AI prompts for your first 90 days in a new job

The first few weeks in a new job are a strange mix. You want to look capable, but you don't yet know how things actually work there. Most new-starter advice is generic, because it has to be. AI is useful here precisely because it isn't generic: tell it your role, your manager and your real worries, and it builds a plan around your situation instead of a template.

This guide covers the plan itself, and the smaller, harder-to-script moments around it: small talk with people you've just met, asking someone to mentor you, and sending a message to someone you want to know.

Start with a 90-day plan

A good plan splits the time into stages instead of listing generic advice for "the first month". The 90-day plan prompt does this:

Create a 90-day plan for my new role.

Role: [ROLE] at [COMPANY]
Manager: [NAME AND STYLE]
What success looks like (as far as I know): [GOALS]
My worries: [WORRIES]

Split into days 1-30 (learn), 31-60 (contribute), 61-90 (own something). Include people to meet, questions to ask my manager, quick wins and how to track progress. Realistic for one person.

Two details make this prompt work better than "help me start my new job well":

• Naming your manager's style. A manager who wants daily updates needs a different plan from one who wants to be left alone until you have a question. If you don't know yet, say that, and ask the AI to include a question that finds out in week one.
• Naming your actual worries. "I'm worried I won't understand the codebase" or "I'm worried I'll be compared to the person who left" changes what the plan should cover. A generic plan skips straight past the thing you're actually anxious about.

The prompt card's own tip is worth repeating: show the plan to your manager in week one and ask what they'd change. A plan nobody else has seen is just your guess at what the job needs.

If you're the one bringing someone else on

The same idea works from the other side. If you manage someone starting soon, the onboarding plan for a new hire prompt builds the structure for you:

Create a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan for a new [ROLE] joining [TEAM] at [COMPANY TYPE].

Include what to set up before day one, a first-week schedule, people to meet, learning goals, small early wins, check-in points with the manager and how success will be judged at 30, 60 and 90 days.

Assign a buddy who isn't the manager. New starters ask a buddy the questions they'd feel silly asking their boss.

Small talk, without sounding scripted

Knowing what to say to colleagues you've just met is harder than it sounds, especially in a new office where you don't yet know the shared jokes or the unwritten rules. The small talk starters prompt gives you real material instead of generic icebreakers:

Give me small talk starters for [SITUATION, e.g. a networking event / wedding / a new office].

I feel: [E.G. SHY, AWKWARD]

Include 15 openers, follow-up questions, ways to move on gracefully, how to join a group and how to exit a conversation politely. Keep them natural and not scripted-sounding.

Ask open questions and follow up on what people actually say, rather than running through your prepared list. The AI's job here is to take the blank-mind panic out of it, not to give you a script to read from.

Finding a mentor

Most people put off asking someone to mentor them because they're not sure how to ask without sounding like they want too much, too soon. The ask someone to be your mentor prompt is built to keep the ask small:

Write a short message asking [NAME, ROLE] to mentor me.

How I know them or their work: [CONNECTION]
What I want to learn: [SPECIFIC GOAL]
What I can offer in return: [OFFER]

Keep it under 120 words, make it easy to say yes to a single 20-minute call, and do not flatter or overpromise. Include a subject line and one alternative shorter version for LinkedIn.

Ask for one specific, short conversation first. "Would you mentor me" is a big ask from someone who barely knows you yet. "Could I ask you one question over a 20-minute call" is much easier to say yes to, and it can turn into more over time.

Reaching out to people you don't know yet

New starters often have a reason to contact someone outside their immediate team: another department, a client, someone whose work they admire. The LinkedIn networking message prompt keeps it specific and short:

Write a LinkedIn connection message.

I am contacting: [NAME, ROLE, COMPANY]
Why them: [SPECIFIC REASON, e.g. their talk, post or career path]
What I want: [e.g. 15-minute chat, advice]
About me: [ONE LINE]

Give 3 versions under 300 characters each. Be specific, do not ask for a job, and make it easy to say yes. No flattery.

Mention something specific they wrote or did. A message that could have been sent to anyone usually gets ignored.

Putting it together

A sensible order for the first week: run the 90-day plan prompt first, since it tells you who you need to meet and talk to. Use the small talk prompt before any event or team lunch where you'll be meeting several people at once. Save the mentor and networking prompts for once you've settled in enough to know who you actually want to learn from, usually some time in the first month rather than day one.

Where to go from here

If the new job followed a career change, see AI prompts for a career change for the decision that got you here. Negotiating the offer itself is covered in AI salary negotiation prompts, and if the role means relocating, AI prompts for renting and moving house covers the move. All the prompts above are free in the job search prompts collection, and the prompt builder can adapt any of them to your own role.

Quick checklist

• Give the 90-day plan prompt your manager's style and your actual worries, not just your job title.
• Show the plan to your manager in week one and adjust it.
• Use the small talk prompt before group settings, not as a script to read from.
• Ask for one small, specific mentoring conversation before asking for an ongoing relationship.
• Keep networking messages short and specific to the person, not generic.

Prompts to try

Text & chat5 blanks to fillPlan your first 90 days in a new jobChatGPT · Gemini · Claude Text & chat3 blanks to fillOnboarding plan for a new hireChatGPT · Gemini · Claude Text & chat4 blanks to fillAsk someone to be your mentorChatGPT · Gemini · Claude Text & chat2 blanks to fillSmall talk starters for any situationChatGPT · Gemini · Claude Text & chat3 blanks to fillWrite a networking message on LinkedInChatGPT · Gemini · Claude

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