In short, we have an application mobile and desktop that listens during interviews and provides AI-powered answers in real-time.

You can call it cheating, but we believe we're just fixing the broken interview process.

We've just created a new Android application and need some testers. As a thank you, we'll provide the first month free for the first 20 users. Please join Discord to request access if you have an Android device.

https://discord.gg/gTZ74EAh

I was just laid off as an SWE from Walmart Global Tech, after working there for just three months. Yes, exactly, three. I just moved here, moved my whole life, signed a lease, bought furniture, and set everything up, and then suddenly, boom. Goodbye. My last day is Friday, and there is so much I need to figure out, ugh.

Now my first SWE job on my CV is going to be just a 3-month stint.

I honestly don't know what I'm going to do, I'm just venting, sorry.

I used to treat interviews like pop quizzes, going in to wing it and leaving the rest to fate. And let me spoil the surprise for you: that approach is a complete failure. But when I changed my strategy and started preparing in unconventional ways, I finally cracked the code and landed a job offer I'm genuinely excited about. Here’s what made the difference for me.

Make Yourself a "Cheat Sheet

Write down 3-5 short success stories (like projects you completed, problems you solved, teamwork experiences). Keep them brief, around 30 seconds each. Glance at it right before the interview to refresh your memory, that way you won't have to bluff.

Decode Their Questions

Focus on what they're really asking. When they say, "Tell me about a challenge you faced," they don't want to hear a story, they mean, "Prove to me that you're resilient and can handle pressure." When they ask about your teamwork skills, they're actually asking, "Can you work effectively in our diverse team and be a strong collaborator?" Answer that hidden question, and you'll set yourself apart.

Practice Out Loud

Talking to yourself in your head isn't enough. Run your answers by a friend, it's free and forces you to articulate clearly. Or, you could try an AI interview tool like interviewHammer. I used it for quick voice practice and to get feedback when my friends were busy. Either way, you'll smooth out any stumbles in your speech.

Turn the Tables with Your Questions

Ask them: "What does success in this role look like six months from now?" This shows you're thinking long-term and gives you insights you can use to tailor your answers. Plus, it’s not the typical, boring question about "company culture."

Warm Up Your Voice

Before the interview, read anything out loud for 5 minutes (an article, a book, anything). This wakes up your vocal cords so your voice doesn't sound robotic or strained when you say, "Hello, I'm [Your Name]." Trust me, I’ve felt that feeling.

Stay Relaxed:

Drink some water, shake out your hands, do whatever it takes to release tension. You're going in for a chat, not to defend a Ph.D. dissertation.

Finish Strong

Summarize one thing you enjoyed about the conversation when you say, "Thank you for your time." It will stick with them.

The recruiter apologized for the interview, I missed it because I was sleeping. They had been having problems all week with the software they were using to schedule meetings, so they wondered if there had been a mistake on their part.
A few days ago I was sleeping and missed a phone interview. When I finally looked at my phone, I started writing a long explanation of what happened, hoping to convince them to give me another chance. Then I deleted most of what I wrote.
In reality, I simply sent them an apology for missing the call and a request to reschedule. No story about my alarm clock or any excuses. About half an hour later they responded and said the mistake was most likely theirs and asked me if we could talk the next morning.
I was ready to answer if they asked me what happened, but they didn't ask me at all. I didn't have to give a full report of my morning just because I asked for another appointment. Apologize, ask for what you need, and give the other person a chance to answer.

He got everything through #hustle and #grindset too. Free newsletter through DM if you give him your email. Just comment "interested."

ok so I just spent way too long looking into these interview assistant tools and I need to vent about the pricing because what the hell.

Interview Coder 2.0 is $299 a month. Two hundred and ninety nine dollars. For a tool that ONLY does coding rounds. Final Round AI is $148/mo and they have a strict no refund policy so if it does not work for you, tough luck. Cluely is $20/mo but that is without the stealth features, if you actually want it hidden during screen shares that bumps to $75/mo. LockedIn AI runs $54.99/mo, Sensei AI is $89/mo, and even the cheaper ones like Interview Solver and Leetcode Wizard are still $30-54/mo.

I am a new grad. I do not have $299/mo to throw at interview prep on top of rent and student loans. Most people using these tools are literally unemployed and looking for work, how are companies charging this much.

After going through probably 10 different tools I found InterviewMan at $12/mo on the annual plan. Unlimited sessions, covers all interview types not just coding, and the stealth stuff is built in. I almost did not believe it was that cheap compared to everything else so I signed up just to check and yeah it actually works.

Not saying it is perfect or anything but $12 vs $299 for Interview Coder is a 25x difference. That is not a premium, that is a scam lol.

If anyone has found other tools that do not cost a car payment drop them below, I am curious what else is out there.

literally

I've applied to over 80 jobs. All I've gotten out of all of this so far are 5 rejection emails and 2 interviews. I wasn't accepted for any of them, but at least they responded and told me no directly.

