Student Career Journal: Mock Interviews at MVSU

Student Career Journal is a series of articles written by HBCU Students about career events, workshops and opportunities on their campus in order to encourage students to take advantage of the career services offered at their school.

Mississippi Valley State University’s help students do a mock interview every semester.  The interviews are conducted by the Career Services Center (CSC) professional staff.

The Career Services Center at the Valley offers resources to current students and alumni. The Centre has a number of programs and services designed to connect students and alumni with resources and organizations that will take them wherever they want to go, whether it’s a full-time job or a post-baccalaureate degree. It is encouraged that students and alumni take advantage of the services and opportunities available through the MSVU career office.

This past week, students had the opportunity to engage with CSC staff and faculty in a professional setting to improve their communication skills and learn how to make good first impressions with potential employers. Students were aided in social etiquette, physical presentation, and resume coherence. In order to participate, students signed up and received a day and a time to appear for the mock interview.  The practise mock interview was treated like a typical job interview one would encounter off campus.  Students were required to be on time and dressed in business casual or professional wear. CSC staff coached on the principles of formality and politeness with employers (i.e. handshake, greeting etc.). 

The CSC staff focuses on resume building as a fundamental part of a job interview. They showed students how to sound good on paper and sell themselves in the job interview. The interviewers also asked questions that students do not typically know how to answer to in order to acquaint them to different interview situations.

Mock interviews have been known to help MVSU alumni land their careers, with some graduates acquiring high ranking jobs because of it.

By Andrea Byrd, student at Mississippi Valley State University