Rochester students gain confidence through community-led mock job interviews, breaking barriers to success.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
If finding a job is the next biggest step in any student’s life, there is an even bigger first hurdle.
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Getting past the job interview.
Few things can be more intimidating — especially for the first time.
Because always there in the back of your mind is the worry you might not cut the mustard and the job you want will be gone.
Which is where CCLLEN and its School to Work program come in.
Partnering with schools, it gives Year 10 students their initial taste of the real world through a series of mock job interviews and, last week, the focus was on Rochester Secondary College and its worker wannabes.
Bryce Read being interviewed by Peter Murphy.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
They all had to produce a cover letter and resumé for a job of their choice and then sit down in a formal setting opposite interviewers from local businesses and be put through their paces.
Teacher Wendy McKenzie said she wanted students to understand, while job interviews could be daunting, putting yourself forward could lead to unexpected opportunities.
“At RSC we want the students to build self-confidence and know they do have strengths and there really are opportunities out there,” she said.
“Yes, it is daunting, and yes, it can be scary, but it’s all about breaking down those barriers and making sure they are aware that you can be successful.”
Ms McKenzie said opportunities to develop workplace skills were becoming harder to provide by schools, due to the reliance on volunteers to provide opportunities, and those volunteers were becoming scarcer by the year.
“If we can start by getting local people involved and seeing the students, then we’re going to keep them here locally,” she said.
Logan West in his interview with Lynn Wolfe.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
“I think it’s kind of like a flow-on effect within the community.”
Ms McKenzie identified the perception “it's all about who you know, not what you know” as another barrier.
“Thanks to CCLLEN, they are getting opportunities they might not get in regional areas,” she said.
“We have some amazing students who will be the future generation of all these different employment opportunities.”
Jag Tarrant recieving feedback from Lauren Ross.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
CCLLEN’s Cath Lees said the program had been successfully working for more than a decade and addressed things most students had not previously been faced with.
She said just making them aware of the requirements of the working world — how you present yourself, how you communicate your skills set and enthusiasm and how you respond to direct questioning can all be a bit confronting.
“The key thing is explaining to these Year 10s that they are all good at something, they just need to be able to understand what they have to offer and where they want it to take them — and then get that message across to an interviewer,” she said.
Ashton Galea mid interview with Charmaine Miller.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
“What I do know, despite nearly all the students being nervous going into the interviews, is they also all come out with a smile on their face.
“Which may be that they feel better about the proves — or just a lot of relief they didn’t blow it.
“And that’s why these opportunities are so important — we want them to succeed; the interviewers want them to succeed and when they finally face a real interview they will know what’s coming.”
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