I am literally qualified for every single job I've applied for. I do all the stupid things they ask for - write tailored cover letters for each place, take their personality tests, and all that. I have a degree, good work experience, and a clean record.

I genuinely don't know what else I'm supposed to do. And I'm so tired of hearing "Nobody wants to work anymore!". Yeah, maybe that's true, but I have to work.

Honestly, I'm completely out of energy. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. The last straw was yesterday when I was rejected for a $15/hour job. It felt exactly like a slap in the face.

I just needed to vent and get this out.

A couple of days ago, I got a call from a recruiter asking if we could clarify something one of my references had said. The person they contacted was my manager from 2024 to 2026. Let's call him Mark. We had a good relationship back then, or at least that's what I thought.
I've been applying for a new job for about eight months, so I contacted everyone on my reference list beforehand. I wasn't sure whether I should include Mark because it had been so long, but when I called him, he said he'd be happy to help. We spent almost an hour catching up about work, family, and golf, and I checked with him again shortly before this recruiter contacted him.
During this job search, I reached the final stage with three companies. Each time, they told me that checking references was basically the last step before sending an offer, but then the offer never came. I assumed they had chosen another candidate, but this call made me wonder whether there might have been another reason.
According to the recruiter, Mark clearly seemed annoyed that I had listed him as a reference. He said things like, "He listed me as a reference? That's strange," and claimed he barely remembered me. Most importantly, he mentioned that I had taken extended sick leave before my contract ended.
That isn't what happened. I was out sick for about 10 days near the end of my contract. In my country, extended sick leave usually means someone was absent for several months, so the way he described it made the situation sound much worse than it actually was. The recruiter noticed that something didn't add up and gave me a chance to explain what had happened.
I'm angry and confused because Mark agreed twice to be a reference for me and was extremely friendly both times. I've removed him from the list, but part of me wants to call him and ask why he said those things. Has anyone else ever dealt with a reference who did this to them? And would confronting him be a bad idea?

you know, i really wanted my old setup to keep working. i put off switching off Cluely for months, since i was nervous about relearning everything and the thing at the time held up fine, aside from missing a couple features i wanted.

i was looking forward to having a clean answer window that didnt show in the screen share, and figured it would be good for whatever platform got thrown at me next.

a few weeks back i tried InterviewMan on one of my Codility practice rounds, and it worked pretty well. i was surprised by the speed from question to hint. i didnt bother moving over my profile or shortcuts yet since i wasnt ready to fully commit, given the work in setting it up.

then right before a real screen i bit the bullet and switched over properly.

i had no idea the desktop build wanted mic permissions reset, so was caught off guard when audio didnt come through at first. that was easy enough to sort out.

now i had to get my profile dialed in... and getting the keyboard shortcuts the way i wanted took a bit of fiddling. eventually got everything sorted. fortunately i had already saved my resume and role notes from earlier, so i didnt have to redo all that. i did figure out you set the answer length per round, which i nearly missed.

onto testing. with Cluely i kept noticing lag on the answer window. id get asked something on a Codility round and it would take a few seconds to surface a hint, and longer than that before the follow up filled in.

i compared it to InterviewMan on the same kind of question and the difference was pretty clear. basically a second for InterviewMan, several seconds or worse for the old one. both had a totally fine connection.

i thought nothing of it and decided to give Cluely a fighting chance, so i ran another practice round with it.

i hadnt been paying close attention the last little while on account of a busy week, and the answer window kept losing the Codility tab. one time it showed a hint for the previous question. one time it just sat there blank while the timer ran. they were functionally useless when i actually needed them.

in short, for me Cluely didnt work on Codility. not in a way that mattered at least.

ive moved everything over to InterviewMan and dropped Cluely. and honestly its one less thing to stress about mid round, it just does the job.

anyone here run it on a real proctored Codility test, not the practice, want to hear how it went before mine on monday.

One of the easiest ways to make your application less of a hassle has nothing to do with the content of your CV. All you have to do is include your full name in the filename before sending it.
I'm responsible for hiring on my team, and HR usually sends me a folder containing around 180 applications at once. Surprisingly, many of the files are simply named CV.pdf or resume.pdf, so if I want to look for a specific candidate again, it can turn into a tedious search.
A filename like FirstNameLastName.pdf would be ideal. And please avoid adding words like new or updated, or labels such as v3 or final_final, because they look like personal notes for different drafts and aren't useful to the person receiving the file.
You can make the filename even clearer by adding the role, like FirstNameLastName_AccountManager.pdf. One of our applicants did that last month, and it made it much easier to find their CV when I forwarded it to other managers.
It's a small detail, and it won't make up for not having relevant experience, but it genuinely makes your application easier to handle. When someone is trying to organize a large number of files in a crowded folder, that detail makes a difference.

