Adah Haley with American National Bank interviews a student at the AspHIRE Mock Interview event at IALR.
IALR, New College Institute (NCI) and the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC) collaborated to offer AspHIRE Mock Interview Day 2022 to 200 high school students. Tenth through 12th graders from six school systems, ranging from Henry County to Charlotte County, participated in this event to hone their interview and employability skills with local professionals.
“I truly enjoyed the opportunity to learn about real-life interactions and situations I will encounter in the future,” said Layton Wilson, Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center Precision Machining Senior at Gretna High School. “Being there was a great experience, because I now feel a lot more confident going into the workforce.”
IALR, NCI and SVHEC each hosted the event at their respective locations. IALR welcomed students of Danville and Pittsylvania County on April 27-28; SVHEC served Halifax and Charlotte County students on April 27; and NCI hosted Martinsville and Henry County students on May 5. Local employers led work-readiness sessions and served as mock interviewers, and some even held real interviews to fill open positions within their company.
In addition to a 20-minute mock interview, students participated in a professional networking luncheon as well as work-readiness sessions. The latter included topics on Benefits and HR Basics, LinkedIn, Personal Brand and Presentation, Professionalism and Communication, Teamwork and Problem Solving, and Time Management and Work-Life Balance.
The first event was held at IALR in 2019 for students in Danville and Pittsylvania County and was expanded this year to include SVHEC and NCI.
