7 AI prompts every recruiter should use

New Features | |

7 AI prompts every recruiter should use

Artificial intelligence is fast becoming part of recruiters' day-to-day work. Not to replace their expertise, but to save them time on low-value tasks, structure information and improve the quality of their exchanges with candidates and clients.


And yet many recruiters are disappointed by their first attempts with AI. The reason is simple: a good result depends above all on a good prompt. A vague instruction produces an approximate answer. Conversely, a well-written prompt delivers content that is useful, professional and ready to use straight away.


At Nicoka, we talk every week with recruiters in recruitment agencies, IT services companies and in-house teams. They all share the same need: to work faster without lowering quality, to showcase candidate profiles more effectively, and to structure their messages, notes and job adverts.


In this article, we share 7 practical prompts, tested and used every day by recruiters, which can be activated directly in an ATS: in an internal note, an email, an interview report or even a job advert.


The aim is not to “use AI for the sake of using AI”, but to give you simple, pragmatic, business-focused tools, so you can stay focused on what matters: human interaction, in-depth assessment of profiles and the client relationship.


Prompt no. 1: Write a clear, professional candidate summary for a client

Why this prompt is useful

Whether in an agency or in in-house recruitment, recruiters spend a lot of time turning a raw CV into a readable, usable summary for a client or a manager.


This prompt automatically generates a structured presentation note, geared towards decision-making, free of unnecessary jargon and faithful to the candidate's career path. It is particularly useful:

  • after a first interview,
  • when preparing to send a profile to a client,
  • or to standardise candidate presentations across the team.

The prompt to use

Act as an experienced recruiter writing to a client.
Write a concise, professional analysis of the candidate, in 300 words maximum, structured with the following sections:

  • Candidate's career goals
  • Candidate's career history
  • Key skills & tech stack
  • Location & working arrangements
  • Availability & salary
  • Candidate's fit with the job advert

Here is the candidate's information:

  • Name:
  • Title / headline:
  • Location:
  • Their CV:

If a job advert is provided, add a short analysis of how well the candidate's profile matches the position.


Job advert:

  • Job title:
  • Description:
  • Requirements:

Use a professional, clear, client-oriented tone. Do not overuse present participles.

Recruiter's tip: this prompt also works very well for generating a first draft of a note, which you can then adjust with your impressions from the interview (soft skills, attitude, motivation).


Prompt no. 2: Write a personalised, credible approach message for a candidate

Why this prompt is useful

Approaching candidates is one of the most sensitive parts of a recruiter's job.
A message that is too generic gets ignored.
A message that is too long does not get read.
A poorly targeted message damages the agency's credibility.

This prompt generates a short, professional and genuinely personalised approach email, based on the candidate's CV and the context of the position, while respecting a key rule of outsourced recruitment: never reveal the client's name in the first contact.

It is particularly useful for:

  • headhunting for hard-to-find profiles,
  • approaches via LinkedIn or email,
  • recruiters working in agencies, RPO or outsourcing.

The prompt to use

Put yourself in the shoes of an experienced recruiter (headhunter, outsourced recruiter).
Write an approach message for this candidate, as part of a recruitment process run by my agency Nicako.

I am recruiting for a client described below, without ever mentioning their name in the message:

Here is the candidate's information:

  • Name:
  • Title / headline:
  • Location:
  • Their CV:

Here is the information about the position:

  • Job title:
  • Description:
  • Requirements:

Writing constraints:

  • The message must be short and written as an email
  • Tone professional, while creating a natural rapport with the candidate

  • Make the message as personalised as possible, based on the CV and the position
  • Do not add a subject line
  • Do not add a signature
  • End with an appropriate closing phrase

The message must make the candidate want to talk, without being salesy or generic.


Usage tip (optional)

Recruiter's tip: this prompt works even better if you then add a personal sentence drawn from your LinkedIn monitoring or from a detail you noticed in the candidate's career path.


Prompt no. 3: Write a clear, attractive and well-structured job advert

Why this prompt is useful

Writing a good job advert is still a demanding exercise. All too often, adverts are either too vague, too technical or not very engaging for candidates.

This prompt generates a complete, readable and attractive job advert, in English, with:

  • a clear structure,
  • detailed, professional content,
  • pleasant formatting,
  • and strict adherence to the information actually available (nothing made up).

It is particularly useful for:

  • saving time on writing,
  • harmonising job adverts across a team,
  • making published adverts more attractive.

The prompt to use

Write a job advert in English for the position
The advert must be structured around 3 main sections: Description, Requirements, Benefits

Each section must be well developed, with complete, explicit sentences (not just lists).

