A recurring flagship for HR and Talent Acquisition professionals who want to practice interviewing, not just read about it. Paired virtual and in-person sessions — frameworks first, muscle memory second.
Interviewing is the skill HR and TA professionals spend their careers coaching other people through — and it's the skill most likely to have rusted when they need it themselves. The midcareer HR pro who advises candidates every day often hasn't sat in the candidate chair in five years. The result: the people who should be best at this are often caught flat-footed when they need to interview for their own next role.
The Interview Confidence Lab is a JobNet 2.0 flagship built on a simple hypothesis: interview confidence isn't a trait; it's a practice. Running it as a paired session — a virtual lab for frameworks, an in-person lab for live drills — means attendees get both the mental model and the muscle memory. Virtual covers what to do when you don't know the answer, how to handle gaps, how to navigate illegal questions. In-person runs the drills that make those frameworks usable under pressure.
Flagship, not one-off. This lab repeats annually. The frameworks don't go out of date because interviewing doesn't go out of date. Materials from past instances remain available — so whether you attended this year's, last year's, or next year's, you're working from the same body of practice.
Each year the flagship runs twice — once virtual, once in-person — with different posture and different emphasis. Past instances remain available as reference; future instances announce on the baHRC calendar.
The frameworks lab. Three protocols: what to do when you don't know the answer, the Gap Exercise for turning career challenges into forward-facing narratives, and three strategies for navigating illegal interview questions. Includes glossary and career-stage FAQ.
Read the session companionThe drills lab. Cringe-vs-confident answer pairs, language lab repetitions, stumble/recovery cards. Participants practiced out loud in pairs, triads, and hot seats. Produced the voice-powered practice tool that now lives here as an evergreen artifact.
Read the session companionNext frameworks lab. Announcement via baHRC calendar and JobNet 2.0 LinkedIn when scheduled.
Next drills lab. Returns with refined practice tool, updated materials, and whatever the hiring market is doing that year.
The in-person lab produced a standing artifact: a voice-powered mock interview tool that works every day, not just the night of the event. It's the piece of the flagship that delivers on a specific learning objective — building a personal practice habit beyond the workshop itself.
Pick your career level and HR discipline. The tool generates interview questions calibrated to you, records your spoken answer, and returns three pieces of feedback: what you said, what worked, and one thing to try. Optional cringe-vs-confident answer reveals. Copy your practice list when done. No login. No data stored.
Built by Wayne Rainey from the stumble/recovery card materials Tammy Rainey authored for the April 8, 2026 live lab.
Start a Practice Session →Physical handouts from the in-person lab. These are the transferable assets that make the flagship replicable — the same materials will run at future instances.
Two-sided reference: ten questions calibrated to stretch you on one side, and a Language Lab of phrases for buying time, handling "I don't know," redirecting, and deflecting inappropriate questions on the other.
Paired cringe/confident answer cards with "What Changed" coaching annotations. Used live in the lab to anchor the cringe-vs-confident exercise. Now seed data for the practice tool.
Materials are licensed as part of the JobNet 2.0 Interview Confidence Lab flagship — free to use for personal practice and peer coaching. Attribution appreciated.
JobNet 2.0 is an offshoot of the Bay Area Human Resources Connections (baHRC), designed specifically for HR and Talent Acquisition professionals navigating career transitions. It's peer-led, volunteer-run, and relational rather than transactional. Monthly sessions on the second Wednesday — alternating virtual at noon and in-person at 6pm at One Digital Cupertino. Nine sessions in 2026 (Feb–Oct), ten per year starting 2027.
Talent Acquisition Consultant running The Career Cantina. 30+ years in recruiting and HR. Speaks to HR audiences on AI implementation and job market dynamics.
LinkedIn →HR Executive and Culture Engineer. Deep experience guiding organizations from startup through acquisition. Formerly VP of People at Apixio.
LinkedIn →HR leader specializing in rapid-growth organizations — biotech, life sciences, startups. Currently Fractional HR Consultant helping founders build right-sized people infrastructure. Former HR Director at Slingshot Biosciences and Nephrosant. SHRM-CP, PHR. BA Psychology, UCLA.
LinkedIn →Founder of baHRC. Named Wayne and TehShan to lead the JobNet 2.0 initiative. Hosts JobNet 2.0 in-person events at One Digital Cupertino.
LinkedIn →