The best ChatGPT prompts for HR give the model three things it cannot guess: the task, the context (your company, the role, the audience) and the format you want back. Below are 40 prompts grouped by HR task. Each one is written so you can paste it, fill in the brackets and get a usable first draft. They work the same way in ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot.
Two rules apply to every prompt on this page. Don't paste personal data you wouldn't put in an email to a stranger, and treat every answer as a draft that a person checks and signs off.
How to write a good AI prompt for HR
Most weak results come from prompts that are one line long. A prompt that works has five parts:
- Context: who you are and what the company is. "I'm the HR lead at a 120-person software company in Germany."
- Task: one clear job. "Write a job description."
- Inputs: the material it should use. Paste the notes, the old version or the policy.
- Constraints: length, tone, what to avoid. "Under 400 words, plain language, no jargon."
- Format: how you want it back. "Bulleted list, then a one-paragraph summary."
Compare "write a job description for a sales manager" with "I'm hiring a sales manager for a 60-person B2B SaaS company selling to HR teams. Use the notes below. Write a job description under 400 words with sections for the role, responsibilities, requirements and what we offer. Avoid gendered language and phrases like 'rockstar'." The second gets you something you can post after one edit.
If a first answer is off, don't start again. Tell it what to change: "shorter", "less formal", "add a section on remote work".
ChatGPT prompts for recruiting and hiring
1. "Write a job description for a [role] at a [size, industry] company. Use these notes: [paste]. Under 400 words, sections for the role, responsibilities, requirements and what we offer. Use inclusive, plain language."
2. "Review this job description for wording that could put off qualified candidates, such as gendered terms, unnecessary degree requirements or jargon. List each issue and suggest a replacement: [paste]."
3. "Create 8 structured interview questions for a [role], two for each of these competencies: [list]. For each question, describe what a strong and a weak answer sound like."
4. "Turn these interview questions into a scorecard with a 1 to 4 scale and a short definition for each level: [paste]."
5. "Write a short, friendly outreach message to a passive candidate for a [role]. Mention [one specific reason they fit]. Under 100 words, no hype."
6. "Write a rejection email for a candidate who reached the final round for [role]. Thank them, keep it warm and brief, and don't give reasons that could create legal risk."
7. "Summarise these interview notes from three interviewers into strengths, concerns and open questions, without adding anything that isn't in the notes: [paste notes with names removed]."
ChatGPT prompts for onboarding
8. "Create a first-week onboarding schedule for a [role] joining on [date]. Include the meetings, tools to set up and one small first task. Use our onboarding steps: [paste]."
9. "Write a welcome email from the manager to a new [role] starting on [date]. Cover first-day logistics: [paste]. Warm, under 200 words."
10. "Draft a 30/60/90-day plan for a new [role]. The goals for the role this year are [list]. Mark it as a draft for the manager to edit."
11. "Turn this onboarding checklist into a table of tasks, each with one owner and a due date relative to the start date: [paste]."
12. "Write 10 questions new hires at our company usually ask in their first month, with short answers based on this handbook extract: [paste]."
ChatGPT prompts for performance reviews
This is where AI saves the most time and where a careless prompt does the most harm. Use it to draft and tighten, never to decide a rating.
13. "Help me write my self-review for [period]. My goals were [list]. Here are my notes on what I did: [paste]. For each goal, write two or three sentences on the result with a specific example. Keep my own words where you can."
14. "Draft a performance review for an employee in a [role] based on my notes below. Use this structure: overall summary, results against goals, two strengths with examples, one development area phrased as what to do differently. Don't invent examples: [paste notes]."
15. "Rewrite this feedback so it's specific and actionable. Replace vague words like 'great' or 'needs to improve' with what the person did and its effect: [paste]."
16. "Check this review for biased or loaded language, such as comments on personality, age, family, accent or appearance, or praise that sounds different for different groups. Quote each phrase and suggest a neutral version: [paste]."
17. "Summarise these five peer feedback responses into themes: what the person should keep doing and what they should change. Quote no one directly and keep it under 200 words: [paste]."
18. "Write three development goals for an employee whose review says [development area]. Make each one specific, measurable and achievable in six months."
19. "Our rating scale is: [paste levels and definitions]. Based on these review notes, which level does the evidence support, and what evidence is missing to support the next level up? [paste]."
20. "Write an agenda and five discussion questions for a 45-minute performance review meeting with an employee who [one-line situation]."
21. "Outline a performance improvement plan for an employee who is missing [specific expectation]. Include the expectation, the evidence, the support we will give, check-in dates and what success looks like. Mark it for HR and legal review."
