What it is
Style and personality are two separate settings that combine before a practice interview starts. Style sets the register of the conversation, formal for a buttoned-up tone, friendly for something closer to a relaxed conversation, semi-formal in between.
Personality sets the interviewer's disposition within that style, twelve options ranging from empathetic and encouraging, which give a candidate room to think and recover from a rough answer, to challenging and critical, which push back harder and let less slide.
Other personalities, analytical, reflective, pragmatic, creative, inquisitive, formal, and growth-oriented, sit between those two ends, along with a default option for anyone who doesn't want to choose.
How it works
- 1
Start a practice interview
Open any of Intervieux's six candidate-configured interview types, general, job-description-based, technical, comprehensive, resume-based, or salary negotiation.
- 2
Pick a style
Choose formal, semi-formal, or friendly to set the overall register of the conversation.
- 3
Pick a personality
Choose from twelve interviewer personalities, or leave it on default, to set how much pressure and warmth the interviewer brings.
- 4
The chosen agent runs the interview
The voice agent conducts the session in that style and personality from the first question through the last follow-up.
- 5
Try a different combination next time
Since the choice resets each session, a candidate can run the same interview type again under a different style or personality for a different kind of practice.
Two settings, not one
Style and personality aren't the same dial. A formal style paired with an encouraging personality still sounds buttoned-up but stays supportive when an answer stumbles. A friendly style paired with a challenging personality still sounds relaxed but doesn't let a weak answer pass without a harder follow-up.
Twelve distinct personalities
Empathetic and encouraging suit a candidate who wants room to think out loud without added pressure. Analytical, pragmatic, and inquisitive suit someone who wants the interviewer to dig into specifics. Challenging and critical suit deliberate pressure practice, testing composure under real pushback.
Reflective, creative, formal, and growth-oriented round out the set, and a default option exists for candidates who'd rather not choose at all.
Not available on every interview type
This choice applies to the six candidate-configured practice types. The job-board intro screening interview, the one that counts as a real step in an employer's hiring process, runs on that employer's own configuration instead, so a candidate doesn't pick the style or personality for that one.
The score doesn't move with the personality, so match it to what's being rehearsed
Choosing challenging over encouraging doesn't change how a session is graded afterward. Every completed interview is scored across the same five dimensions with the same written reasoning and the same calibration floors and caps, regardless of which personality or style ran the conversation.
A tougher personality can make a session harder to get through, but it isn't held to a different standard once the scoring happens, and an easier personality doesn't grade on a curve either.
What it does change is what gets rehearsed: a candidate working on composure under pressure for a known difficult interviewer gets more out of challenging or critical, which apply pressure and push back on thin answers rather than let them pass, while a candidate who mainly wants practice putting a clear answer into words is better served starting with something closer to encouraging or default before working up to a harder combination.
Who it's for
Who it's for
Anyone using Intervieux's practice interview types can use this. Candidates who get nervous under pressure might start with an encouraging personality and work up to challenging or critical as their confidence builds. Candidates preparing for a known tough interviewer can jump straight to a harder combination to rehearse composure before the real thing.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between interview style and interviewer personality?
Style sets the overall register of the conversation, formal, semi-formal, or friendly. Personality sets the interviewer's disposition within that style, from empathetic and encouraging through to challenging and critical, and ten other options in between.
Can I use a challenging or critical personality to practice under pressure?
Yes. Both are available as interviewer personality options and are built to push back harder and let weaker answers stand out more than the encouraging or empathetic options would.
Does personality choice change what questions get asked?
It changes tone and how much pressure follow-up questions apply, not the underlying content of the interview type itself, which is set by which of the seven interview types is being run.
Can I pick the interviewer personality for a job board screening interview?
No. That interview type is configured by the employer for their specific job posting, so a candidate doesn't choose the style or personality for it the way they can for the practice types.
Related pages
Pick your interviewer before your next practice session
Choose a style and one of twelve personalities, from encouraging to challenging, and practice an interview that matches the kind of pressure you actually want to rehearse under.