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Harvest Market’s Tim Bosma interviews Darren Henman. (Mary Benjamin — Fort Bragg Advocate News)
FORT BRAGG, CA — On Wednesday, April 5, representatives from local businesses and nonprofits visited Noyo High School to give students their first job interview experience. The Mock Interview Day event was organized by Noyo High School staff and district career and college professionals. About 50 students signed up to conduct a minimum of three 15-minute interviews of her with representatives of more than 25 local businesses who volunteered to participate in the project.
Interviewers were provided with a set of generalized questions that had been used over the past two weeks as practice for students in class. Many students were preparing their resumes. The interviewer also filled out a “feedback sheet” for each student to review later, but many students shared their thoughts with the students at the end of the interview.
Students stood outside the open class door, schedules and résumés clutched, waiting for the call to come in and meet the first questioner. The three classroom tables were arranged to ensure the privacy of the five or six mock interview setups. Drinks and snacks were prepared in separate rooms for interviewers and students during breaks.
The entire set-up told a story of quiet and genuine respect for the event, highlighting the students’ serious commitment to expressing their best selves using the job interview skills they learned in class. This was the first time we offered this opportunity to our students. According to her district career and college specialist Lilli Tichinin, teachers have seen similar models at other high schools participating in the same her Big Picture Learning program.
The basic principle of this program is that students should be instructed for a real internship in their field of interest. The aim is to personalize a student’s education as they spend time in the community under the guidance of an adult who is actually working on her one of the student’s interests. Academics take place in the classroom, and teachers emphasize deeper thinking, critical thinking, and social-emotional learning.
Volunteer business interviewers spanned retail sales, restaurants, the construction industry, small private businesses, non-profit organizations, and clinic services. Some representative bodies were based in government. One or he two were self-employed consultants. The event ran from 10am to 1pm.
Morgan Flint, manager of Subway in Fort Bragg and Willits, was impressed by the students he interviewed. “The two people I’ve interviewed so far will definitely be hired if they apply.” She described her feedback as, “Answer yourself, not what I want to hear. Know your strengths.” Flint said, “I would definitely do it again.”
Erica Early, Director of Human Resources at Parents and Friends, commented: A veteran interviewer, Early said she wanted to “comfort and demystify the process” for her students, describing her style of interviewing as “a two-way conversation, a learning conversation on both sides.” Did. She advised her students to look at her interview questions beforehand and ask if they could bring their own questions.
Career and college specialist Lilli Tichinin, assisted by Transition Learning Center school district educator Erin Brazill, helped organize the event. “It’s exciting to have students practice interviewing and get a feel for what a job interview is like,” she said. “They get a little taste of different types of interviews with different types of industries and different types of people,” she added.
Tichinin joined the district’s staff in February of this year, but has quickly settled in to provide avenues for students to explore career paths, whether that includes college or not. “Challenge,” she said. This means what careers exist and what options are available both in our community and elsewhere. “
Tishinin said some of the students who attended the mock interview event were in middle school. She’s also open to taking upper grades on her career explorations. “They need tools to learn their strengths and interests,” she explained. “They need to start thinking about skills that can be applied to any career,” she added.
The students were dazzled by the experience. Very few had interviews, and a few had part-time jobs. Tension was the number one emotion shared by participants. Many said that the second and third interviews went smoothly because they were relaxed and enjoyed meeting various people.
The Tuesday before the competition was the final day of practice, but many students chose to stay at home. Earlier Monday, students at two high schools experienced the trauma caused by a hoax phone incident. I had to process my emotions in order to go back to school on the day of and do my best.
While waiting for another interview, Morgan Cooley, who sees college as his future, spoke about how beneficial the event has been to him. He took the experience seriously. “In my second interview, when they asked me what my weaknesses were, I drew a blank. I learned that I needed to be better prepared.”
Maddie Nelson said her experience really boosted her confidence. “Then I realized I could do this and wanted to do more interviews.” She had already reviewed her sheet of feedback and was grateful for her constructive criticism. She was conscious of using the interviewing techniques she practiced in her class, and one interviewer praised her good eye contact.
“I feel like I can go out and interview for a job right now,” she said. Her desire to She suggested that her interviewer should come for a tour of the clinic. “I had no idea she could do this if she hadn’t interviewed her,” Maddie said.
James Garcia learned a valuable lesson in his first interview. He belatedly noticed chewing gum in her mouth.”She tried to hide it so as not to be disrespectful, but she still noticed,” he said. In his feedback, he was advised not to chew gum. “I will definitely check,” he vowed. James found subsequent interviews easier because he was able to rely on his practiced techniques and use his resume to talk about himself.
Overall, James felt the experience was well worth it. He thought about some of his classmates and how they were reluctant to work part-time. “Some people don’t look for jobs because they don’t want to be interviewed,” he said. “They came here and he did three of them and realized it was actually easier than they thought. They can go out and get the job now.” he added.
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