By Johannes Sundlo — People AI Evangelist. I help leaders and HR teams turn AI into adoption that sticks, through keynotes, workshops and change programs.
Good AI output in HR comes down to good prompts. The difference between a generic answer and a genuinely useful one is context, constraints, and an example of what “good” looks like. Here are practical prompt patterns HR teams actually use — copy them, swap in your details, and save the ones that work.
The anatomy of a prompt that works
Stop writing one-line questions. Write the prompt as a short brief: role + task + context + constraints + format. Tell the AI who it’s acting as, what you need, the relevant background (your tone, your policy), what to avoid, and how to lay out the answer.
Prompt patterns for common HR tasks
Draft a job ad
“You are an experienced recruiter writing in a warm, concrete, jargon-free tone. Write a job ad for [role] at [company], a [one-line description]. Must-haves: [list]. Nice-to-haves: [list]. Emphasise [what makes it attractive]. Avoid clichés like ‘rockstar’ and ‘fast-paced’. Output: headline, 3 short paragraphs, a bulleted responsibilities list, and a short ‘what we offer’ section.”
Summarise engagement-survey free-text
“Here are [N] free-text survey comments. Group them into the main themes, with a short name and a 1-sentence summary for each, plus an approximate count. Flag any urgent or sensitive issues separately. Don’t invent themes that aren’t supported by the comments. [paste comments]”
Turn an interview into a structured scorecard
“Here are my rough interview notes for [candidate] applying for [role]. Turn them into a structured scorecard against these criteria: [list]. For each criterion: a rating (1–5), one line of evidence from the notes, and what to probe next time. If the notes don’t cover a criterion, say ‘not assessed’. [paste notes]”
Draft a first-pass policy
“Draft a clear, employee-friendly first version of a [topic] policy for a [country]-based company of [size]. Plain language, short sections, no legalese. Include a short ‘what this means for you’ summary. Mark anything that needs legal review with [REVIEW]. This is a draft for a human to finalise.”
Three rules that keep it safe and good
- Human decides. AI drafts and structures; a person makes the call and owns it.
- Mind the data. Don’t paste sensitive personal data into public tools without an enterprise agreement.
- Save what works. A good prompt is a reusable asset — keep a shared library so the whole team benefits.
Prompts are the entry point. For the bigger picture of getting AI into daily HR work, see AI for HR.
Want your HR team fluent in AI prompting?
A hands-on workshop where your team builds and saves prompts for their real tasks — and leaves using them the same week.
