Blog, Career Advice, September 2026

Brian, an operations director with an excellent record and genuinely strong answers to prepare, decided to leave nothing to chance ahead of a senior interview. He asked ChatGPT to generate answers to the twenty most common interview questions, then memorised them word for word. In the actual interview, his answers were technically strong — but they came out exactly as written, with the same rhythm and phrasing regardless of what was actually asked. The interviewer later gave feedback that the conversation had felt ‘rehearsed’ and hard to have a natural back-and-forth with. Brian didn’t get the offer, despite having every qualification the role required. The substance was there. The delivery worked against him.

Use AI to research, not to script

AI is genuinely useful for interview preparation — but the highest-value use isn’t generating answers to memorise. It’s research: understanding the company’s likely priorities, the specific pressures of the role, and the kinds of questions someone in that seat would realistically be asked. Use AI to build your understanding of the conversation you’re walking into, then prepare your own answers from that understanding.

Pro tip: Ask AI to summarise the company’s recent public priorities from their website or news, then prepare answers that speak directly to them.

Turn AI into a mock interviewer, not a quiz generator

Instead of asking AI for a list of questions, ask it to actually interview you — one question at a time, responding to what you say, and pushing back or asking follow-ups the way a real interviewer would. This forces you to think on your feet and refine your answers through practice, rather than reading and memorising a static script.

Pro tip: Ask AI explicitly to ‘challenge my weakest answer and ask a tough follow-up,’ rather than simply generating more questions.

Build story banks, not memorised scripts

Rather than writing out full answers to specific anticipated questions, build a bank of five or six strong stories from your career — each with a clear situation, action and result — that you can adapt to whatever’s actually asked. This keeps your answers grounded in real substance while staying flexible enough to sound natural, whatever direction the conversation takes.

Pro tip: For each story, note the one sentence you’d use to introduce it — not the whole script.

Practise the delivery, not just the content

Once your substance is solid, the remaining work is entirely about delivery — tone, pacing, natural pauses, and sounding like yourself. Record yourself answering a few questions out loud and watch it back. You’ll notice immediately where you sound stiff or over-rehearsed, and you can adjust tone rather than wording.

Pro tip: Practise your stories in different orders and phrasings each time — if you can only say it one way, it’s memorised, not understood.

Interview substance gets you shortlisted. Delivery is what gets you the offer. If you’d like to practise with a real person before your next interview, KETH’s interview coaching sessions are built exactly for this.

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