Experiential Learning in Action on Mock Interview Day

On April 12th, 2022, in the 225 building of the Northeastern University Seattle campus, a special experiential learning event took place – Professional Mock Interview Day. Students gathered for an afternoon designed to help them improve their interview skills with empirical activities in the form of mock interviews conducted by working professionals. This gave opportunities for students to deep dive into their job search capabilities and build upon them by networking with fellow students and industry volunteers.

Event Agenda and Attendee Experience

Volunteers, students, and organizers came together to work on interview skills including professionalism, verbal/nonverbal communication, and delivery. The interviewers were volunteers from major tech companies including Amazon, T-Mobile, Tableau, and Adaptive Biotechnologies, and held roles that included software developers, project managers, senior revenue assurance analysts, senior solution engineers, and research scientists.

Students participated in two rounds of interviews with different mock interviewers, totaling an hour. “I liked that during the interview process we had 20 minutes of questions and then 10 minutes of feedback…there was no rush, and we could fully take on the questions that we were answering,” shared one of the student attendees who participated. After interviewing, participants received rated feedback on their overall interview skills and learned if the interviewer’s company would hire them.

Volunteer Thoughts

Throughout the event, volunteer interviewers were presented with unique opportunities to get to know more about the students’ expertise, projects, and communication styles. “I’d say the best part of this event has been learning about the experiences that each of these students offers from the experiences that they had coming into the university and how they’re going to marry those with the skills that they learned at the university in potential jobs that they will go into. They are all brilliant, bright, and motivated, and I’m just excited to see where they go,” described a senior consultant interviewer.

Providing students with a solid foundation on which to grow their careers is a key principle of the experiential learning model Northeastern University offers. As one of the industry interviewers attested, “Northeastern students are highly prepared to go into the real world and work excellent corporate jobs because they’re actually having a lot of real-life experiences with some of the local companies, which really helps. A lot of times people only know the theory and not the practical experience.”

Boosting Career Development with Enriching Events

The Seattle campus’ dedicated career development team organized the mock interview event and offers students many employment procurement resources year-round. Through focused one-on-one sessions, weekly drop-ins, and other methods, career advisors are able to help students with:

• General career counseling relevant to today’s job market
• Industry-focused co-op and internship advising
• Resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn review and feedback
• Behavioral and practical interview assistance

Learning Beyond The Curriculum

Career enrichment through learning extends beyond the classroom with Northeastern University’s many experiential learning opportunities. With over 3,000 global business partners Northeastern students have many options available to expand their understanding beyond coursework, preparing them for future challenges.

Events like Mock Interview Day embody experiential learning where, in a safe space, everything a student may encounter in the real world has been accounted for by the university and its staff. These events are intended to help prepare graduates for novel professional scenarios and give them the necessary skills to succeed.

While teaching students about the technical skills they’ll need to make it in their desired field, there is no substitute for hands-on, in-the-field, live-action learning. More than ever, especially in today’s hyper-competitive professional world, entering the labor pool with the required skill set is key.

Want to take advantage of our on-campus experiential learning activities and team? Visit this link to find out how.