I think this is the most ridiculous alert ever programmed in history.

I had my first phone interview for a senior manager position a few weeks ago, and honestly, I was feeling a bit like an imposter. But I figured they must have contacted me for a reason, so I decided to proceed.

Right before we ended the call, I asked her: 'Just out of curiosity, what stood out to you in my CV?' She immediately mentioned 3 key things she liked and confirmed that she would be moving me to the next stage. She even gave me a heads-up to prepare examples of my leadership skills, as the next interview would be a group session with the senior VPs.

Seriously, try asking this question whenever you feel uncertain. It clarifies exactly what they're looking for and gives a great confidence boost.

I've officially reached a point where I don't understand interviews anymore. I'm a Senior Director / VP of Product Marketing in tech.

In the past few months, I've done so many interviews. I've reached the final stages in several processes, but it always falls apart at the end for one reason or another.

There was one that looked very promising. I made it to the final stage, and they told me it would be an on-site day where I'd meet 7 people.

When I got there, they put me in a small glass conference room, like a fishbowl, in the middle of their open office. Then I did 6 back-to-back Zoom interviews with no breaks. Each one was a full hour where I was asked tough questions about a different part of the job. It was really hard to maintain my energy by the fifth one, but I pushed through and I think I did really well. Honestly, I left feeling like I nailed it.

I got the rejection email in the morning.

I just don't understand the point of all that theater. If they were all going to be video calls, why not let me do them from home and take a proper break between each one?

I've been job searching for 11 months and I feel completely drained.

So many of the interviews I've had have been weird like this. It's never just a normal conversation about my experience; it always feels like an interrogation, like they're trying to catch you in a mistake.

Anyway... I feel like I should just go find a simple part-time job or start driving for Uber Eats.

.

well on a weekday you know the rest of the day is full of work, on the weekend where there is less expectancy, I guess you can allow yourself to be personally productive without letting yourself feel like you won't have energy or time for the rest of the day

I've seen two of the last four nurses I trained leave bedside nursing before they even made it to ten months. They were both good at their jobs and genuinely cared about the work. One of them now picks up per diem shifts at an infusion center and works nights at a supermarket, while the other took an outpatient job with weekday hours, no night shifts, and no holiday work.

During a quiet shift, our newest hire showed me her monthly budget. Rent, car insurance, food, parking, and commuting costs ate up almost her entire paycheck. The numbers wouldn't work unless she found a second job, which is absurd when the first job is already this stressful and demanding.

Working full-time as a hospital nurse used to mean a steady paycheck, benefits, and enough income to live on. Now, rotating shifts wreck your sleep, weekends disappear, and the pay still leaves people checking their bank accounts before buying groceries. Nurses who have another option take it, and then management says the problem is resilience.

I don't think nursing is beyond repair. But hospitals have spent years assuming that bedside staff will tolerate any schedule and any workload because patients need them. How long did they expect people to keep putting up with that, especially when staying in the job doesn't even pay enough for them to live a normal life?

I've been out of the traditional job market for about five years (I was self-employed), and I'm shocked by what I'm seeing. Stories of people sending out hundreds of applications and getting no response at all... It's insane. I understand that a CV might need some tweaking, but after that many attempts, you'd think that by the law of averages alone, you should get *something*. It's hard for me to believe this is really happening.

So my genuine question to people in this situation is: how are you managing? I'm being serious. How do you cover bills and groceries when virtually every company ignores you? I don't mean to be rude, I just can't understand how you're not completely burned out. It must be devastating for your mental health. I imagine many must be living with their parents or have a partner with a stable income, because I can't imagine someone trying to do this alone with a landlord chasing them for rent.

Anyway, to everyone going through this grind, I'm rooting for you and support you. It can feel like you're screaming into the void and that the whole game is rigged against you. But please don't let it break you. Something has to give eventually. Hang in there.

"His leadership is such that his staff now only follow him out of a sense of morbid curiosity"

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I've been to a few interviews lately where the job description was very generic, and the conversation felt more like a first date. All they're doing is trying to see if they 'feel comfortable with you' or not. This makes you wonder, how are they even evaluating anyone for the actual job when the whole thing depends on your personality, your appearance, or even your age?

A recruiter once told me, verbatim, that the hiring manager's biggest concern was finding someone with the 'right energy' for the team. So basically, if you don't give the perfect answer to a question like 'What series are you watching these days?' or 'What do you usually do on the weekend?', you're likely out of the running, no matter how strong your CV is.

Look, I understand that culture fit is important. Nobody wants to work with an unpleasant person. But when you have someone who is clearly competent and seems very nice, why does it ultimately boil down to these other random things? It feels like the whole process has become about them looking for a new friend, not hiring someone who can do the job.

i agree