I worked with a client last month who had a frustrating pattern.
She was landing final round interviews consistently. Getting down to her and one other candidate. Then losing out every single time.
“I feel like I’m always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” she told me.
Sound familiar?
The problem wasn’t her experience or qualifications. Companies were clearly interested enough to bring her to the final rounds.
The issue was her interview performance. And she had no idea what was going wrong.
Most people think they can “wing” interviews because they’re good speakers. But interviewing is a game of preparation, not natural talent.
Here’s what we changed:
She started recording her side of every interview using her phone’s voice memo app. Then she’d review the recordings afterward.
💡 Just pop your phone on your desk and turn it on. Super low-tech
But if you want to get fancy, you can also record with apps like Otter.ai (free to start).
Within three interviews, she caught the patterns. She was rambling on technical questions. Underselling her achievements. Not connecting her answers to what they actually needed.
And here’s where AI became her secret weapon.
She’d upload her interview transcripts to ChatGPT Study Mode and ask: “What could I improve about these answers?”
Unlike regular ChatGPT, Study Mode doesn’t just give you the answer. It asks more questions and forces you to think for yourself. It can help explain why certain responses work better and pushes you to think through improvements yourself.
Bonus points: After every rejection, she always asked for feedback. She only got a response 25% of the time, but now she can feed that into ChatGPT to further sharpen her approach.
Start with your next interview:
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Record your side of the interview
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Load it to ChatGPT Study Mode
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Prompt with questions and new approaches to improve
🛌 Spotlight: Airbnb
🔬 Deep research is the secret to standing out in your application, cover letter, and interviews. Every newsletter, I’ll do that research for you with one company with open roles from this newsletter, so you can skip the work and improve your application.
🏢 What they do:
Online platform for booking unique stays, experiences, and connecting with local communities
📍 Headquarters:
San Francisco, CA
👤 Employee count:
64327
📈 Employee growth:
36% YoY growth (47391 → 64327 employees)
🗒️ Company reviews:
4.2/5 ★ rating (2,298 reviews) | 88% CEO approval
💸 Funding stage:
Exited
⚔️ Competitors:
Booking.com, Vrbo / Expedia Group, Traditional hotels / hotel chains, TripAdvisor / other travel marketplaces
📓 Three key initiatives:
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Airbnb 2025 Summer Release: Company-described release that highlights Airbnb Services, expanded Experiences, and an all-new Airbnb app as product/experience priorities (release frames Services/Experiences and app redesign as strategic product focus) Source: Airbnb Newsroom
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Airbnb.org / emergency housing: Continued emphasis on Airbnb.org emergency housing and community-response programs (used for disaster response such as Hurricane Melissa) Source: Airbnb Newsroom
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Focus on demand management & guidance to investors: Company financial communications (Q3 2025) and investor commentary emphasize demand trends and growth pacing as operating priorities Source: Airbnb Newsroom; Reuters (market reaction)
✈️ Remote work stance:
Airbnb offers a fully remote “Live and Work Anywhere” policy! 🌎
Employees can work from almost anywhere, with the company supporting remote work through destination partnerships and a “20 destinations supporting remote work” initiative. Teams meet regularly for gatherings, off-sites, and social events, though there are some geographic limitations as employees cannot be located in Alaska, Mississippi, and North Carolina due to legal and entity constraints.
🤖 Featured AI Tool: Claude Resume Rewriter Skill
In today’s market, your resume needs to work twice as hard to get noticed in crowded applicant pools. I’ve created a Claude skill to help with rewriting my client’s resume bullets into powerful impact statements that align perfectly with job descriptions.
This custom prompt transforms each bullet into a three-part formula:
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The measurable impact you delivered
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What specific action you took
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How you accomplished it
Remember: recruiters spend mere seconds scanning resumes. Impact bullets immediately communicate your value, making it clear why you’re worth interviewing even without face-to-face interaction.
Quick-Start Guide:
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Copy your existing resume bullet points
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Copy the JD of the role you’re applying for
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Ask Claude: “Transform these bullets into impact statements showing the result, what I did, and how I did it, based on this job description
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Review and personalize the AI suggestions
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Once you start producing good results, turn it into a skill (make sure you have Skills enabled in your settings)