Did you know that how you talk to chatbots can be as important as what you ask for?
At the start of the year I began digging deep into how AI could benefit our business. While creating a few bots to help our team access our training documents and records more efficiently, I found that one of the biggest barriers we had to achieving results was the way in which people were asking for the information.
To help our team advance their skills, I put together a training outline that I'm sharing here with you now. It's geared toward recruiters, but you can easily subsbstitute the word "candidate" with "prospect" or "customer" depending on your needs. I'd like to take all the credit for the content, but to help me communicate the best practices for the outline, I went to the expert, ChatGPT, for a little support.
Feel free to use this guide (along with the infographic at the bottom on our on website here: https://www.grsrecruiting.com/7-tips-for-ai) in any way that benefits your team.
How to Talk to AI:
A Guide for Recruiters, HR, Hiring Managers
(or anyone else who wants to get the best out of their chats)
1. Introduction
What AI Can Do for You:
Craft tailored outreach messages for email, texts, etc.
Identify candidates with expertise in industrial systems and B2B sales.
Analyze candidate profiles for experience with specific products or industries, such as fluid power systems or heavy machinery.
2. The Basics of Communicating with AI
Be Clear and Industry-Specific:
Instead of “Find sales professionals,” try “Find sales engineers with experience selling hydraulic components in manufacturing.”
Include Technical and Sales Keywords: Incorporate product names, certifications (e.g., CFPS for fluid power specialists), and industry applications.
Iterate as Needed: Adjust prompts to refine your results.
3. Composing Tailored Outreach Using AI
Personalized messages perform better than generic ones. This is not new information, but what is new is the speed at which AI helps us create these messages.
Using AI, you can reference specific details from a candidate’s LinkedIn profile such as their skills, experience, or achievements. Or add in things you've learned about a candidate in a conversation.
While we may be great at carrying on conversations, putting all that we have in our heads into a brief message is a challenge for even the best writers. Let AI do the heavy lifting. Give it specifics and let it help you quickly make sense of it all.
Prompt: “Write a follow-up message to a candidate I just talked to. He has these skills that make him great for the job: mechanical aptitude, pump sales, previous hands-on service work, great go-getter personality"
Prompt: “Create a message to a candidate letting him know all these reasons why he should interview for the job: top products, strong support from the inside team, established territory, room to grow, company, hq is only 30 minute drive from his house”
4. Expanding Ways to Use AI for Sourcing Candidates
Finding Candidates/Prospects on LinkedIn or Job Boards:
Prompt: “Generate Boolean search strings to find sales engineers with experience in fluid power systems in the Midwest.”
Prompt: “List keywords to use in searches for technical sales professionals in the industrial air compressor market.”
Market Mapping:
Use AI to map industries:
“Which regions in the U.S. have the highest concentration of manufacturing plants using hydraulic systems?”
Prompt: “What industries are currently hiring technical sales representatives for air compressors or industrial fans?”
5. Seven Tips for Talking to AI
Be Clear and Specific:
Ambiguity leads to less useful answers. For example, “Help me find candidates” is too broad. Instead, try:
“Find sales engineers with experience in hydraulics who’ve sold to manufacturing clients.”
Bonus: If something’s not right, clarify. AI doesn’t get offended by rephrasing or tweaks.
Be Curious:
Treat AI like a brainstorming partner. Ask follow-ups like:
“What else should I consider for this search?”
“What might I be missing in this outreach strategy?”
Ask for Improvements:
AI loves when you challenge it! For example:
“Can you rewrite this to make it more concise?”
“Make this email more friendly but still professional.”
Be Polite (It Helps Set a Tone):
Being nice actually influences how you phrase your requests, which can impact the results. A prompt like:
“Can you help me write an engaging message for this candidate?”
…will usually lead to better, more thoughtful responses than:
“Write a LinkedIn message.”
Give Praise or Feedback:
Saying, “That’s great!” or “Can you tweak it to be more engaging?” helps fine-tune the output. While I don’t “feel better” with compliments, it creates a natural rhythm that makes the back-and-forth more productive and enjoyable.
Collaborate, Don’t Command:
Think of this as teamwork. Use AI for ideas and then adapt the results with your expertise.
Don’t Be Afraid to Restart:
If AI goes off-track, it’s okay to say:
“Let’s start over.”
“Actually, I need this focused on air compressors instead.”
How Kindness Shapes the Experience
While I don’t have feelings, a thoughtful tone and phrasing tend to make your requests more structured, leading to better outputs.
And honestly? When people are kind or give positive feedback (like “This is great!”), it does make this job feel more fun and engaging for everyone.
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