10 online resources that help you prep for the hardest interview questions
If you’ve been interviewing far and wide, but not having much luck, take a deep breath. Everyone struggles with some part of the application process, and yours might be nailing the hardest interview questions. In addition to practicing, being vulnerable about your weakness and working to approve them, countless online resources could help you. Best of all, the vast majority won’t cost a penny—a mega perk when the current unemployment rate is sky-high. Here, we analyzed the top TK that will improve your skills, supercharge your confidence, and lead you closer to the offer letter:
1. Gainlo
Your best friend, partner or parent will gladly step-in to conduct a mock interview with you. But, let’s be honest: they won’t be as critical as a stranger who can give candid feedback based on your performance. Through this service, you fill out a brief questionnaire about your dream companies, experience and availability, and you’re matched with experienced interviewers from Google Adobe, etc. Via video conference, you’ll go through a pretend opportunity, and then receive immediate feedback. While right now, the service is mainly geared toward engineers, it’s slowly expanding to other industries, too.
2. AmbitionBox
In school, were you someone who thrived with take-home worksheets? Everyone learns differently, and if putting pen-to-paper helps you, you’ll enjoy the free resources from AmbitionBox. Appropriately titled, this website is similar to Glassdoor, but also features a variety of articles and tips on the interview process. Their practice tests across various career levels will challenge you to break through barriers.
3. The Prepary
For those who would like hands-on instruction on becoming a better interviewer, it could be beneficial to invest in a course. Through this two-hour online class, you’ll be given feedback, examples, additional resources to use in the future, and most impressively: a money-back guarantee. That’s right: if you leave feeling as if you didn’t gain anything from the experience, they’ll provide a refund, no questions asked.
4. Interview Stream
Though Interview Stream is geared toward students, we think it could be a valuable tool for anyone who wants to dig further into their soft skills. Once you complete a mock interview, experts will analyze everything both verbal and non-verbal communication so they can provide critical feedback and instruction. Users are also encouraged to create a self-assessment to improve their own awareness of performance, too.
5. Career Contessa
If you’re looking for a one-on-one mentor, you can find that at Career Contessa. But if you aren’t quite ready to go that far, start with their job interview checklist. This covers not only what to do before and during the session, but also the best protocol for following-up. As they put it, a strategy is involved in job applying, and the more you research and practice, the better you set yourself up for success.
6. Interview Kickstart
If you’re an engineer hopeful who can’t make it past the interview round, even though your resume is impressive, consider enrolling in some of the courses on Interview Kickstart. They tap into the top talent at leading companies to provide mock set-ups and thorough advice. Their offerings include both technical and interpersonal feedback, allowing you to improve your approach from top to bottom.
7. SHRM Resources
One sneaky way to rise out of the pack of job applicants is to go undercover. And no, we don’t mean hacking into a company portal, but more so, going straight to the source. The Society of Human Resources Managers has various tools designed for the very people who decide your fate at a company. On their website, they offer free sample interviews—from phone and video to technical—that you can use to guide your prep strategy.
8. Linkedin Premium Account
If you’ve been on the fence about upgrading to a LinkedIn premium account, consider this your sign to bite the bullet and do it. Through their app and online dashboard, an upgraded user can receive real-time feedback from a variety of career coaches and mentors. You can go through sample questions from companies, and even record your responses for an expert to provide feedback for within a few business days.
9. Udemy
Known for their robust database of classes on well, everything and anything, Udemy is a smart place to poke around for eager job applicants. One of their free options is this training session on job interviewing. We like this approach because it is how digestible the content is: choose from 33 short—yet effective—videos covering many relatable topics. These include, but are not limited to what to do before the interview, mirroring body language, commonly-asked questions, advice on re-entering the job market, and more.
10. Future Learn
For those who are currently unemployed or in-between gigs and have the time, a scheduled class could be a solid way to use your downtime. Though this three-week course from Future Learn, you’ll go over many parts of succeeding in an interview, including technical approaches and managing emotions. By the time you ‘graduate’, you will be able to apply best practice techniques to applying and interviewing, speak the language of recruiters, and perhaps most importantly, better understand your superpowers and selling points to approach every opportunity with confidence.
