Preparing for Career Success: Mock Interviews with YEP

On Tuesday, May 7, participants at the Young Entrepreneurs Projects’ (YEP) Burke High School site participated in a Mock Interview Day. This event was the culmination of a months-long career-readiness curriculum, during which students produced working resumes and cover letters as well as completed career interest inventories. The school’s principal attended the event.

The mock interviews were simulated by Aileen Quintero, YEP Program Specialist, who played the role of interviewer. YEP Director, Alex Freeman, filmed the proceedings so that all students could evaluate their performance after the fact.

To prepare for the mock interviews, students were given a fictional job description at Nike. Students were supported in researching the company, preparing for potential interview questions, formulating questions to ask the interviewer and culling supporting portfolio documents to bring to the interview. Additionally, students wore professional interview attire to best approximate a real-world interview.

The participants’ clear engagement in the process and private conversations underscored the important skills taught through the exercise. “You have to imagine it’s the real thing,” share one participant, Chris. “What if you went to an interview and they asked you these questions?”

Following each individual interview, Aileen Quintero met with each student to review their success – building upon their strengths and highlighting room for growth. It is this kind of real-world, individualized attention that YEP prides itself on; providing our participants the skills and experiences to transition to working adults and community leaders.

Interested in volunteering with YEP? We are searching for Guest Lecturers, Job Shadow hosts and Internship sites! Contact the YEP team at YEP@pyd.org.

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