• Google has launched a job interview prep tool in Africa, a continent rife with unemployment and an increasingly youthful population.
• Called Interview Warmup, the tool uses machine learning so users can practice their interview skills and learn from their mistakes.
• The tool is part of Google’s Rise Up campaign: using tech to improve the economic realities of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As part of its “Rise Up” campaign to “accelerate the economic recovery” of Sub-Saharan African countries, Google has launched Interview Warmup, a tool that enables job seekers to practise answering interview questions to become more confident and comfortable with the job interview process whether in person or online.

Getting a job is not easy in South Africa, as it is among the countries with the most unemployed people in the world. The country’s youth continues to bear the greatest burden of joblessness, facing a higher national average than any other age group.

On average, a single job listing across the continent can attract over 2 400 applicants showing vast amounts of demand for jobs and that only a small percentage of people will actively find employment.

Initially announced in October 2022 at the second Google for Africa Event, the Interview Warmup tool was designed to help Google Career Certificates learners prepare for job interviews.

Now it is available for everyone else who needs a bit of help preparing for the big interview.

“Interviewing in a new field can also be difficult especially when a job seeker does not have access to friends, family, or mentors in the field who can help them practise and prepare,” reads a press release sent to Hypertext.

“Interview Warmup enables job seekers to practise answering questions carefully selected by industry experts and uses machine learning developed by Google Research to transcribe their answers and help them discover ways to improve.”

In terms of how the tool works, those individuals preparing for interviews can simply start practising with a click on the Interview Warmup 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.

The tool leverages machine learning to analyse patterns in your answers and then provide you with insights to better your skills.

These insights include information on 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. 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”, adds Aderemi-Makinde.

Interview Warmup is now available here and can be accessed on the latest versions of Chrome on OS X, Windows and Android. The tool can also be accessed on the latest version of Safari on iOS devices.

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