Senior Exit Interviews Help Students Build Confidence
High school teachers in a variety of subjects work to help prepare students for job interviews and other professional interactions. One school in eastern Kansas has a tradition of going a step further.
In Wamego, USD 320, senior English teachers work with their classes through the year to learn best practices in creating resumes and cover letters, plus discuss interview skills and professional soft skills. Then, on Senior Interview Day in the spring, around 35 community volunteers provide more than 300 mock interviews lasting 15 minutes each — that’s two interviews each for more than 120 seniors.
According to Crystal Horton, English teacher and co-sponsor of the activity, students experience anxiety leading up to the day but walk away with a new set of skills.
“After their first interview, the confidence level is amazing. They will say, ‘That wasn’t so bad!’ They do their second interview, and they walk away with more confidence. They realize they can talk to someone they don’t know,” Horton said.
Counselor and Senior Interview Day co-sponsor Jessica Bonewitz said both the interviews and preparation before the big day help set students up for success.
“We want students to leave here with the practical skills they need to contribute to our community and make good life choices and be successful in whatever avenue is best for them,” Bonewitz said.
Sometimes those choices come quickly. Bonewitz remembers one student who interviewed with an auto mechanic, and the interviewer was so impressed that he said he would hire the student immediately. Another student who wanted to study theater met with the local community theater director and was thrilled to be offered a summer job.
Students respond with excitement. “We have had kids just walk away from the table and say, ‘He gave me his business card! Or ‘She told me to call her!’” Horton said.
Preparation and Setup
The Senior Interview Day requires extensive planning. The process begins with a brief survey distributed to all seniors. The survey allows students to indicate areas they think they may be interested in for a career. After students have made their choices, the sponsors look at lists of previous interviewers and make sure they have the right volunteers to fit students’ interests. When necessary, they identify new participants from the community to cover different fields of interest. After invitations are sent to the community and responses are received, the sponsors pair the students with interviewers and develop a schedule. Any students who are genuinely unsure what they are interested in pursuing as a career are matched with interviewers who can take a general approach.
As sponsors are organizing the event, classroom teachers help students develop resumes and cover letters. Teachers and even some community members offer feedback before the big day so the students’ mini portfolios can be as polished as possible. Students also learn how to dress in attire appropriate to their chosen field (business attire for banking, for example, or nice jeans and a polo shirt for construction), greet interviewers, introduce themselves and more. In 2025, students will email interviewers their resumes and cover letters before the interview.
On Senior Interview Day itself, when students have finished their interviews, they head to a station set up with feedback forms as well as thank-you notes. Students provide an evaluation of their experience and write personal notes to their interviewers, including addressing the envelopes. In the days following the event, students receive an evaluation sheet from their interviewers to help them prepare for future opportunities, and classroom teachers have students reflect on what they learned.
Community Support
Wamego’s Senior Interview Day has a long history. The business department originated the event in the late 1970s when a teacher found out that a student had gone to a job interview with rollers in her hair. In the 1980s, the school superintendent suggested that the Board of Education adopt the interview day as a graduation requirement. That change was made, and the requirement remains in effect today.
Community support for the event has remained strong through the years.
“The community is very eager to help. They look forward to it and are excited to be here that day. They are happy to communicate with students and are impressed by them and excited to be able to help them on their way,” Horton said.
Finding enough interviewers is usually not a problem. “We have people who come forward and want to be a part of it, and we do a follow-up survey to find out what went well and what can be improved,” Horton said.
Although students may feel nervous before the interview day, Bonewitz said they realize it’s a chance to investigate by asking questions they have about careers they are interested in pursuing. Students ultimately see the value in the overall experience.
“In the moment when they do the resume or cover letter, they don’t know, but after having the opportunity to work through it, they see the value and how it’s going to help them down the line,” she said.
“It’s a learning process, so when students have an actual interview, they aren’t going in blind and not knowing what to expect.”
Tips
If you’d like to organize a Senior Interview Day at your school, Horton and Bonewitz offer the following tips.
- Build stakeholder support in your community first. Make sure you will have eager interviewers who want to help students succeed. If your community has a local Chamber of Commerce, that could be a good place to start.
- Make sure school staff are on board. Ensure that teachers can provide adequate instruction through a technical writing or business writing unit, for example, and that you have enough staff to review students’ documents and help them put their best foot forward. In Wamego, event sponsors used to review all documents, but now senior English teachers are involved, which helps spread the workload.
- Be flexible. As times change, so do the skills students need to develop. During the pandemic, Wamego offered Zoom interviews. For a time, the event included an etiquette luncheon for students and interviewers, but that portion of the event proved too costly. Take time to consider how you might adapt the event to your school and community or to evolving circumstances, and don’t be afraid to make changes as necessary.
- Secure some funding. Wamego covers the cost of materials so students can develop professional-looking portfolios, plus thank-you cards for interviewers. Snack and drinks for interviewers are another budget item. If these items aren’t in the school’s budget, consider asking your local business community for donations.
- Consider graduation requirements. The Kansas State Board of Education amended graduation requirements in spring 2024, and the revised requirements went into effect for this year’s freshman class (graduating in 2028). In addition to completing 21 credits to graduate from high school, students must complete two items from a list of post-secondary assets. “Senior project/senior exit interviews” is one available option. (The full list of post-secondary assets includes apprenticeships, completing 9 or more college credit hours, achieving a certain score on the ACT or SAT, and many other items. Find the list.)
Looking for more ways to help teens prepare for job searches, either at home or in the classroom? Here are some related articles.
