Recent estimates show that the average worker will change jobs seven to eight times in his or her lifetime.
Wednesday, some Pittsburg High School juniors practiced for their first potential job with a round of mock interviews at the school.
“It’s a continuum for us,” said Koeta Bryant, USD 250 career coordinator. “There is a sophomore focus class that is required of all sophomores. In that class, we have a job simulation and job shadowing. By their junior year, we prepare them for mock interviews and have them write a resume. As juniors and seniors, we have a career opportunities day.”
Those conducting the mock interviews included a wide spectrum of the Pittsburg community, as representatives from more than 25 different groups helped students get a start on their budding careers. Those groups included Pittsburg Police, Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center, the City of Pittsburg, and the Army, among others.
Pittsburg State’s Students in Free Enterprise, who also conducted mock interviews, also helped the students earlier this month with a preparation day. The preparation consisted of a skit designed to teach the soon-to-be-in-the-job-force students about the right and wrong ways to participate in an interview.
For Mark Turnbull, Pittsburg director of economic development, the mock interviews also served as an opportunity to train the next generation of the Pittsburg job force.
“Students leave here with career interview skills that will help them as they interview in the future,” Turnbull said. “It’s a little different situation in a gym, though. But there are career fairs in gyms all over the country. We’re developing skills that can be productive in the community. It’s a constructive process for them.”
Turnbull also said that the interviews further help the students themselves by providing longterm skills for a variety of jobs.
“There are jobs these kids will fill in the future that may not be created yet,” Turnbull said. “We want to develop the basic skills, verbal communication, written communication, and so on, for jobs that are not even here yet. That’s a challenge for the students and for the educators.”
The mock interviews were conducted through the students’ English classes.
Northeast High School will be coming to PHS Thursday for the mock interviews. Frontenac and Southeast each host their own mock interviews.
Students said the mock interviews were helpful but generally nerve-wracking.
“I was nervous,” said Tiffany Thompson, PHS junior. “Eventually, I finally got talking and it got easier. It’s kind of weird for me, just the way people ask questions. It helps me prepare for a real interview, because then maybe I won’t be so nervous.”
Others commented about how official the mock interviews seemed.
“It went great. It felt really real,” said Ryan Hall, PHS junior. “I could tell they knew what they were talking about.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
