Career Services held its biannual mock interview event on Friday to prepare students for the real thing.
Whether it was for jobs, internships or graduate school, students arrived to go through the half-hour interview process in which their performances were evaluated and critiqued by both career counselors and volunteers from local business professionals. This year, volunteers from Geico, B/E Aerospace and Nova Financial Services attended the event to interview students.
Career Services received about 40 to 60 students from every major. During the interview, students discussed their skills, background and used the opportunity to “practice talking about themselves,” said Charlotte Blanchard, a senior coordinator for Career Services. At the end of every interview, students received verbal feedback and tips on how to better compose themselves. While some students attended the event before and generally knew what to expect, many students were there for the first time or had no interviewing experience at all. Jeff Patten, interviewer and career counselor, suggests going through the process several times.
“Interviewing is like any other skill,” Patten said. “The more practice the better.”
For Jordan Lane, a physiology senior who plans to apply for the physician assistant master’s program in a few weeks, practice was important.
“For me, the interviewing is probably going to be a pretty grueling process,” Lane said, adding that she expects to be interviewed by a panel. “You never know what you’re going to get.”
Even though the interview is not specific to any field, many students saw the mock interview as a good way to help them get a better idea of the actual process.
“It’s helped me to prepare. They asked me relevant questions,” said Bianca Gallego, who is studying pre-business, Spanish and Portuguese and plans on applying to the Eller College of Management.
The mock interview event is not the only opportunity students can get to prepare for job and internship interviews. Career Services allows students to schedule appointments year-round to gain interviewing experience, including online interviews where students can select their respective fields and have the option of selecting specific questions.
Blanchard said such events and services are key because “helping students prepare for the interview process is the nature of our mission.”
