WSU has partnered with an internet-based program to help students prepare for job interviews.

The Academic Success and Career Center is now offering InterviewStream, a program that allows students to participate in mock job interviews with themselves, according to a WSU news release.

The program’s intent is to offer students stress-free job interview practice.

Students interested in the program will need to create an account and log in, according to the center. The program is free to all WSU students.

The students may then use a premade interview option or create a custom interview. First students will be videoed while answering the questions given to them on the screen. Then they watch the video of themselves answering the questions, using a downloadable self-evaluation guide.

The guide has boxes to rate non-verbal communication, verbal communication and question answers.

It also asks the interviewee to describe their experience as well as how they might give criticism to an employer, friend or colleague. Students can also evaluate themselves on grammar.

InterviewStream also has a variety of other tools available for download, including tutorials and practice guides.

One of the practice guides is called the elevator pitch guide, which teaches students to make a good first impression and attract the interviewer’s attention in just 1-3 minutes.

The InterviewStream guide states that a third of hiring bosses said they know whether they will hire someone within the first 90 seconds of meeting the candidate.

Bad eye contact, lack of knowledge about the organization, lack of confidence and lack of energy are all common mistakes people make in interviews that the program will help minimize, the guide states.

Mental preparation as an interview practice is a primary focus in the “Preparing for an Interview” document. This guide helps student prepare for the video interview they conduct with themselves.

“Practice, practice, practice,” the guide states. “Before you even turn your webcam on, try practicing by looking into the camera as if you were having a conversation with someone sitting in front of you.”

Another user guide states that the program has developed strategies to reduce an interviewee’s use of verbal fillers.

“The challenge is that many of us can’t even make it through one sentence without using ‘umm,’ ‘like,’ ‘I mean’ and ‘you know’ as verbal crutches,” the guide states. “They can make us sound unprepared, unclear or even irritating.”

Students can access InterviewStream through the Academic Success and Career Center website.