On November 13th, nearly 90 students and 45 professionals met at the Hudson Business Lounge to perform a mass mock interview. It was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a PR class. Each student had two mock job interviews, and one mock informational interview. The whole process only took about an hour, but it was an hour jam-packed with suggestions, contact information, and in my case, lots of laughter.
The event opened up with a 15-minute presentation by Jeff Carrigan of Big Shoes Network, a company designed to locate and place people in PR jobs between Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Mr. Carrigan was a hoot; you could tell that he wanted to keep our attention, and he certainly did. He gave us a lot of information very quickly, but the best part was that he encouraged us to add him on LinkedIn. He said that he'd add anyone in the business, because networking is key to advancement. I took advantage of that invitation very quickly.
After the initial presentation, we began our interview process. My very fist interview was fantastic! I got to speak with a fellow motorcycle-lover who works at Milwaukee Harley-Davidson as a specialist in eMarketing for the company. I was so grateful for his laid-back attitude. He put me ease very quickly, and offered very helpful hints on my resume layout. I also appreciated his compliments! He could have been overly critical and dashed my hopes completely, but he looked at the interview from a teaching standpoint and gave me hints on what to do better and reinforced the things that I did well.
My second interview was with a marketing professor from UW-Whitewater. She was so helpful and informative! She paid close attention to the motions I made and the body language I presented. She gave me excellent feedback on what experiences to focus on within an interview, and even wrote me little notes about what I did well and what I could improve on. This included what I had on my resume and my business cards (which, fortunately, she liked). I also was impressed with how available she made herself. She stressed that if I had any questions I could contact her for advice and information.
My third interview was my informational interview. I was surprised to see a former classmate sitting in the interview area, but it was a very happy kind of surprise. My interviewer had been out of school for only a year, but was already employed at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and was head-over-heels for the company. She gave me some amazing advice, not the least of which was to BE PICKY! She reminded me that you don't have to take the first internship or first job offered to you. Beyond that, she also reminded me that if you take a job you don't have to stay with it forever. She mentioned a company she had worked with previously, and while it was ok, it wasn't the perfect job for her. Thankfully she found her job as a development and donor services assistant at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. We also have lunch plans to discuss the non-profit sector further. I'm very excited!
Overall, I found this event to be extremely helpful. I think in the future it could be beneficial to make the interviews a little bit longer. 15 minutes was time enough for the basics, but if I could have had 20 or 25 it would have been even better. I can't wait to use the feedback I got in the future!
