“I read your website” is the worst signal. A good research prompt finds the specific 3 facts that matter (product decision, market move, recent change) and turns them into interview ammo.
Who this is for
Candidates preparing for interviews, networkers pitching to a target company, salary negotiators understanding leverage.
When not to use these prompts
Don’t use these as final research without verifying — AI hallucinates company details. Don’t use them when LinkedIn / 10-K / recent news will tell you more.
Prompt anatomy / structure formula
Every company research prompt should carry six elements:
- Role: candidate, hiring manager, recruiter — name the persona AI plays.
- Context: target role, company, level, your background.
- Goal: one deliverable — analysis, script, answer, plan.
- Constraints: word count, banned phrases, must-include facts.
- Tone: confident / curious / measured — 2-3 anchors.
- Examples: paste 1-2 of your past answers or sample tone.
Best for
- Pre-interview briefing
- Cover letter “Why us” prep
- Pre-recruiter call
- Final-round panel prep
- Salary research baseline
12 copy-ready prompt templates
1. 60-minute briefing
Company: `{company}`. Write a 60-minute research briefing: (1) What they make + for whom, (2) Stage / size / funding, (3) 3 specific recent moves (product / hire / partnership), (4) Strategic risks they face, (5) 3 questions an inside engineer might be debating right now. Don't invent — say "[verify]" where uncertain.Variables to swap: company
2. 3 things you can name
Find 3 specific things about `{company}` I can name in interview: a shipped feature, a public talk / blog, a recent hire / departure. For each: source link + how I'd connect it to my background.Variables to swap: company
3. Product / market position
Map `{company}` against 3 competitors. For each axis (target audience, pricing, scope, geography), note who wins. Output the position they'd describe themselves as vs the position competitors might describe them as.Variables to swap: company
4. Culture signals
From these public sources `{sources}` (engineering blog, hiring page, glassdoor highlights), extract 5 culture signals (decision-making, hours, transparency, growth path, conflict). Mark each: well-supported / weak.Variables to swap: sources
5. Team I’m joining
Within `{company}`, the team is `{team}`, led by `{leader}`. From public signals (blog, talks, LinkedIn posts), what does this leader value? What's their recent focus? Anything they've published I should reference?Variables to swap: company, team, leader
6. Recent news brief
Last 90 days: what newsworthy events at `{company}`? Funding, hires, departures, launches, controversy. For each: link + relevance to my role. Skip routine PR.Variables to swap: company
7. Strategic risks
What are 3 strategic risks `{company}` faces in the next 12-24 months? (Competitor, regulatory, hiring, churn.) For each: how my role could be part of addressing it.Variables to swap: company
8. Questions to ask interviewer
Based on my research, generate 8 questions to ask interviewers at `{company}`. Vary: strategic, role-specific, team-specific, personal-growth, culture-test. Skip questions answered on their website.Variables to swap: company
9. Pre-recruiter brief
Generate a 1-page brief for my recruiter call: (1) Company TL;DR, (2) What I find compelling, (3) 1 question I want answered, (4) 1 concern to validate, (5) Salary range from my own research.10. Talking-points for final round
Final-round panel at `{company}`. From my research, prep 4 talking points: (a) something I'd build first, (b) a problem I notice from outside, (c) a question for the highest-level interviewer, (d) a tactful follow-up to ask after.Variables to swap: company
11. 10-K / public filings angle
If `{company}` is public, summarise their last 10-K / annual report in 6 bullets: revenue mix, growth rate, biggest risks, segment shifts, R&D priorities, exec changes. Identify the 1 metric most relevant to my role.Variables to swap: company
12. Fact-check pass
My current research notes: {notes}. Flag every specific claim (date, number, name) that I should verify before walking in. Output a verify-list ordered by interview impact.Variables to swap: notes
Common mistakes
- No specific context (company / role / level) — output is generic.
- Asking AI to “be honest” without your actual record — it confabulates.
- Same answer for every company — interviewers compare notes.
- No tone anchor — answers land flat.
- Skipping fact-checks — AI invents dates / numbers / titles.
- Treating first draft as final — first drafts read AI-flavoured.
- No peer / mentor review — feedback loop missing.
How to push results further
- Paste real examples to anchor AI to YOUR voice.
- Ask AI to play interviewer first; weak answers reveal themselves.
- Write 3 drafts; ship the third.
- Always read aloud.
- Save successful phrasings in a personal bank.
- Have a peer in the role review.
- Time-box practice — fatigue makes you worse.
Practical depth notes
Use these prompts as starting points, not final answers. For Company Research Prompts: 12 Templates for Interview-Ready Background, the useful extra work is to replace every generic placeholder with a real constraint: audience, channel, length, brand voice, examples to imitate, and examples to avoid. Run at least two versions with different constraints, then compare the outputs side by side instead of accepting the first polished response.
A good result should pass three checks: it is specific enough that another person could reuse it, it avoids vague praise or filler, and it gives you an editable artifact rather than a broad suggestion. If the output feels generic, add one concrete reference, one forbidden pattern, and one measurable success criterion before rerunning the prompt. Before saving a prompt as reusable, test it on one realistic input and one edge case. The realistic input proves the template can produce the normal deliverable; the edge case shows whether it handles messy constraints, missing context, or an unusual audience. Keep the better output, but also keep the failed version with a note on what was missing. That small failure log is what turns a prompt collection from a list of nice sentences into a practical working library.
FAQ
- Can recruiters tell AI-written answers?: Yes when generic. Specifics are the antidote.
- How much research is enough?: 60-90 minutes for an important interview. Beyond, returns diminish.
- When to start salary research?: Before applying. Negotiation that begins after the offer is weak.
- Should I use levels.fyi / Glassdoor numbers?: Yes as a baseline, with caveats. Validate against 2-3 sources.
- How to keep prep notes organised?: One doc per company: research, questions to ask, story bank fits.
- How often to refresh research before final?: Quick re-scan day of interview — news / launches in the past week.
Related
- Behavioral question prompts
- Tell me about yourself prompts
- Networking outreach prompts
- Recruiter reply prompts
- AI Company + Role Research
- AI Organize Market Research
- Career & Interview Prompts hub
Tags: #Prompt #Job search #Research