ChatGPT for HR: Two Ways to Cut the Writing Workload
Every HR person I meet in class has the same two piles on their desk. One is writing that has to go out the door and sound professional — a job posting, a policy update, a note to a manager who asked the same question for the third time. The other is reading: a forty-page handbook, a benefits summary somebody needs translated into plain English by Friday. Neither pile is hard. Both eat the whole afternoon, and both are the reason I get asked about ChatGPT for HR in just about every class I teach now.
The honest answer is that ChatGPT handles one of those piles well and Microsoft Copilot handles the other. They are not the same tool and they are not interchangeable. ChatGPT is better when you are starting from a blank page and you want several versions fast. Copilot is better when the answer is already sitting in a document or an inbox you own, and you want it pulled out and rewritten without leaving Word or Outlook.
ChatGPT for HR: Turn a Thin Job Description Into a Real Posting
Most job descriptions I see were written in 2014, copied from the last person who held the role, and are mostly a list of nouns. Rewriting one from scratch takes an hour. Rewriting one with a good prompt takes about four minutes.
Open ChatGPT, paste the old description, and type something close to this:
You are an experienced HR generalist. Below is an outdated job description. Rewrite it as a job posting for an external careers page. Keep every duty that is actually in the original — do not invent responsibilities, tools, certifications, or salary. Use a short intro paragraph, then "What you'll do" as 6 bullets starting with action verbs, then "What we're looking for" split into Required and Nice to have. Flag anything in the original that is vague or that I should confirm with the hiring manager. Plain language, no corporate filler.
The two sentences that do the real work are “do not invent” and “flag anything vague.” Without the first, these tools will cheerfully add a degree requirement or a software package that nobody asked for. With the second, you get a short list at the bottom — “the original says ‘manage vendor relationships’ but does not say how many vendors or whether this role has signing authority” — which is usually the exact list of questions you were going to email the hiring manager anyway.
Follow it up with: Now give me 8 phone screen questions based only on the Required section, and tell me what a strong answer sounds like for each. That is your screening sheet, done.
The gotcha: never paste a real resume, a candidate’s contact information, a performance review, or anything from an employee file into a consumer chatbot account. Job descriptions are public-facing documents, which is why they are a safe place to start. For anything with a real person’s name on it, stay inside tools your company has approved and licensed.
Let Copilot Rewrite Your Handbook Policy as a Plain-English FAQ
The second pile is the reading pile, and this one belongs to Copilot because the source document is already yours.
Open a blank document in Word. On the Home tab, click Copilot, then choose Draft with Copilot. In the prompt box there is a small paperclip or “Reference your content” button — click it and point it at your handbook file, or type a forward slash and start typing the file name. Then ask for this:
Using the parental leave section of the attached handbook, write an employee-facing FAQ of 8 questions and answers. Use the words employees actually use, not the policy language. Quote the exact eligibility rules and waiting periods from the document. If the handbook does not answer a question, say "check with HR" rather than guessing.
What comes back is a draft FAQ grounded in your actual document rather than generic internet policy, and it lands in an editable Word file instead of a chat window you have to copy out of. The same move works on a benefits summary, a travel policy, or a code of conduct.
The gotcha: Copilot can only reference a file it can reach — that means the handbook needs to live in OneDrive or SharePoint, not on your C: drive or an attachment you never saved. If the file picker cannot see your document, that is almost always the reason. And read the eligibility numbers it quotes against the source before anything goes out. Grounding reduces invention; it does not eliminate it.
Plenty more on the calendar
If you want to watch both of these done live, with HR examples the whole way through, I am running CoPilot and ChatGPT for HR Professionals on Thursday, October 8. We cover job postings and screening questions, handbook and policy rewrites, summarizing long candidate email threads, and where the line is on employee data.
The full current schedule is on the front page of PCWebinars.com, with new dates going up as they are confirmed. Register for this one, or have a look through the rest and find the session that matches the pile on your own desk.
About your trainer
I’m Tom Fragale. I’ve been a computer trainer and consultant for more than 30 years, and I’ve taught well over 30,000 people how to get more out of the software they already own — Excel, Access, Power BI, Word, Outlook, and now the AI tools that sit on top of all of it: Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot. My background is applied, not theoretical. Alongside teaching, I build real databases and reporting systems for clients in Excel, Access, and Power BI, so the examples I use in class are the problems I ran into last week, not textbook exercises. I also publish free tutorials on YouTube and longer courses online.
You can find every upcoming live session, along with recordings and course material, at PCWebinars.com.
