AI Academy/Your first 8 weeks with AI
Your First 8 Weeks With AI: A Self Paced Plan for Recruiters
A week by week plan that turns the AI Recruiting Academy into habits: set up in weeks one and two, apply it to live reqs in weeks three to six, and take over the routine in weeks seven and eight. Tick boxes save in your browser.
- 8weeks
- 2to 3 hours a week
How the plan works
Reading about AI does not change how you recruit. Using it on real jobs does. This plan spreads the Academy over eight weeks in three stages: set up your tools and rules, apply AI to your live reqs one part of the desk at a time, then take over the routine so it runs every week.
Tick each step as you finish it. Your ticks are saved in this browser only, so use the same device to come back. Every week ends with one thing to try on a live req.
Tick the steps as you go. Your progress is saved in this browser.
Stage 1: Set up (weeks 1 and 2)
Get the basics, the right plan and your own rules in place before you touch candidate data.
Week 1: Foundations
- Read: What is AI in recruiting?
- Read: What is a large language model, and what does it get wrong?
- Read: Chatbot vs copilot vs AI agent
- Read Module 8, Lesson 1 and pick your assistant and plan. Switch off model training if you are on a personal plan.
- Read: What candidate data can you put into ChatGPT? Write down your own three rules.
- Live req: ask your assistant to explain the role you are hiring for as if you were new to the industry. Note one thing it got wrong.
Week 2: Prompts, projects and your playbook
- Read: How do you write AI prompts for recruiting?
- Read: How does AI connect to your recruiting tools?
- Build your playbook with the recruiting playbook builder.
- Read Module 8, Lesson 2 and create a project for your hardest open req with your playbook inside.
- Save five prompts you will use from the prompt library.
- Live req: run the intake prompts on your next intake meeting or on an old one.
Stage 2: Apply together (weeks 3 to 6)
One part of the desk each week, always on a real job. Keep a note of the minutes saved; you will need it in week 7.
Week 3: Finding candidates
- Read: What is AI sourcing?
- Read: Semantic search vs Boolean search
- Read: What is contact data enrichment?
- Read: How does AI rediscover candidates already in your database?
- Live req: use the Boolean prompts and your playbook titles to build one search, and search your own database before the open market.
Week 4: Outreach
- Read: How do you personalize outreach with AI without landing in spam?
- Check your sending domain with the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker.
- Live req: draft ten messages with the outreach prompts, run them through the spam checker, edit each one yourself and send.
Week 5: Screening and interviews
- Read: What is AI resume screening?
- Read: What is an AI interviewer?
- Read: What does an AI note taker do in an interview?
- Read: How does AI interview scheduling work?
- Read: What is candidate fraud?
- Live req: build a scorecard and a screening call plan with the screening prompts, and use them on your next call.
Week 6: Risk, law and candidates’ own AI
- Read: How does bias get into AI hiring tools?
- Read: What is an AI bias audit?
- Read: Which AI hiring laws apply to you?
- Read: What should you tell candidates about AI?
- Read Module 7, starting with how candidates use AI to apply.
- Live req: write the AI notice for this job’s application page and check which laws apply to where the role is based.
Stage 3: Take over (weeks 7 and 8)
Turn what worked into a routine that runs every week, and prove it was worth it.
Week 7: Measure and expand
- Read: How do you measure the ROI of AI in recruiting?
- Read Module 8, Lesson 3 and run a funnel analysis on one req’s export.
- Read Module 6 and pick one more part of the desk to use AI on: job ads, references, offers or business development.
- Read: How do you build an AI recruiting stack on a small budget? Cancel anything you did not use in weeks 3 to 6.
- Live req: write up the minutes saved per week so far and what you did with the time.
Week 8: Automate and hand over to the routine
- Read Module 8, Lesson 4 on scheduled tasks.
- Read Module 8, Lesson 5 and check your stack with the MCP readiness checker.
- Read Module 8, Lesson 6 on AI teammates such as Grok Bot, and decide whether one job on your desk needs one.
- Set up one of the automation recipes and read its first three runs closely.
- Update the weekly routine in your playbook so the new habits have a fixed day.
- Read: Will AI replace recruiters? Pick the skill you will spend the saved time on.
- Live req: run the whole week for one req with your project, prompts and automation in place, and compare it with week 1.
Quick answers
How much time does this take?
Plan on two to three hours a week: about an hour of reading and the rest applying it to a live req. Some weeks will take longer the first time you set something up.
Can I go faster?
Yes, but do not skip the live req steps. They are what make the reading stick.
Where are my ticks saved?
Only in this browser on this device. Nothing is sent to Work Insiders. Clearing your browser data removes them.
Can a team do this together?
Yes. Pick one live req per person, meet for fifteen minutes at the end of each week and share what worked. Shared projects make that easier on team plans.