Big Interview

Skillful Communications, Inc.

Big Interview

AI-powered interview training for underserved youths, building career confidence, and closing equity gaps across Massachusetts and beyond.

New York

USA

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

Massachusetts is home to some of the country’s strongest economies and most prestigious schools, yet more than 64,000 young people are cut off from both. According to studies, 1 in 12 residents ages 16 to 24 are “disconnected”, neither in school nor employed. The barriers are steepest for youths with the fewest supports. Data shows teen unemployment at 8.6% in 2023, more than double the state’s rate of 3–4%. For Black and Hispanic youths, the challenge is even greater: unemployment rates rise to 11.4% and 12.9%, nearly twice that of white peers (~6%). Black youths in Massachusetts are 4.7 times more likely to be incarcerated than their white peers. First-generation students lack access to the soft skills needed. Young people in Western MA and the Cape face geographic isolation, long commutes, and broadband gaps. And those who are justice-involved face heavy stigma before they ever reach an interview. COVID-19 deepened these divides. In 2022, 64% of vulnerable youths said they needed help getting a job but didn’t know where to turn. Internships disappeared, and summer jobs dried up. The result is a generation left waiting, not because they lack potential but because they lack access.

Big Interview is a digital platform that helps young people show up with confidence when it matters most: the dreaded job interview. Job interviews are where opportunity and inequity often collide and where too many are left unprepared. We change that through interactive mock interviews, real-time AI feedback, and soft-skill lessons that fill in the gaps traditional systems often overlook. This pilot will reach 1,000 young people across Massachusetts, prioritizing those who are BIPOC, first-generation, low-income, rural, or justice-involved. We aim to establish strategic partnerships with institutions like the Boston Public Schools, MassHire boards, school districts, and organizations like the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Both existing and future partnerships will make our capacity-building process for this project effective and highly impactful at the local level. Our company is already trusted by over 700 colleges, 10 state workforce development agencies, and public institutions in all 50 states. In Massachusetts, we already partner with 27+ institutions, from Harvard t local community colleges.o This pilot will dig deeper, delivering job readiness tools and skills into the hands of those who’ve too often been left out.

We will serve 1,000 young people across Massachusetts who face systemic barriers to employment, not because they lack ambition but because they’ve never been taught how to show it. Their age ranges from 14 to 24, and they are disproportionately BIPOC, low-income, first-generation, rural, or justice-involved. They are overrepresented among the state’s 64,000 disconnected youths and consistently underprepared for job interviews, the make-or-break moment for getting hired. Our rollout will begin with a statewide target group mapping and analysis phase, using labor market data, youth disconnection rates, and poverty indicators to identify high-need counties and zip codes. We’ll apply an Index of Need, factoring in school-level data, foster care status, and work history, for equitable outreach across communities like Springfield, Fall River, Lawrence, and rural Western MA, which show higher gaps and urgency as compared to other areas. Big Interview offers these young people a low-pressure and online space to practice interviews, receive AI-powered feedback, and build confidence at their own pace. The impact is both immediate and lasting: better-prepared candidates, shorter job searches, higher placement rates, and the ability to walk into a job conversation and own it.