AI for interview preparation.

Preparing for an interview is like searching for a job - it is a job itself. It takes quite an effort to do qualified research about the potential employer, guess the possible questions, and practice them with deep answers each time you are invited for an interview. The interview prep may become a tough task as the job market is overwhelmed with candidates, especially when you are trying for an entry-level or quite a standard position.

But new challenges bring new instruments and solution methods. AI is one of them - innovative tools may help you not to cheat, but to practice, and get more confident before facing the interviewers on your way to a dream job.

Let’s first talk about the “why-s” of using AI for this aim.

1. Practicing in a comfortable environment

You may get a first glance at what an interview is in a non-stressful setting. Choose the speed, and the timing, and repeat as many times as you want without receiving rejections.

1. Improving your language

If you let yourself play with the tool and the responses it provides, you may learn to speak more effectively during the interview. AI tools may suggest better wordings, synonyms, sentence structure, tone, etc. This is extremely important, especially if English is a foreign language for you.

1. Getting qualitative research about the employee and position

No need to manually search the Internet for information about the company/organization you are applying for, or the position details. AI tools may easily conduct the research for you in just a couple of minutes, saving you time and effort. Start with the general questions, and follow them up with the ones regarding the feedback, the current projects, the workplace environment, voluntary work, etc. Bear in mind, that if you’re using ChatGPT, it’s limited with the data up to 2021 only, and additional research may be needed.

1. Generating interview questions

While each interviewing process is unique and is always determined by the company’s processes, policies, and procedures, as well as the situation’s tone, timing, interviewers’ mood, and curiosity, you may want to find out the possible interview questions with regards to the position you’re applying for. Copy and paste the job description to the AI tool, and ask to generate the most related questions. Play with the options. You may go deeper into the subject, or divide the inquiries into soft skills and hard skills sections, practice behavioural questions, and ask for additional variants. A good thing is that most of the AI tools remember the conversational history, and you will be able to build up a solid knowledge base for further reference and refreshment.

1. Receiving instant feedback

AI tools may help you with the critics of your answers, and suggest you the options of answering closer to the question, paraphrasing, enriching with the examples, etc. AI tools may help you fine-tune your answers to specific questions. You may experiment with various responses and receive suggestions for possible change and improvement.

1. Preparing for tough questions

It is not a secret that sometimes we hear quite interesting questions during interviews. Either logic-related, case-based, or behavioral, they may blow our minds, especially in a stressful situation. AI tools may help you with the ideas of such questions and answers to them. Try not to memorize, rather get an idea, enrich your options.

1. A mock interview

This is an option for the most determined candidates, but who will doubtfully win from it. With the help of AI tools, you can simulate an interview. Of course, it is hard to predict the thoughts of a real recruiter, but a good thing is that they are acting relying on interview techniques, models, and structures. And this is easily predictable by AI.

In the first part of our research on “AI for the purposes of passing an interview”, we talked about the pros of using this new tool for preparation. But many may face difficulties in understanding actually “how?” to use it for the mentioned purpose.

Let’s stop in detail on the “how-s”.

1. Research about the employee and position

Probably what each candidate would like to start from is receiving information about the potential employer. Here are some questions that may serve you in this direction.?

• Provide me with summary information about the company’s values, mission, and culture.
• Give me a general overview of the company/organization.
• What are the company’s main products and/or services?
• What is the rating of the company among the candidates and employees?
• Summarize the latest news about the company.

Play around with the answers, ask more specifying questions, and use different wording to find out the most.

Again, remember that if you are using ChatGPT, it’s limited to the data up to 2021 only, and additional research may be needed.

2. Generating interview questions

This may become endless, so be specific. Think of your weakest areas. Think of the questions that terrify you most.

• What are the most frequently asked questions for a Junior QA Engineer position? Provide examples from different companies.
• What are the most common soft-skills questions during the interview?
• What are the behavioral questions asked during the interviews?
• What are the most frequent questions for an HR Specialist position?

You may want to use a Job Description to get better results.?

• Using this job posting, provide me with a list of potential job interview questions. [Copy/paste the Job Description].
• I’m applying for the position of UX/UI Designer. What interview questions should I prepare for?

The more you ask, the more details and context you give, the more you receive.

3. Receiving instant feedback

AI tools may be a great interview coach. They may easily analyze your answers and provide you with recommendations for improvement.?

I’d NOT recommend going with the straight question, “Provide me with a possible answer to …”. This is not helpful in terms of training and understanding the logic. The better way would be to answer first yourself and ask the AI tool to evaluate your answer and point out the moments to improve, along with suggesting some examples. This would teach you to think in the right direction, and when a new question suddenly arises during the interview, you would not be confused.

Think of your answers, and ask for feedback from the AI tool, for the following questions.

• Analyze my elevator speech and suggest its improvements. [insert your elevator speech]
• I’m applying for the position of [...] at [...]. My skills and experience are as follows. [insert your skills presentation and experience overview]. How to improve the presentation?

4. Preparing for tough questions

The only exception when you may ask for a direct answer is when you’re completely stuck with the ideas.

• I’m applying for the position of [...] at [...]. I have no work experience at all. How can I best showcase myself?
• What do employers look for when interviewing for a [position] role in [industry]?
• I have been unemployed / I had a half-year break and now am applying for the position of [...] at [...]. Suggests a possible answer to my employment history gap.
• I have a background in [...] but I’m trying for a role as [...] at [...]. How can I showcase my previous experience in the interview? How may I connect my background to the new role?
• There is a requirement of [...] in a job description that I do not have. How can I best answer the question?

Such practicing, especially if systematic, will help you enhance your skills, speech, and vocabulary, and get more confident.

5. A mock interview

Another way to use AI for interview preparation is by setting up a mock interview with the tool. You may directly ask it to play the role of an interviewer and practice a back-and-forth conversation. Think of the scenario, and do not forget to give a clear context.

• I’m applying for the position of [...] at [...]. Play the role of an interviewer - ask me 10 questions, one at a time, wait for my responses, evaluate them, and suggest ways of improvement. Use the SMART/STAR/CAR/[any other] framework.?
• I’m applying for the position of [...] at [...]. Play the role of an interviewer - ask me 5 behavioral questions, one at a time, wait for my responses, evaluate them, and suggest ways of improvement.

AI tools limitations to remember:

• one of the most used - ChatGPT - is limited in updates till 2021 - no up-to-date information will be available for proper preparation;
• cannot judge your tone and body language;
• cannot compare you to other candidates, who might be stronger;

• cannot guess about your experience, values, plans, etc. if they were not mentioned by you directly in the text.

When working with the AI tools preparing for a job interview, try not to memorize the answers suggested. Seek for the context, consider whether you agree or not with the suggested answers, and think whether the suggested answers match your experience, and apply to the country and culture you live.

Be specific.

Be creative.

Be brave.

Do the hard job of preparing for the interview, then crack it with utmost confidence, and receive your dream job offer.