Year 11 Mock Interviews
Year 11 students at Uxbridge High were under the spotlight on Tuesday 19th January, as they practised their self-presentation skills in front of a host of local and national employers. Over forty employers from a number of organisations spent the day at UHS as part of a Mock Interview Day, co-ordinated by the school’s Work Related Learning Officer, Melanie Kindley-Deeks. After spending time in PHSE/Citizenship lessons looking at CVs, application forms and interview techniques students had to prove that they could “talk the talk and walk the walk”.
“I could not be more proud of our students, they have equipped themselves well and considered everything that we have discussed in our lessons. The feedback from the interviewers on the day was fabulous. I know the students have found this to be a positive and rewarding experience; in fact they are still talking about it.” Melanie Kindley-Deeks
One of the Year 11 parents contacted the school to tell us how her son had benefited from the day…
“I just wanted to say thank you for organising the Year 11 interviews this week. My son found the whole experience very helpful and it gave him an insight for when he starts his real interviews. Although he was nervous, he was made to feel at ease and answered the questions given to him. He came home and enjoyed telling me what questions the interviewer asked and how he replied.
He felt quite important on Tuesday, from putting on his suit and then receiving compliments from other students and teachers and I think gave him a little more confidence to talk to the interviewer. It was also useful for the students to talk to their friends to find out who their interviews were with and how they went.
My son said that there was a large variety of professionals who gave their time to talk and interview the students, which I know must have taken a lot of arranging on your part, so thank you again for all your hard work.”
The interviewers themselves praised the students who took park and the welcome they received from Uxbridge High School. Raheleh Ahmadi, who was joined by three colleagues from GlaxoSmith Kline commented…
“We had a great time taking part in the interview process for the first time. I met really enthusiastic students eager to learn more about the opportunities outside and also within our company. It was a pleasure to be able to answer their questions and advise them to maximise their potential for the future. I would also like to thank you and the principal for organising this event as everything was smooth and well organised. I would like to have the opportunity to take part in this event at your school in the future as I greatly enjoyed the event and felt like it was a great opportunity to add value to our future generation.”
This was not the only interviewer to do so, Jayed Hector from LearnDirect also contacted the school with her thoughts on the day…
“It was a pleasure to meet and interview some of the students at Uxbridge High School and I hope they found today beneficial. I think days like this are really useful for students to get a feel for life outside of school and have the opportunity to connect with employers/providers to ask any questions they may have relating to their future and hopefully more schools start doing this.”