Mock Interviews at Middle School 

Introduce Career-and College-Ready Skills 

Especially when competition is so fierce, interviews are often the vital step toward acquiring a job or gaining acceptance to colleges.  Learning interviewing techniques— the sooner the better—will give students confidence to do their best.

For many years, Sayville Middle School has been providing the right kind of practice as part of the Home and Careers curriculum, and again this semester, teachers Cheryl Scantlebury and Andrea Cacciatore organized Mock Interviews for the Eighth grade students.

Preparing to put theory into practice on Mock Interview Day, the students spent weeks on the Career Investigation Unit in their Home and Careers classes. The students had learned they must meet and greet with firm hand shakes, eye contact, and clear voices of introduction. The candidates also learned they would be judged on whether they dressed suitably for the interview, how they conducted themselves before, during, and after the interview, and how well they answered questions regarding their job skills. While not every candidate would be a perfect match for the job, the real lesson had more to do with the students becoming familiar with the interview process, and how well their needs, aspirations, and goals might someday be viewed by employers.

During the Mock Interviews with prospective “employers,” the students were considered for positions at Sayville Books & Beyond as either a Sales Associate in the Book Department, Sales Associate in the Music Department, Sales Associate in the Coffee Shop, or cashier. They were asked questions about their hobbies, favorite subjects, their grades, work experience and job skills, as well as their greatest strengths, career plans, how they would get to work, and what hours would they be available; but perhaps the most important question was in reverse: “Do you have any questions for me?” the interviewers asked. Taking the initiative to ask questions about the actual job showed that the candidate had done research about the company before the interview.

Sayville Administrators, faculty, staff, and several, local merchants  (see List of Employers below) took the roles of Employers for this year’s fresh faces and rated the students’ interviews with a rubric that judged how the students answered the questions, from  the best, i.e., “clearly”  to “did not answer.”  After considering the candidates’ handshakes, attire, eye contact, answers to questions, appearance of the applications, along with the questions the candidate asked, the “Employers”  were also asked to rate if the candidates were strong (Definite Hire), acceptable (Possible Hire), or unacceptable (Would Not Hire).

Thanks to everyone involved, Sayville Books and Beyond had many new hires this fall (see attached file). Congratulations, New Hires! And a special thanks to the “employers” who volunteered their time.

List of Employers:

Adam Brown                      Math Chairperson

Barbara Hall                        Coordinator of Instructional Technology

Brian Decker                      Assistant Principal Middle School

Dawn Lloyd                         Social Worker

Dawn Wiegand                 Sales and Service Manager TD Bank

Dennis Maloney               Athletic Director

Janice Shuster                   Guidance Counselor

Jeffrey Hoffman               Music Chairperson

Jillian Makris                       Assistant Principal High School

John Stimmel                     Assistant Superintendent

Scott Mellynchuk             Business Owner

Kelly Raycroft                    Guidance Counselor

Lenny Devlin                      Security Supervisor

Linda Horrigan                   Food & Nutrition Director

Pam Rooney                      Library Media Specialist

Patricia Aichroth               Secretary Middle School

Patricia Owens                  Store Manager TD Bank

Paul Simonsen                  Social Worker

Peter Branscombe          Director of Special Education Services

Ron Hoffer                          Principal High School

Rosemary Camilleri         Assistant Superintendent-Human Resources

Sandra Johnson                Retired Educator

Kirk Simmons                     NYC Transit

Sheila Simmons                Retired Educator

Thomas Murray                Principal Middle School

Tracy Von Eschen             Special Education Assistant Coordinator

Walter Schartner              Superintendent of Schools

William Seus                       Director of Technology

Wyder Tutiven                  Sr. Branch Manager lll, V.P.