AI Prompting for HR Leaders

HR Leaders: your ChatGPT results are only as good as your prompts. 

Organizations are rapidly adopting AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini for everything from screening resumes, analyzing employee data to enabling service delivery. But here’s what I’ve learned: the difference between general vs action-driven AI output isn’t the tool—it’s how you write an effective prompt to generate relevant responses.

Here are some common mistakes:

🔹Mixing everything

Saying “Create a performance management system including goal-setting templates, review forms, manager training materials, and employee development plans.”

🔹Context Amnesia

Forgetting to mention your company size, industry, or culture. AI doesn’t know you’re a 50-person startup versus a Fortune 500 enterprise.

🔹One-and-Done Syndrome

Accepting the first response without iterating. The magic happens in the follow-up prompts.

Here are some best practices for prompt creation:

→ Be Specific, Not Vague

Instead of “Write a job posting,” try “Create a job posting for a Senior Marketing Manager in fintech, emphasizing data-driven decision making and remote-first culture. Include salary range $120-140K and highlight our commitment to professional development”

→ Provide Context and Constraints

Always include your company size, industry, and specific parameters. “Our 500-person SaaS company needs to restructure our performance review process to reduce manager burden while maintaining quality feedback”

→ Use Role-Playing

Start with “Act as an experienced CHRO” or “Respond as an employment law expert.” This primes the AI to access relevant knowledge and tone.

→ Request Specific Formats

Don’t just ask for “ideas”—specify “Give me 5 bullet points,” “Create a table,” or “Write this as an email template.” Structure drives usability.

→ Iterate and Refine

Your first prompt is rarely your best. Follow up with “Make this more concise,” “Add legal compliance considerations,” or “Adjust the tone to be more empathetic.”

Getting Started:

1️⃣ Pick one routine HR task (e.g., candidate emails, policy updates, employee communication)

2️⃣ Write your current approach, then create a detailed prompt

3️⃣ Test with 2-3 variations and compare results

5️⃣ Build a library of your best-performing prompts

6️⃣ Never input confidential, sensitive or intellectual property information

Lastly but not least, to safely integrate and deploy an AI agent company-wide, we need three essentials:

↳ Clear governance and policies on what data employees can share with AI

↳ Enterprise contracts with AI company that prevent data from being used to train their models

↳ Secure architecture that keeps sensitive information in company systems while still enabling AI assistance

The one pager below provides 10 human capital prompts how to get started. 

What has been your experience when creating prompts?

Connect with me to discuss further.

Note: All views expressed in this article do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated. My opinions are my own.