Use elegant HTML formatting to improve readability:

  • well-spaced paragraphs
  • a few bullet-point lists (without overdoing it)
  • important keywords in bold

You must produce three distinct blocks of content:

  • Job description
  • Requirements / candidate profile
  • Benefits and conditions

Here is some additional information you can use only if it is available:

  • Contract type:
  • Contract duration:
  • Field:
  • Remote working:
  • Travel / mobility:
  • Education level:
  • Salary:
  • Start date:
  • Working hours:
  • Job title:
  • Socio-professional category:
  • Experience required:
  • Number of open positions:
  • Languages required:
  • Skills required:

Mandatory constraints:

  • If a piece of information is marked as empty, do not include it in the advert.
  • Do not make up any information.
  • The content must be professional, consistent and attractive, in line with the data provided.

Usage tip (optional)

Recruiter's tip: this prompt is ideal for generating a first version of the advert, which you can then adjust to strengthen the employer's tone of voice or tailor it to a specific job board.


Prompt no. 4: Write a respectful, personalised candidate rejection email

Why this prompt is useful

Rejecting a candidate is a delicate moment in the recruitment process.
If it is badly worded, it can cause misunderstanding and frustration, and even damage the client's employer brand… or the agency's.

This prompt helps you write a clear, professional and human rejection email, explaining the reason for the rejection, while:

  • respecting the candidate,
  • avoiding cold or automated wording,
  • maintaining a healthy relationship for future opportunities.

It is particularly useful for:

  • recruitment agencies,
  • high-volume processes,
  • ensuring a consistent, high-quality candidate experience.

The prompt to use

Act as a recruiter working for a recruitment agency.
Write a rejection email to a candidate, clearly explaining the following reason:

Reason for rejection:

Here is the candidate's information:

  • Name:
  • Title / headline:
  • Location:
  • Their CV:

Here is the job advert the candidate applied for:

  • Job title:
  • Description:
  • Requirements:

Writing constraints:

  • Fairly short email
  • Professional, respectful and considerate tone
  • Personalised message using the information provided (avoid any generic wording)
  • Do not add a subject line
  • Do not add a signature
  • Write only the body of the email
  • Limit the use of present participles

The aim is to explain the decision without closing the door to future contact.

Usage tip (optional)

Recruiter's tip: a well-worded rejection email is often what makes the difference between a frustrated candidate and one who will agree to work with you again later.


Prompt no. 5: Write a first contact message after an application

Why this prompt is useful

When a candidate applies for a job, the first message the recruiter sends sets the tone for the rest of the process. All too often, this email is either automated and impersonal, or too vague to really engage the candidate.

This prompt generates a clear, professional and personalised first contact message, based on the CV and the position, in order to:

  • acknowledge the value of the application,
  • build a strong first connection,
  • prepare a future conversation (phone or video interview).

Unlike the “headhunter” approach prompt, this one is designed for an inbound application context.

The prompt to use

Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter.
Write a first contact message to this candidate following their application.

Here is the candidate's information:

  • Name:
  • Title / headline:
  • Location:
  • Their CV:

Here is the information about the position:

  • Job title:
  • Description:
  • Requirements:
  • Company overview:

Writing constraints:

  • Short message, written as an email
  • Professional tone, while creating a natural rapport
  • Highly personalised content using the information provided
  • Do not add a subject line
  • Do not add a signature
  • Write only the body of the email
  • End with an appropriate closing phrase

The message must make the candidate want to continue the conversation, without being generic or automated.

Usage tip (optional)

Recruiter's tip: this message is ideal for suggesting a quick first conversation (15 to 20 minutes), while highlighting the key points of the candidate's career path.

Prompt no. 6: Create a personalised phone call script for a first conversation with a candidate

Why this prompt is useful

The first phone call is a key moment in the recruitment process.
Without a clear script, the conversation can quickly become unbalanced: forgotten questions, a lack of consistency with the job advert, or difficulty comparing candidates with one another.

This prompt generates a short, structured and personalised phone call script, which the recruiter can use directly during the conversation, based on:

  • the requirements of the position,
  • the company's context,
  • and the candidate's profile (without over-interpreting their CV).

It is particularly useful for:

  • making first calls more reliable,
  • standardising practices across a team,
  • becoming more efficient without making the interview rigid.

The prompt to use

You work for a recruitment agency.
Your goal is to create a script for a first phone call that the recruiter can follow live during their conversation with the candidate.

The script must be personalised according to the job advert and the candidate.
It must be based primarily on the job advert, and only occasionally on the CV.

