Interviewing in a new field can also be hard especially when a job seeker does not have access to friends, family, or mentors in the field who can help them practise and prepare. Studies show that an average job listing in Africa attracts over 2,400 applicants dwindling chances of landing a job.
But Google has now introduced a new tool – Interview Warmup – to enable job seekers to practise answering interview questions to become more confident and comfortable with job interviews. It seeks to help them choose careful, accurate, relevant and well thought out interview responses and uses machine learning developed by Google Research to transcribe their answers and help them discover ways to improve.
The tool, initially announced in October, 2022 at the second Google for Africa Event, was designed to help Google Career Certificates learners prepare for job interviews, but it is available for everyone to use.
Individuals preparing for interviews can simply start practising with a simple click on the homepage, choose the kind of job they are interviewing for, and then do a practice interview that consists of five randomly selected questions or individual interview questions.
Users will also be able to see insights via patterns detected by machine learning that can help them discover crucial aspects of their answers. These include job related terms, words used most often and talking points that are mentioned in each answer, so users can see how much time they spend talking about areas like their experience, skills and goals.
“We are excited about Interview Warmup because it shows how new technologies have the potential to help young people in Africa hone the skills needed to grow their careers”, says Mojolaoluwa Aderemi-Makinde, head of brand and reputation at Google Africa. “The tool can help create more opportunities for African job seekers.”
Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30. Many of them are creative and entrepreneurial, and over the next five years, 300 million people will come online in Africa.
The digital exposure of young Africans will create opportunities to acquire digital skills through training to assist them in getting the right jobs. Just as important as it is for them to acquire digital skills, it is also important that they have the skills to successfully scale an interview session to land their dream jobs.
The Interview Warmup tool reinforces Google’s commitment to continue helping job seekers in Africa improve their interview skills and prepare them for the careers they want.
“As important as it is to learn the skills needed to perform well on a new job, it is even more important to learn the skills needed to qualify for roles”, added Aderemi-Makinde.