MS Mock Interviews
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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.








































