During the week of January 22 to 25, juniors and seniors will be called down during their social studies class to participate in a 15 minute mock interview.

Last year, Rocklin hosted a Career Speaker Series for all students, where numerous professionals from our community came to the school and gave speeches about what they do. This year’s mock interview week is a spin off of that, incorporated in to get upperclassmen ready for work.

Career tech, Ms. Rachel Lund, explained the purpose behind these mock interviews.

“Mock interviews are ‘practice’ interviews for the students, and the goal is to prepare them for future real life interview experiences, improve their communication skills, help refine their answers to general interview questions, relieve stress and anxiety and boost their confidence when presented with professional situations,” Ms. Lund says.

Although these interviews aren’t real, they should still be taken seriously. Students are to prepare for these like they would any other interview, even going so far as to dress professionally and appropriately to their interview at school.

“In Language Arts classes, our juniors and seniors have been inputting all of their information into their Naviance Resume and then converting it to a selected resume style. They are also creating a cover letter addressed to a company for a general job position that they choose,” Ms. Lund adds.

Career Week is not just a part of Rocklin High School, it incorporates those in the Rocklin community as well. The interviewers will be individuals from the Rocklin area who were chosen to participate in the week.

“We have approximately 70 professionals from our community coming over the 4 days to interview our 1015 juniors and seniors. Our interviewers consist of professionals that were career speakers at Career Week last year, parents of students, friends of staff, members of a Lincoln Hills business group, referrals, and others we just picked up the phone and asked.”

Mock interviews might seem like just another chore to add to your plate, but if taken seriously, they can be beneficial to your present life and your ability to find a job in the future.