Answer “Tell me about a time it went wrong” in a final-round interview
The recruiter has read the CV. She wants what isn’t on it.
Solutions · Higher education
Conversation practice for higher education
From the classroom to the first interview.
Harco is a conversation practice platform for universities and business schools: career centres prepare students for interviews, faculty run negotiation and leadership exercises, and admissions teams rehearse their calls, all out loud with a realistic Character.
Three ways higher education uses Harco
Employability, Pedagogy, Admissions: three teams, one practice space.
Employability
Career centre
Interview prep, consulting cases and first salary negotiations, rehearsed as often as students need, not once a term.
For career services, placement and internship teams
Negotiate your first salary offer
The offer is fair. The number isn’t.
Walk an interviewer through a consulting case
He interrupts at minute two with a figure you didn’t plan for.
Pedagogy
Classes
Negotiation, leadership and business development courses get a practice partner, so every student speaks, not just the volunteers.
For faculty and programme directors
Hold your walk-away point in a supplier negotiation
The buyer says a competitor will do it for less.
Give feedback to a teammate who isn’t delivering on the group project
Same grade for everyone, and two days left.
Run a discovery call in a business development class
The prospect agreed to fifteen minutes, not a demo.
Admissions
Admissions & student services
Admissions and executive education teams rehearse the sales and support conversations that fill a cohort and keep it.
For admissions, recruitment and executive education
Answer a parent asking if the tuition is worth it
They’re comparing you with a cheaper public university.
Sell an executive programme to a company’s HR director
She has a training budget and three other schools in the running.
Tell an admitted applicant their scholarship request was declined
They might not come without it.
Who uses Harco in higher education
Employability
Career advisorsCareer centre directorsPlacement & internship teamsInterview coachesAlumni mentors
Pedagogy
Negotiation facultyLeadership & management facultyBusiness development lecturersEntrepreneurship programmesProgramme directors
Admissions
Admissions officersEnrolment advisorsInternational recruitment officersExecutive education sales
Student services
Student support advisorsScholarships & financial aidStudent success teams
From the classroom to the job
Students don’t graduate into an abstract job market. They walk into a consulting case interview, a first client meeting at a bank, a sales role in a software company or their first team to manage. Employers judge how they handle that conversation, not what they remember from the course.
Harco already trains working teams in these industries and roles. Schools give students the same moments, so they rehearse the conversations of the job they are applying for before the interview, and again before their first week.
Harco for Consulting →Case interviews, scope pushback and findings a client won’t like, for consulting and strategy careers.Harco for Banking →Advising an anxious client and turning down a loan, for finance tracks.Harco for Tech & SaaS →Discovery and renewal calls, for business development and software sales roles.Harco for Healthcare →Long delays and tense waiting rooms, for health and care programmes.Harco for Retail →Refunds, recommendations and peak-season briefings, for retail management tracks.Harco for Insurance →Premium increases and denied claims, for students heading into insurance.Harco for Sales →Discovery, objections and negotiation, for any commercial role.Harco for Management →Feedback and hard news, for leadership classes and future managers.Harco for Support →Complaints and refusals, for customer-facing roles.Harco for People & HR →Retention and difficult conversations, for HR tracks.
How it works
- 1
Pick the situation
Start from your own documents, scripts or a ready-made scenario.
- 2
Have the conversation
Out loud, with a Character who reacts like the real person.
- 3
Get the debrief
What landed, and the one thing to change next time.
Why practice matters in higher education
~25 pts
gap between how proficient graduating students think they are at communication and how proficient employers find them.
39%
of recent US graduates didn't even apply to entry-level jobs because they felt underqualified.
68.2%
of US students who started college in fall 2022 came back to the same institution for a second year.
Questions and answers
How do career centres use Harco?
Students rehearse job and internship interviews, consulting cases and salary negotiations with a Character who probes like a real recruiter. Career advisors set up the moments once, and every student can practise as often as they need.
Can faculty use it in negotiation, leadership or business development classes?
Yes. Turn a course exercise into a moment: a supplier negotiation, feedback to a teammate, a discovery call. Students practise before and after class, and the debrief scores the objectives you set.
Why would admissions teams use it?
Admissions and recruitment staff hold sales and support conversations every day: questions about tuition and return on investment, scholarship decisions, executive programmes sold to companies. They rehearse them like any sales or support team.
Can students practise for a specific industry?
Yes. The moments built for consulting, banking, tech, healthcare, retail and insurance teams work for students heading into those careers, and schools can build their own around partner employers.
Do staff see what students say?
Students practise in a safe space. Programme teams see activity and progress across a cohort, so practice can be followed without turning it into an exam.
In which languages?
Students can use the interface and practise in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch.
Send your graduates in prepared.
See Harco on your own documents, in 30 minutes.