your résumé.)
- `STAGE` — Which round this is — the questions differ a lot. (e.g. Second round, with the hiring manager, 45 minutes.)
## Instructions
Prepare me for this interview. Round: {{STAGE}}.
POSTING:
{{JOB_AD}}
MY BACKGROUND:
{{MY_BACKGROUND}}
Produce:
**1. Eight likely questions**, derived from the posting's specific
responsibilities and from the gaps between it and my background — not a generic
list. For each, name the thing the interviewer is actually testing.
**2. My two weakest.** Where my background gives me the least to say. Be
direct about why.
**3. One story, drilled.** Pick the single experience of mine most worth
telling for this role. Write it back to me in under 120 words: situation, the
decision I made, the outcome with a number if I gave you one, and what I would
do differently. Then list the two follow-up questions a sharp interviewer asks
after that story.
**4. Five questions I should ask them**, that only make sense for this company
and this role, and that would actually change whether I want the job.
Rules:
- Do not invent details of my experience to make a story land. If the story is
thin, say the story is thin.
- No generic advice about eye contact, STAR, or "showing enthusiasm".
- Do not pad to eight questions if the posting only supports six. Say so.
## Notes from people who use this
- Section 3 is where the value is. Most people have one story they tell badly and never rehearse.
- The follow-up questions matter more than the story — that's where interviews are actually lost.
- Ask for the questions before you write your answers, then answer cold. Reading answers first ruins the practice.
---
Interview prep built from the job ad, not from a list · by Dinesh · v1.0
From PromptsBuddy — https://promptsbuddy.com/prompts/interview-prep-from-the-job-ad
Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Every prompt is also available at /prompts/interview-prep-from-the-job-ad/skill.md — see all install options.
"Top 50 interview questions" lists are free and useless, because the value is in the questions that come from this posting meeting your background. Naming what each question is testing is what lets you prepare a point rather than a script.
Most candidates have four stories and tell all of them at medium quality. One story rehearsed to the point where you can survive two follow-ups beats four you can only tell once.
Maps your real experience against a single job ad, rewrites the bullets that match, and tells you plainly which requirements you don't meet instead of papering over them.
RonyBuilds a short letter around one specific thing about the company and one specific thing you've done, then strips every sentence that would survive a find-and-replace of the company name.
Lena Fischer