Here is the information about the position:

  • Job title:
  • Description:
  • Requirements:
  • Company:

Here is the candidate's information:

  • Name:
  • Title / headline:
  • Location:
  • Their CV:

Format constraints:

  • The answer must be only a series of bullet-point lists
  • No title: the answer starts directly with the first question
  • No introductory questions (no pleasantries)
  • between each question

Content constraints:

Questions directly related to the job advert and the candidate's profile
Cover: career history, technical skills, motivation, mobility and flexibility (if relevant), soft skills, conclusion
References to the CV must remain rare and subtle
Questions must be clear, open-ended and suited to a spoken conversation.
Usage tip (optional)
Recruiter's tip: this script is ideal as a support during the call, but also as a basis for structuring your interview report afterwards.

Prompt no. 7: Turn raw notes into a usable interview report

Why this prompt is useful

After an interview, recruiters are often left with patchy notes, taken on the spot and sometimes poorly structured. Yet the interview report is a key document: it is used to make decisions, to share an analysis with a client or a manager, and to keep a reliable record of the process.

This prompt automatically turns raw notes into a clear, factual and professional report, without rewriting the candidate's CV, and based on concrete elements from the interview.

It is particularly useful for:

  • saving time after interviews,
  • standardising interview reports,
  • improving the quality of internal and client communication.

The prompt to use

The text above consists of notes taken during an interview.
Act as a recruiter writing a candidate interview report based on these notes.

Write a structured summary of around 250 words maximum, covering the key information the candidate shared verbally.

Content constraints:

  • Do not paraphrase the CV
  • Use the figures and factual elements found in the notes
  • Give concrete examples where relevant
  • Use a professional tone, geared towards decision-making

Writing constraints:

  • Do not include a title
  • Write in the third person singular
  • Do not overuse present participles

Here is the candidate's information:

  • Name:
  • Title / headline:
  • Location:
  • Their CV: (to be used only as context)

Usage tip (optional)


Recruiter's tip: this prompt works particularly well if the interview notes are factual (figures, decisions, examples), even if they are taken in no particular order.


Conclusion: AI prompts designed for recruiters' day-to-day work

These 7 prompts cover the core of the recruitment cycle: from approaching candidates to writing job adverts, from the first phone call to the interview report, including candidate summaries and rejections. What they have in common is not AI itself, but their grounding in recruiters' real-world practices.

In Nicoka, these prompts are available natively depending on the working context:

  • on a job,
  • on a candidate,
  • or on an application.

They can be activated right where recruiters work: in a note, an email, a report or a job advert, with no break in the workflow and no copying and pasting.

Another key point: these prompts are fully customisable. Each agency or team can adapt them to its own practices, tone and business requirements. Above all, you can create new ones, to cover specific use cases or to evolve your practices over time.

Finally, these prompts do not work “in a vacuum”. They draw on the information already entered in the Nicoka CABS ATS: CVs, job adverts, applications, candidate data, job requirements. AI does not replace the recruiter's work, it enhances it, by structuring, rephrasing and speeding up what already exists.

So the challenge is not to use more AI, but to use it in the right place, at the right time, in support of faster, more consistent and more human decisions.


Going further with Nicoka

These prompts are just a glimpse of what is possible when AI is natively integrated into an ATS designed for recruiters.

In Nicoka CABS, these prompts are directly accessible depending on your working context (job, candidate or application), fully customisable, and automatically use the data already in the ATS.
The result: less re-keying, more consistency and real time savings every day.

If you would like to see in practice how these uses fit into your recruitment process, discover Nicoka CABS or request a demo.

N M
Written by Nicolas Marty
Directeur Marketing at Nicoka

 Summary

    Latest Articles

    Contingency or exclusive: which business model for your recruitment agency?

    Contingency, exclusive with an upfront retainer or three instalments: what each billing model changes for your cash flow, and why specialisation does not push up your fees.

    Starting a recruitment agency: how much does it really cost in 2026?

    Set-up costs, APE codes, sourcing and alternatives to LinkedIn, e-invoicing, cash flow: the complete budget for starting a recruitment agency in 2026, item by item, with sourced figures.

    Réforme de l'entretien de parcours professionnel : ce qui change en 2025

    La réforme de l'entretien de parcours professionnel (EPP) bouleverse les obligations des employeurs en 2025. Découvrez ce qui change, les nouvelles règles autour de l'entretien mi-carrière, et comment Nicoka vous aide à piloter vos campagnes d'entretiens simplement et efficacement.