How To Do A Mock Interview Using ChatGPT

By Leslie King, Dominique A. Harroch, and Richard D. Harroch

Job interviews are often one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of the hiring process. Preparing for an interview is key to making a great impression on a potential employer, and practicing your responses can help you refine your answers, boost your confidence, and reduce anxiety.

However, many job seekers struggle to find someone who can offer constructive feedback and simulate a real interview environment. This is where mock interviews come in handy. Practicing with mock interviews allows you to simulate the interview experience, providing an opportunity to refine your responses and feel more prepared when the real interview day arrives.

Using ChatGPT to conduct a mock interview can be a highly effective and accessible way to practice for your upcoming job interviews. ChatGPT can simulate a wide variety of interview scenarios, ask you a range of questions, and even provide valuable feedback on your responses.

Whether you are preparing for a technical interview or a general job interview, ChatGPT can help you rehearse your answers and sharpen your interview skills. In this article, we’ll show you how to conduct a mock interview using ChatGPT and how to get the most out of the experience. We have used ChatGPT for research assistance and insights for this article.

How to Conduct a Mock Interview with ChatGPT

To begin your mock interview, it’s important to understand how to set up the conversation and interact with ChatGPT. You can initiate a mock interview by asking ChatGPT to act as the interviewer. Based on the job you’re targeting, you can specify the type of questions you want to practice—whether they are general, situational, behavioral, or technical. Here’s how you can get started:

1. Start with the job posting. When you initiate your mock interview with ChatGPT, start by introducing yourself and letting it know what role you are interviewing for. This helps ChatGPT tailor its questions to your specific industry and the kind of position you’re aiming for.
Example prompt: “I’m preparing for an interview for a marketing manager position at Google. Here is the job posting. Can you ask me interview questions related to this role?”

2. Upload your resume. Copy and paste your entire resume into ChatGPT so it can have the necessary background information to begin the mock interview.

3. Ask ChatGPT for some highlights. ChatGPT can quickly summarize important information, like the names of the CEO, what the organization does, and its mission statement. Be sure to also do your research on their website, social media accounts, and even YouTube videos to ensure you have a deep understanding of the organization you are interviewing for. It’s always good to have information in your back pocket that you can pull out during an interview.
Example: “When I was watching the CEO (insert name)’s talk on climate change at last year’s leadership conference, I was moved by her mission and vision of the company and that was one of the things that made me most interested in wanting to work here.”

4. Specify the interview type. You can then specify the type of interview you would like to practice. This allows ChatGPT to generate questions that match the job’s requirements and better mimic the interview experience.
Example prompt: “I’d like to practice interview questions about being a manager. Could you ask me questions about leadership and team building?”

5. Answer the questions. After ChatGPT asks each question, respond as you would in a real interview. Take time to think about your answers, and try to give thoughtful, concise responses that highlight your skills and experience. It’s important to simulate the real interview scenario as closely as possible, so avoid rushing your answers.
Example question from ChatGPT: “Tell me about a time when you had to handle a challenging project with tight deadlines. How did you manage it?”
Your response: “In my previous role, I was tasked with launching a new product within a six-week timeframe. The project required coordination with multiple teams, including marketing, product development, and sales. To meet the deadline, I created a detailed project plan, broke it into smaller milestones, and delegated tasks to the appropriate team members. By staying organized and maintaining open communication, we successfully launched the product on time, resulting in a 15% increase in sales within the first quarter.”

6. Let ChatGPT ask follow-up questions. After you respond, ChatGPT can ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into your answers. This simulates the dynamic nature of a real interview, where interviewers often want to explore certain points in more detail.
ChatGPT question: “That’s a great response! Can you elaborate on how you handled any conflicts within the team during this project?”
Example response: “During the project, there were a few disagreements regarding the timeline. To resolve the conflict, I facilitated a meeting where each team member could voice their concerns. We discussed potential solutions, and I worked with the team to adjust the timeline slightly, ensuring that everyone felt comfortable with the plan. The key was fostering open communication and maintaining a collaborative atmosphere.”

7. What you should never say. It’s important to learn what some of the biggest things you should never say in an interview are, as these are often what hold us back even when we are qualified in other ways.
ChatGPT prompt: For this job, what are some things I should be sure not to say in this interview?
Example response from ChatGPT: Some of the most important areas to avoid in a job interview are the following:

• Speaking negatively about an old boss or colleague
• Any questions that show you have not done your research, such as asking them what the company does
• Complaining about any specific job-related task you don’t want to do
• Anything that makes it sound like this isn’t your dream job and is a stepping stone to something else. Your job is to convince the person interviewing you that THIS particular job is your dream job.

Getting Feedback From ChatGPT on Your Responses

One of the unique advantages of using ChatGPT for mock interviews is that it can provide you with feedback on your answers. After you’ve responded to a question, you can ask ChatGPT to evaluate your response and suggest areas for improvement. This feedback can help you refine your answers, ensure you’re hitting the right points, and avoid common interview pitfalls.

Example prompt for feedback: “ChatGPT, can you give me feedback on my answer to the leadership question? What could I improve?”

