Career Services at Georgia Tech offers programs to make the interview less daunting and more manageable in a number of ways. One of those methods is to offer students the opportunity to practice interviewing online. Students’ ability to interview well and make a positive impression, like almost anything else, improves with practice.

Optimal Interview, offered via the Career Services Web site, helps job seeking students hone their interviewing skills online with real-to-life, multimedia interview scenarios. Armed with a computer, a microphone, and webcam, students can experience the kinds of questions they will be asked, see and hear themselves as the interviewer will see and hear them, and get coached on thoughtful answers to tough questions.

With Optimal Interview, job seekers can easily practice a number of different interview scenarios, including:

• Screening interviews 
• Behavioral interviews 
• Initial face-to-face interviews 
• Hiring manager interviews 
• Tag team panel interviews 
• Pressure interviews 
• Final interviews 
• Medical and law school interviews

Students are in full control of each interview session: they choose the length of the practice session, the type of interview, and even the interviewer. Hundreds of interview questions are available. Students can create their own set of interview questions or let Optimal Interview pick questions at random for them.

All interviews are conducted by professional actors and use thoughtful sequencing that makes each interview fresh and different. Virtual coaching is available with recommended tactics for responding to challenging interview questions. Students can save their practice session and e-mail their interview to others for feedback. It’s easy to use and prepares job seekers for face-to-face or virtual employment interviews.

Career Services employs Optimal Interview as an important tool to help make sure students are prepared to tackle their next job interview, internship interview, or admissions interview.