22. "Create a 360 feedback form with 8 questions for peers of a [role]: five rating questions on [competencies] and three open questions."
ChatGPT prompts for employee feedback and surveys
23. "Write 12 questions for a quarterly engagement survey covering workload, manager support, growth and recognition. Mix 1 to 5 scale questions with two open questions."
24. "Group these anonymous survey comments into 5 to 7 themes. For each theme give the number of comments and one representative quote: [paste]."
25. "Based on these survey results, suggest three actions a manager could take this month, each with a first step: [paste results]."
26. "Write a short message to employees explaining what we heard in the last survey and what we're changing, in plain language: [paste summary]."
27. "Write an exit interview question set of 10 questions that gets past 'better opportunity' to the real reasons people leave."
ChatGPT prompts for HR policies and the handbook
28. "Draft a remote work policy for a [size] company in [country]. Cover eligibility, working hours, equipment and expenses, security and how to request it. Plain language, under 800 words. Flag anything that depends on local law."
29. "Rewrite this policy in plain language for employees without changing its meaning. Short sentences, no legal jargon: [paste]."
30. "Turn this handbook section into a one-page FAQ with 8 questions employees would actually ask: [paste]."
31. "Compare these two versions of our leave policy and list every change in meaning: [paste both]."
32. "Write an AI use policy for employees: which tools are approved, what data must never go into them, and when AI output needs human review. Under 600 words."
ChatGPT prompts for learning and career development
33. "Draft a career framework for [team] with four levels. For each level, describe scope, impact and the skills expected. Base it on these job descriptions: [paste]."
34. "Create a skills matrix for a [role] with 8 skills and a 1 to 4 proficiency scale, with a one-line description of each level."
35. "Suggest a six-month development plan for an employee moving from [current role] to [target role], with one learning activity and one on-the-job assignment per month."
36. "Write 10 questions a manager can use in a career conversation with a direct report."
ChatGPT prompts for HR communications
37. "Write an announcement of [change] to all employees. Explain what is changing, why, when, and who to ask. Under 250 words, calm and direct."
38. "Write talking points for a manager who has to tell their team about [difficult news]. Include likely questions and honest answers."
39. "Rewrite this message to be warmer and shorter without losing any facts: [paste]."
40. "Write a LinkedIn post announcing [new benefit or policy] for employer branding. Under 150 words, no buzzwords."
How to use ChatGPT for HR safely
Check which version of ChatGPT you are using before you paste anything. On the individual plans (Free, Plus and Pro), OpenAI says it may use your conversations to train its models unless you turn off "Improve the model for everyone" under Settings > Data controls. On ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, OpenAI says it does not use inputs or outputs to train its models by default. Whichever plan you use, the same habits apply:
- Remove names and identifiers. Write "Employee A" and "Manager B". Leave out health information, pay of named people, disciplinary history and anything about protected characteristics.
- Check every fact. ChatGPT can state wrong things confidently, including about employment law. Anything legal goes to counsel.
- Keep decisions with people. Use AI to draft a review or a shortlist, not to choose a rating, a hire or a dismissal.
- Check for bias in the output, not only the input. Prompt 16 is worth running on any AI-drafted review.
- Write it down. An AI use policy (prompt 32) tells employees which tools are approved and what never goes into them.
Hiring tools that use AI are also regulated in some places. The AI for HR guide covers the rules HR teams most often run into.
From prompts to a working system
Prompts you copy and paste each time stay one-off tasks. The next step is to save the context once: a short set of documents about your company, your policies and your writing style that the AI reads before every task, plus written-down instructions for the jobs you repeat. Effy AI publishes these as free skills, for example building a career framework and an onboarding plan for a new hire, and the free AI for HR course walks through the setup step by step.
For performance reviews, a dedicated tool removes most of the prompting. Effy AI, our own product, generates review forms and written summaries, with bias checks and quality nudges on written feedback; it's free for up to 5 users and starts at $3 per seat a month. The alternatives are compared in performance review software and, for peer reviews, best 360 feedback tools. The wider market of HR tools with AI built in is in AI HR software, and the platforms for skills and career plans are in employee development software. Under 300 employees, performance management software for small business filters the list by seat minimums and price.
The short version
Good ChatGPT prompts for HR state the context, the task, the inputs, the constraints and the format. Use them to draft job descriptions, onboarding plans, reviews, surveys and policies; remove names before you paste; and keep every decision about a person with a person.