Sample ChatGPT feedback: “I liked the way you connected your answer from the beginning to the end and it was clear and concise. However, your response would have made a bigger impact if you had told me a little context on what the project you were launching was, and what were some of your specific roles in bringing it across the finish line. That would have helped me connect more to your story.” You can continue the process of refining your responses by asking for feedback on other answers. ChatGPT can help you identify areas where you can provide more detail, clarify any vague points, or present a more compelling case for your qualifications. You can also ask ChatGPT for examples of the types of stories you want to tell in your answers.

15 Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer in Your Job Interview

To get the most out of your mock interview, it’s important to be prepared for a range of questions that you’re likely to encounter in a real job interview. It’s important to practice many example stories of specific instances from past jobs to incorporate those into your answers. It is helpful to mention which job name you are referring to in the story, and what your role was before diving into your example. Below are 15 common interview questions that you should be ready to answer.

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
3. Why do you want to work for this company?
4. What interests you about this position?
5. How do you handle stress or pressure?
6. Describe a time when you faced a challenge at work and how you dealt with it.
7. What are your long-term career goals?
8. Why did you leave your last job?
9. What can you bring to this role that others can’t?
10. How do you prioritize your tasks?
11. Tell me about a time you worked successfully as part of a team.
12. How do you stay motivated in your work?
13. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker and how you resolved it.
14. Tell me how you recently used AI at work or at home.
15. What makes you the ideal candidate for this role?

These are questions that many interviewers use to gauge your qualifications, problem-solving skills, and ability to fit into the company’s culture. Being able to answer them confidently will help you perform well in most job interviews. Give your answers to ChatGPT and get feedback on the quality of your answers

Questions You Might Want to Ask the Interviewer

One of the most important parts of an interview is having questions prepared for when they give you time to ask questions. This is your opportunity to find out if this is a company you want to work for and if it aligns with your values. It’s important to have questions prepared that are specific to who is interviewing you. As soon as you have their names, look them up on LinkedIn and try to understand what their role is and how you might work together. The types of questions you ask a recruiter, hiring manager, and head of a different department are going to be different.

For a recruiter:

1. How many people are on the team?
2. What are the opportunities for growth within the organization?
3. Who does this role report to?
4. What does the hiring process look like?
5. What is the structure of the team, and who would I be working most closely with?

Hiring manager:

1. Who are your most threatening competitors? And what are the key differentiators that make your organization stand out?
2. How is the success of the person in this role to be measured?
3. What sorts of things would you hope this person accomplishes in their first 90 days of the job?
4. What are the organization’s biggest challenges at the moment?
5. What’s been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on recently?

Other key team members:

1. What do you like most about working for (company name)?
2. What do you see as the most challenging aspect of this job?
3. What challenges do customers have with the product? What is the company doing to make the product easy to use?
4. What’s one thing the person who fills this role could do to help you in the immediate future?

Conclusion on Mock Interviews

Mock interviews are an essential part of job preparation, and with ChatGPT, you can simulate a wide variety of interview scenarios without the need for a partner or formal coaching. By practicing answers to common interview questions, getting feedback on your responses, and refining your approach, you can enter your real interview with confidence and poise. Using ChatGPT for mock interviews allows you to familiarize yourself with the interview process, helping you develop strong communication skills, handle pressure, and deliver polished answers to any questions that come your way.

In today’s competitive job market, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the crowd and demonstrate your qualifications effectively. By practicing with ChatGPT, you’ll have the opportunity to improve your interview performance and be better prepared to land the job of your dreams.

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Copyright (c) by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved.

Leslie King is a dynamic Marketing, Events, and Business Development professional with a proven track record in live events, project management, and fundraising. As a thought leader, she has shared her expertise at conferences, on podcasts, and through published work in Forbes. Passionate about mentorship, Leslie has guided over 150 job seekers, offering resume reviews, job search strategies, and mock interviews to help them advance their careers. In her current role as Business Development & Marketing Manager for Looking Up Arts Foundation (a San Francisco-based non-profit that builds large-scale art installations), she oversees fundraising, accounting, and business growth, driving the nonprofit’s mission forward. Leslie holds a BA in Advertising from the University of San Francisco and is always open to connecting on LinkedIn.

Richard D. Harroch is a Senior Advisor to CEOs, management teams, and Boards of Directors. He is an expert on M&A, venture capital, startups, and business contracts. He was the Managing Director and Global Head of M&A at VantagePoint Capital Partners, a venture capital fund in the San Francisco area. His focus is on internet, digital media, AI and technology companies. He was the founder of several Internet companies. His articles have appeared online in Forbes, Fortune, MSN, Yahoo, Fox Business and AllBusiness.com. Richard is the author of several books on startups and entrepreneurship as well as the co-author of Poker for Dummies and a Wall Street Journal-bestselling book on small business. He is the co-author of a 1,500-page book published by Bloomberg on mergers and acquisitions of privately held companies. He was also a corporate and M&A partner at the international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He has been involved in over 200 M&A transactions and 250 startup financings. He can be reached through LinkedIn.

Dominique Harroch is the Chief of Staff at AllBusiness.com. She has acted as a Chief of Staff or Operations Leader for multiple companies where she leveraged her extensive experience in operations management, strategic planning, and team leadership to drive organizational success. With a background that spans over two decades in operations leadership, event planning at her own start-up and marketing at various financial and retail companies, Dominique is known for her ability to optimize processes, manage complex projects and lead high-performing teams. She holds a BA in English and Psychology from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. She can be reached via LinkedIn.