Students had the opportunity to work on their interview skills Wednesday during the Mocktails and Mock Interviews event hosted at the Business Career Services Center in the Gerdin Business Building.
Bobbi Sullivan, interim director of career services, said students practiced networking and interviewing in a 45 minute window.
“When they first arrive they’re greeted by an employer, John Deere is volunteering for that, and they are given a mocktail,” Sullivan said. “Then they are expected to practice professional conversation when they’re waiting for that interview to happen. Then the employers that volunteered to do practice interviews with the students, those are 30 minute slots. After the full process the student is then given feedback on how they did.”
Additionally, Sullivan explained how students can express their nerves in an interview that is not real.
“We would rather have our students have a practice round,” Sullivan said. “If there is any coaching that needs to happen, it’s able to happen in a mock setting versus an actual job. It is also a big confidence builder. I think students come out of these experiences feeling like that was much better than they anticipated.”
Ella Bush, a junior in human resource management, explained how things went down.
“He [the employer] introduced himself, asked me some questions that Target would ask their interviewees, which was super awesome because I would like to interview with them in the coming months,” Bush said. “It was nice to know what those questions would look like.”
Bush also added that she was able to build up her confidence through the mock interview.
“Put myself in the real life scenario of getting interviewed,” Bush said. “I know that I will start getting interviews, and so just having this practice to take down some of the stress and be ready for when the real ones come up.”
Jennelle Vossel, a senior in finance and international business, said she was able to build up her interview skills.
“I was able to build for future employment opportunities, whether that be more interviews or having a position in the future,” Vossel said. “I was able to get some helpful feedback on my resume as well.”
Vossel recommends students to take advantage of career feedback opportunities.
“It was great in terms of getting that feedback, being able to apply it and be a better interviewee for the future,” Vossel said.
Jessica Martin, a career coordinator at the Gerdin Business Building, said that the process is pretty laid back.
“The recruiter will ask you where you’re from, get the background, ‘Tell me about yourself,’ those general questions,” Martin said. “Then they will go through all those behavioral, situational questions, like what makes you a good teammate, things like that. Then to wrap it up they’ll say do you have any questions for us, we recommend students always have a couple of questions prepared. This is a good opportunity to try that out on a new recruiter.”
Martin added there were about 40 students that showed up to the event today.
“We have upwards of 35 to 40 students,” Martin said. “Depends how full each schedule is but typically each employer is prepared to see seven to eight students, and we have six employers today.”
Vossel recommends students take advantage of career feedback opportunities.
“It was great in terms of getting that feedback, being able to apply it and be a better interviewee for the future,” Vossel said.Information on this event can also be found here.
