Guides › Careers
Walk into every interview with a research brief
A one-page brief on the organisation, the role and your best examples, ready in your calendar before each interview.
When to use it
Two days before each interview
Step by step
Add interviews to your calendar
Put each interview in Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar with the company, role and a link to the job ad in the description.
Gather public information
Read the organisation's website About page, recent news and the job ad. Copy anything useful. AI assistants that can search the web can help, but check what they find.
Build the brief
Paste the material and your CV into your AI assistant with this prompt.
Prompt to copyCreate a one-page interview brief. Role: [paste job ad]. What I've found about the organisation: [paste website text and news]. My CV: [paste, without contact details]. Include: what the organisation does and its current priorities in 3 bullets, what the role really needs in 5 bullets, my 4 best matching examples from my CV with the requirement each one shows, 3 likely tough questions with notes on how I could answer, and 5 thoughtful questions I could ask them. Use only facts from what I've pasted.Attach it to the event
Save the brief as a Google Doc or Word file and attach or link it in the calendar event so it's there on the day.
What you get
Riverside Trust: runs 3 community centres, just won funding for a youth programme. Role needs: event planning, volunteer management, reporting. Your example: organised 6 summer fun days with 40 volunteers. Ask them: 'How will success in the youth programme be measured?'
Tips
- Check the organisation's own website for the latest facts. AI can mix up organisations with similar names.
- Read the brief once the night before, not five minutes before.