Connected Futures

Connect to new people and opportunities, practice valuable interviewing skills, get detailed feedback, discover job paths, and build a professional network with the Connected Futures App. This app builds on years of research and incorporates “wise interventions,” demonstrated to lead to better school and career outcomes (Walton & Wilson, 2018). And the shared audio/video story feed is a great way to learn about and share the many pathways to success.

Users can select from three different interviews—informational, mock job, and mentoring and the app guides the entire process of connecting with and talking to new people. Users can select any subset of questions from each of these and add their own.

• Information Interview: The app provides a curated list of questions about jobs that help structure the conversation. Users can select any subset and add their own.
• The Northwestern mock interview provides questions and interviewer feedback shown to dramatically increase the likelihood of would-be job offers.
• The mentor interview enables users to collect or tell their stories of the important mentors who shaped their lives.

Users can record, tag, and optionally share the interviews using your smartphone, and can search for interviews to discover how others have built their career. And, importantly, the app incorporates the cutting edge science on wise interviews, including:

• Deliberate practice (Eskries et a., 2016) App Feature: Using the App enables youth to structure and practice networking and interviewing. Evidence: Across 4 longitudinal, randomized-controlled, field experiments, wise deliberate practice interventions improved students’ grades.
• Differences Education (Stephens et al., 2013) App Feature: The information interview incorporates questions that highlight how differences can be sources of strength, and the app feed features these interviews. Evidence: First-generation students who viewed stories that incorporated difference ed reported more thriving.
• Northwestern Mock Interview (Hirsch, 2015) App Feature: The app incorporates questions that were developed specifically for young people in search of first jobs. Evidence: Students who went through interview training with the mock interview nearly tripled the would-be hiring rate.
• Nudges (Caltleman et al, 2015) App Feature: Sends push notifications (forthcoming). Evidence: Sending nudges about assignments increased college enrollment among students who had less academic-year access to quality college counseling or information.
• Self-affirmation (Cohen et al., 2006). App Feature: As the first question on the mock interview, the interviewer asks, a question about what is important to the interviewee in their life as a way to affirm their values Evidence: Students who were provided with opportunities for self-affirmation not only earned higher grades but felt more affirmed and less threatened by stress.
• Wise Feedback (Yaeger et al., 2013). App Feature: Just after completing the Northwestern mock interview the interviewer states: “I’m giving you these comments because I think you’re really impressive. I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.” Evidence: Wise feedback increased students’ likelihood of completing assignments, improved the quality of their final drafts, and raised grades.
The Connected Futures App helps you build a professional network and get on the right path.