# Job search and interview prep

Build one experience file you wrote yourself, then for each application map it to the job ad, tailor without inventing anything, check the company, rehearse with a model that grades honestly, and follow up within a day.

Workflows · v1.1 · draft · https://hayzlabs.com/workflows/job-search-and-interview-prep/

In short:
- Write one experience file yourself, then for each job map it to the ad and mark gaps rather than stretching.
- Tailor your CV only from that file, with no hidden text and no line you cannot talk about for two minutes.
- Rehearse with a mock interview that scores each answer, take the real one without AI, and follow up within 24 hours.

**Use it when** you are applying for a job and want to use an assistant to tailor your applications and rehearse for interviews without inventing anything.

**Not when** you plan to put things on your CV that you could not talk about, or to use AI help during the interview itself. Follow the employer's rules on AI in interviews and tests.

**You need** an assistant, your current CV, a plain text file for your experience, the job ad and about 2 hours per application, plus 75 minutes once for the file. Leave out your ID numbers and other people's private details: [What not to paste](https://hayzlabs.com/start/what-not-to-paste/). The steps and times are our suggestion.

## Steps

Step 1 happens once, and steps 2 to 8 repeat for each application.

| # | Step | Who | Time | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Write your experience file: every role and project, what you did, the result with a number or concrete outcome, and how you could show it. Use the template below. | Person | 75 min, once | Each result is one you can verify. **If it fails:** leave out the line you cannot back up. |
| 2 | Analyse the job ad: must-haves, nice-to-haves, the problems the role solves, likely interview topics. | AI | 3 min | You agree with the must-have list and have edited it. |
| 3 | Map your file to the requirements. | AI | 3 min | Each row quotes your file or says "gap", and no row cites anything else. |
| 4 | Tailor the CV and cover letter. | AI and person | 30 min | Every bullet traces to your file, there is no hidden text, and you can speak to each line for two minutes. **If it fails:** cut the line. |
| 5 | Research the company, using the rules in [Research with citation checking](https://hayzlabs.com/workflows/research-with-citation-checking/). | AI and person | 20 min | You opened each source, and nothing older than a year is treated as current. |
| 6 | Mock interview, one question at a time, with feedback after each answer. | AI and person | 35 min | Each answer has situation, action and result, and scores rise on a retry. |
| 7 | Prepare five questions to ask them, and a salary range from two dated sources, gathered as in step 1 of [Prepare for a negotiation with AI](https://hayzlabs.com/workflows/prepare-a-negotiation-with-ai/). | AI and person | 15 min | The range has two dated sources, and you know it is not a promise. |
| 8 | After the interview, write notes and send a thank-you. | Person | 15 min | Sent within 24 hours. |

For a quick application, do steps 2, 3 and 4 only (about 36 minutes). For an interview you already have, do steps 2, 5, 6 and 7 (about 73 minutes).

Repeat these three lines for each role or project in your file:

```text title="Experience file entry · v1.0"
Role or project: <ROLE>, <EMPLOYER>, <DATES>
What I did and the result: <ACTION>, which led to <RESULT_WITH_NUMBER>
How I could show it: <EVIDENCE>
```

Replace the following:
- `<ROLE>`, `<EMPLOYER>` and `<DATES>`: such as `Support team member, a regional retailer, 2023 to 2025` (illustrative).
- `<ACTION>` and `<RESULT_WITH_NUMBER>`: what you did and the outcome you can verify, such as `trained three new hires` and `all three handled tickets alone within a month` (illustrative).
- `<EVIDENCE>`: a document, a manager who would confirm it, or a story you can tell in two minutes.

> [!CHECK]
> Step 4 is the gate. Tailoring should change which true things you emphasise and should never add new ones. If you cannot speak about a line for two minutes, it does not go in.

## The prompts

For step 2:

```text title="Analyse the job ad · v1.0"
Here is a job ad. List, under four headings:
1. Must-haves.
2. Nice-to-haves.
3. The problems this role is hired to solve.
4. Likely interview topics.
For every item, quote the line of the ad it comes from. If the ad does not say, write "not stated". Do not add requirements the ad does not contain.
Job ad:
<JD>
```

Replace the following:
- `<JD>`: the full text of the ad.

Read the list, delete anything you disagree with, and keep your edited version for step 3.

For step 3:

```text title="Map my experience to the job · v1.0"
Here is a job ad analysis and my experience file. Make a table with the columns requirement, my strongest matching evidence (quote it from my file), and strength (strong, partial or gap).
Use only what is in my experience file. If nothing matches, write "gap". Do not stretch or invent.
Then list the three gaps most likely to come up in an interview and how I could address each honestly.
Job ad analysis:
<JD_ANALYSIS>
My experience file:
<EXPERIENCE_FILE>
```

Replace the following:
- `<JD_ANALYSIS>`: the must-haves and nice-to-haves from step 2, as you edited them.
- `<EXPERIENCE_FILE>`: your file from step 1.

For step 6:

```text title="Mock interview · v1.0"
Act as an interviewer for <ROLE> at <COMPANY_TYPE>. Ask me one question at a time: four behavioural questions and four about the role, based on this job ad: <JD>.
After each answer, give a score out of 5, what was strong, what was missing (situation, action, result, numbers) and a one-line suggestion. Then ask whether I want to retry before we move on.
Be direct and do not praise weak answers.
```

Replace the following:
- `<ROLE>` and `<COMPANY_TYPE>`: such as `customer support lead` and `a mid-size software company`.
- `<JD>`: the ad text.

> [!OUR RULE]
> Write the experience file yourself, and put nothing on a CV that you cannot talk about for two minutes. Practise with the model and take the interview without it.

## A worked example (illustrative)

Lena is applying for a customer support lead role. The details are invented. Her file has an entry on training three new hires in 2024 and another on writing help articles. The map shows both as strong matches and "run a weekly report" as a gap, because her file only shows a monthly sheet. The model suggests she say so plainly, and describe the monthly sheet and how she would build the weekly one. In the mock interview her answer on escalations scores 3 out of 5 for lacking a result. On the retry she adds the number from her file and scores 4.

## How to tell it worked

- Every line of the CV traces to your file, and you can speak to each for two minutes.
- You did a mock interview and retried the weakest answer.
- It has failed if a line in your CV came from the model and not from your file. Go back to step 4.

## Why no invented lines and no hidden text

Employers look for it. In a November 2025 vendor survey, 65% of US hiring managers said they had caught applicants using AI deceptively (AI-written scripts 32%, hidden prompts 22%, deepfakes 18%) ([Greenhouse](https://www.greenhouse.com/newsroom/an-ai-trust-crisis-70-of-hiring-managers-trust-ai-to-make-faster-and-better-hiring-decisions-only-8-of-job-seekers-call-it-fair), vendor survey, self-reported).

> [!LIMIT]
> A tailored CV does not guarantee an interview, and the routine cannot tell you how an employer's screening tool reads it. If the employer says an AI will screen or interview you, see [Interviewed or screened by AI](https://hayzlabs.com/guides/interviewed-by-ai/). A salary range from two sources is a starting point and not a promise.

## Sources

1. Greenhouse, AI in Hiring Report release, November 2025. Vendor survey of 4,136 people in the US, UK, Ireland and Germany. [Link](https://www.greenhouse.com/newsroom/an-ai-trust-crisis-70-of-hiring-managers-trust-ai-to-make-faster-and-better-hiring-decisions-only-8-of-job-seekers-call-it-fair)