Interviews & employability
Students shouldn't do their first real interview in the real interview.
Every student rehearses the interview for the job they actually want, with an AI interviewer that asks follow-ups, then gets scored feedback in seconds.
350k+
practice sessions completed
95%
of students said their employability skills increased
Mock interviews work. There are never enough of them.
Careers teams know practice is what gets students ready. The trouble is scale. Three things get in the way.
Appointments run out
One-to-one mock interviews go to the students who book early. The ones who need practice most often never get a slot.
Practice is too generic
A standard question list doesn't prepare a student for the role in front of them, or for the follow-up that catches them out.
You find out at graduation
Outcome surveys tell you who got a job. They don't tell you who was ready, or who needed help while there was still time to give it.
What a practice interview actually looks like
Ten minutes, any time, as many times as a student wants. Close enough to the real thing that they feel the nerves.
01
They bring the real job
Students upload their CV, the job description and, if they have one, a cover letter. Or you assign a scenario from the library.
02
They answer out loud
Real voice, real time. Behavioral, panel or open-ended formats, in the browser, on a tablet or in a VR headset.
03
The interviewer follows up
Vague answers get probed: "What was your role in that?" "What would you do differently?" Just like the real thing.
04
Score, then debrief
Five criteria with evidence for each, then a debrief with Hugh, the AI Coach, on what to change before the next attempt.
Runs in the browser, on a tablet, or in a VR headset. Nothing to install before the first session.
Built on the role they're actually applying for
This is the difference between a question bank and a mock interview. The AI reads the student's CV and the job description, then asks the questions that employer would ask: about the gaps, the claims and the requirements that don't quite line up.
Students can't rehearse a script. They have to connect their own experience to someone else's job, out loud, and deal with the follow-up.
From the library
Interview on uploaded CV and job description
A final-year student applies for a graduate analyst role. Their CV lists a group project and a summer internship. The job description asks for stakeholder management and working with data.
Answer with "we did the project as a team" and the interviewer asks what you did. Describe the task without the result and they ask what changed because of it.
Use STAR, own the actions and land the impact, and the conversation moves on to what the student would bring to the role.
Scored on illustrating suitability for the role, using the STAR method, detailing the impact of your actions, alignment with your CV or cover letter, and relating past learning to the new role.
Feedback a student can use before the next attempt
Not a percentage and a thumbs up. Every interview is scored against named criteria, with what the student actually said and what to try instead.
A behavioral interview is scored on structure and STAR. A panel interview is scored on handling two interviewers. A higher education admissions interview is scored on motivation and fit with the program. The measure fits the interview.
Example: Interview on uploaded CV and job description
Overall: 7.1
"Your answer about the group project set up the situation and task clearly, then jumped to the outcome. Spell out the two or three actions you took yourself."
"You said the dashboard 'helped the team'. Saying how, for example that it cut weekly reporting from a day to an hour, makes the impact concrete."
"Your answer matched the internship on your CV and linked it to the stakeholder requirement in the job description. Good."
Hesitations: 3
152 wpm
Clarity: 68%
...
Showing 3 of 5 scored criteria for this roleplay
Chris de Kok
Director of Career Services at Aurora University
"Students using VirtualSpeech are experiencing a night-and-day difference in their confidence. This really expands beyond practice into broader preparation, it will help students think more clearly about how they structure and deliver their ideas".
Then they practice everything around it
Getting hired is more than one interview. Students also practice the elevator pitch for a careers fair, the networking conversation that leads to a referral, and the salary negotiation after the offer.
In a Skills Coaching session, students work through a named technique with Hugh, the AI Coach, apply it to their own situation, and leave with a written result in their own words. Results are saved to the student's account.
- Draft Your Elevator Pitch
- Understanding Your Audience
- Planning an Engaging Speech
Example output from a Skills Coaching session
Your personal pitch: Draft Your Elevator Pitch
Who you're speaking to
A graduate recruiter at a careers fair, with about 30 seconds before the next student.
Background
"I'm in my final year of Economics at [university], and I've spent the last two summers working with data, most recently at [company]."
Goal and call to action
"I'm looking for a graduate analyst role where I can work with clients. Could I ask what your team looks for in its first-year analysts?"
Full pitch draft
A 30-second version, with the details to personalize marked up.
Career conversations, ready to assign on day one
Written and scored by our learning designers. Assign them as they are, or build your own around the employers your students target.
Roleplays
Interviews
The formats students will actually face, from a first screening call to a panel.
Behavioral Interview: STAR Technique
Interview on Uploaded CV + Job Description
Panel Interview
Interview for a Company
Interview Skills: Preset Questions
General Interview (Open-Ended)
Higher Education Interview
Thesis Defense
Roleplays
Career conversations
The conversations either side of the interview.
Elevator Pitch: Personal
Elevator Pitch: Personal (with Q&A)
Negotiating Salary for a New Job
Negotiating a Pay Raise
Skills Coaching
Guided sessions
Five to twelve minutes on a named technique, applied to the student's own situation, with a written result.
Draft Your Elevator Pitch
Understanding Your Audience
Planning an Engaging Speech
Running a graduate or early-careers program?
Give new joiners the same practice before day one: interviews for internal moves, first client conversations, and presenting to senior colleagues. Assign it as part of onboarding and see progress across the cohort.
See it with a role your students are applying for
Send us a real job description before the call and we'll build an interview around it. Then we'll show you the feedback a student gets and the data your careers team would see across a cohort.
What happens on the call
Discuss your careers and employability goals
Build an interview from a real job description, live on the call
Rollout options and pricing
We reply within one working day.