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| A senior practices her skills |
As Errin Destics thought about teaching her students the
communication skills necessary for job interviews, she wanted to make sure they
had as real-life an experience as possible. Even if she interviewed them, there
was always a risk that it would become just another school assignment. Short of
making the students apply for jobs, how could she make the interview authentic?
The answer – bring the interviews to them.
Volunteers from the North St. Paul Rotary Club spent two
days at North conducting mock job interviews with students from her class. Students
had spent the trimester preparing for interviews, reviewing a different
question each week. They practiced communication skills including non-verbals
like posture, body language, and tone, and prepared resumes based on their life
experience. According to Ms. Destics,
the toughest lesson, but the most important, is just to “Be confident about who
they are as a person.”
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| The Media Center, set up for interviews |
On the appointed day, Ms. Destics set up a “lobby” in the
Media Center, and stationed the volunteers at separate desks. The students came
down to the Media Center in groups, and waited for their name to be called.
After, the volunteers, all of whom are experienced businesspersons with
experience interviewing, rated the students using a rubric Ms. Destics devised.
Some of the responses may have seemed a little harsh to the students who are
used to the gentle feedback of teachers, but “it’s something I think they need
to hear,” said Ms. Destics. “It’s good for them to get a sense of how things
work in the business world.”
Students said after that they were surprised at how nervous
they were, anxious about things as simple as the handshake. The students were
surprised at how informal and conversational the interviews were, and how it
wasn’t hard to be comfortable, but that questions were much harder to answer
without specific examples on which to draw. This experience will almost
certainly be invaluable when they aren’t just shooting for a grade, but a job
to go along with it.
