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job interviewing skills with local business volunteers

By JO ANNE KILLEEN | Staff writer

Some seniors at Onalaska High School wanted more challenge. That was the conclusion of a group of students who participated in a mock interview exercise.

Seven business people gathered at Onalaska High School recently in an effort to give a leg up to seniors in John Froh’s Practical English class. Twenty-eight students participated in a one-hour, 45-minute mock-interview session designed to help students practice interviewing skills. This was the fourth year the class has done mock interviews.

The bonus for the students was they could learn firsthand what employers are looking for in an interview and to practice poise and confidence under pressure. Each student had about 10 minutes with each interviewer. Almost all of them sat for five interviews each.

There was no particular job for which the students were interviewing; they were just practicing a general human resources interview. The interviewers could ask any questions they wanted or ask questions Froh had given them that the kids had practiced answering while in class. The questions, according to Froh, were fairly behavioral in nature, such as what would you do if you knew your co-worker was stealing, or how would you handle a really nasty customer. The students also had to create a resume.

The interviewers evaluated each student after the interview on such things as dress, preparedness, articulation of ideas and other common aspects employers look at. Points were given for each aspect of the evaluation.

Matt Stapleton, a graduate of Onalaska High School and now a sales supervisor for Best Buy, said he volunteered because he likes to help kids and he wanted to get out in the community. He is also involved in teaching fourth graders as part of Junior Achievement.

Stapleton said he thought the mock interviews were productive. “They learned what interviews are really like, not just what everyone says.”

Stapleton was surprised at how well composed the students were. “They gave pretty good answers, not bad overall.”

It also was the first time for Stapleton’s boss, Robert Gill, general manager at Best Buy. Both he and Stapleton have done real interviews as part of their jobs, but never participated in mock interviews.

“There were no surprises,” Gill said. “I thought it was a cool idea and it was a chance to get out in the community and do something for kids.”

Other business people participating were Brittany Styles of Z-93 radio, health care consultant Patrick Killeen, Judy Berg of McDonald’s franchisee Courtesy Corporation, Matt Watson of Merchant’s Bank, Jean Ruppert of Riverfront Inc. and Dean Dickinson, retired from the family funeral home business.

The students had a chance to ask the interviewers questions the day after the interview sessions. Three of the interviewers returned for a follow-up to find out how the students felt about the experience and to answer any questions. One boy was upset because one of the female interviewers did not come to the follow-up session. “That lady’s not here! Come on! That was my best score!”

The students wanted to know if the answers sounded rehearsed. Gill said he didn’t feel they were rehearsed but there was a common theme. “The first thing out of everyone’s mouth was about how hard working they were and they were fast learners.”

One of the boys wanted to know how he could improve his confidence in interviews. The answer from all three interviewers was practice, practice, practice. “Knowing yourself and your strengths and weaknesses will make you more comfortable,” Gill said.

Another boy wanted to know if it was OK to be nervous. Stapleton responded that anxiety keeps a person on edge. “If you’re too confident, it will show and go against you.”

Killeen reminded students that public speaking was the No. 1 fear for humans, even greater than the fear of death.

Killeen was also pleased with the eye contact, body language, smiles and handshakes he saw.

The girls said they noticed a big difference between the male and female interviewers. “The men, they were like, right to the point,” one girl said. “The women, they were all emotional, saying, like ‘isn’t that sweet, you want to be a nurse,’ or whatever.”

In response, the two Best Buy employees noted the boys were more articulate than the girls and seemed to know what they wanted more. None of the female interviewers attended the wrap-up session to explore that avenue any further.

The students surprised the interviewers by saying they wanted harder questions asked of them. Since they were not interviewing for any particular job, it was hard for the interviewers to give them hard questions. But they said as a candidate goes further along in the interview process, the questions do get harder.

The panel of interviewers left the students with four suggestions for interviewing: Follow up with a phone call to whomever you have interviewed with, or drop a note; dress appropriately; have questions such as about benefits, hours and general work related things and take to heart the constructive criticism they provided in their evaluation sheets.

Contact Jo Anne Killeen at joanne.killeen@lee.net or (608) 786-6816.