How to play Interview Simulator

Pick a candidate, survive six rounds of interviews and see whether you get hired, get rejected or decide the job isn't worth it. Here is everything you need to know.

The goal

You are applying for the role of Cross-Functional Operations Associate. Move through every round without tripping the company's hidden rejection checks. Each run can end in one of three ways:

• Rejected: your answers added up to the wrong kind of candidate.
• Walked away: you chose to leave, for example by declining the unpaid case study or the offer. You keep your progress.
• Hired: against the odds, you get the job. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Basic controls

1. On the start screen, choose a candidate by clicking or tapping their card.
2. Read what the interviewer says, then pick one of the available answers.
3. Some screens look different: the personality test is a web form where you can change an answer before submitting, and the case study asks you to split a budget of hours across tasks.
4. Keep going until the run ends, then read your report and play again.

The game works with a mouse, keyboard or touch screen, on desktop and mobile.

Choose your candidate

On decision screens each candidate also has a once-per-question special action, marked with a star. It relieves their special pressure, at a price.

The six rounds

1. Recruiter screen: be enthusiastic, but not desperate. The recruiter matches keywords, not meaning.
2. Psychometric test: a personality assessment where every answer has an unflattering interpretation.
3. Hiring manager: show you can do the job without looking like you want theirs.
4. Case study: decide how many unpaid hours to spend on strategy, numbers, slides and sleep.
5. Team fit: a casual chat where the vibes are quietly being scored.
6. Executive interview: industry questions, followed by a question nobody could have prepared for.

The hidden stats

Behind every conversation the game tracks how you come across. The Candidate Metrics panel shows where you stand.

• Humanity: too high is oversharing, too low is a robot.
• Zeal: too much looks like a cult member, too little looks dead inside.
• Competence: your actual ability to do the job.
• Manager threat: how much a future boss fears being replaced by you.
• Sanity: corporate jargon wears it down, and at zero you start telling the truth.
• Flight risk and salary leverage: how likely you seem to leave, and how well you can negotiate.

The goal is balance. Pushing any single stat too far gets you rejected.

Tips for your first run

• Greyed-out answers are locked by your current stats. The reason is shown, so read it.
• Use your candidate's star action before the pressure builds up rather than after.
• Decisions are remembered. Something you said in round one may be mentioned again in round six.
• You are always allowed to walk away, so do it if the deal is bad.
• Losing is the point. Each ending teaches you something about the next run.

Saving and progress

After each run your furthest round and the endings you found are saved in your browser. Open your candidate file from the start screen to review your personal bests, the endings you have discovered and the dossier of intel you have unlocked. You can clear your history there at any time.