001[music] This spring, our uh business teachers organized a um mock interview uh day event. This is uh one of many events that we have in our business department and but definitely one of our capstone events for our career planning and career internship students. The event um this year had 65 students [music] attend as well as nearly 30 professionals and community members. Um during this event, um students were able to participate in a mock interview which gave them an authentic learning experience, taking what they're learning, [music] um transferring it to an actual application of how they can use those soft skills, professional skills, and translate that to what they want to do postgraduation. All of the things that we're [music] learning in the classroom, resumeéumés, cover letters, interviewing, networking, elevator speech, were able to be applied
002[music] in a realworld type situation. So, it was very authentic for [music] them. It's great preparation for their future. There are so many people that came in with so many different businesses [music] like uh we had some colleges come in where they were the recruiting for their area. So like Marine Valley was here, Fox College is here. So we were able to talk to them about like what they do exactly and how they help you prepare for the future. We also got these breakout sessions where they would come and talk to us. We had one about careers [music] in municipal government, one about how you can prepare yourself for the future and make it yourself more employable to like future employers. We were able to meet with multiple business people and see what their thoughts
003are [music] on how we were doing the interviews. So they would ask us normal questions and kind of give us a mock idea of what an interview would be like and then they would tell us what we did wrong, what we did good, and then we would get reports back on what we should do differently. It was like that first time for a lot of people there. It helped us realize, hey, maybe I need to improve here [music] or here. It bridged like some gaps that we all kind of wanted or had questions [music] about. I was interviewed by a army recruiter, a librarian, and a pastor. After interviewing for a while, you kind of get used to what to say. I interviewed with [music] someone from the Orland Park Library and then also someone
004at the Win Trust Bank. It's definitely [music] a good practice for interviews if you've never been in them. And you know, if it's your first time, it it kind of helps you to not be so nervous for [music] real life interviews. I think these mock interviews definitely help me prepare for the future. When I'm doing a real interview, I know [music] exactly how to act. I know what I can do differently and I know really what these people are going to be looking for from me. They said I need to work on getting a resume. That was my big thing. Um that's just because they like to see like your history. They don't want to just know your name. They want to know what you've done, impact you've made, and how you can possibly make
005an impact with their business. Uh my personal takeaway was I can sit down and talk to someone and be confident with it. I think after this, like after my second interview, I was a lot less nervous. I felt more confident in [music] myself and my ability to talk to people and express myself. [music] We also have a lunchon where we are able to practice professional etiquette and certain customs that [music] are um normal in business settings and [music] in networking settings. And so the entire experience for the student is is pretty fully integrated into what they could expect both [music] from interviewing on the front end all the way to networking once they become a professional. The number one indicator of success [music] is not everything that we're learning in the books. It's networking. This
006[music] really hones in on the importance of that networking and just being able to talk to people professionally. We have several entrepreneurial type students as well and so this is [music] an opportunity for them to start networking very early and I think a lot of those contacts really develop into relationships that help them. The experiential knowledge that they gain from these [music] kind of um um settings and these kind of activities is exactly what they need to do once they graduate.