College of Business mock interviews turn 20-years-old
More than 100 local professionals and alumni have volunteered to provide mock interviews for students for the past 20 years.
From Staff Reports |
Associate Professor Leanne Smith
Fall 2024 marks the 20th year mock interviews have been a central component of the College of Business’s Business Communication course. These interviews represent an experiential learning exercise that provides trifold benefits to students, local business professionals and the faculty.
Each year, students in the Business Communication course undergo three 20-minute one-on-one interviews with participating industry professionals. The exercise involves about 60 students and 45 professionals each semester and Leanne Smith (BA ’89, MBA ’09) draws on a list of more than 100 regularly participating professionals in the Nashville and Franklin areas.
The interview is the capstone of a semester-long process that involves portfolio writing assignments such as a 90-day plan outlining academic (and personal) goals, a memo outlining professional attire appropriate for entry-level interviews in a corporate setting and an introductory email.
The students also create or brush up their elevator pitches and LinkedIn bios, discuss resumes, cover letters, reference pages and strong responses to common interview questions.
Students typically leave the event inspired, encouraged and having enlarged their professional networks. Professionals leave the event having broadened their networks and having contributed to the readiness of the next workplace generation. — Leanne Smith, Associate Professor
Former students who served as mock interviewers in Fall 2022: (l to r) Sam Lynn, Rhett Emerson, Andrew Harper, Ian Gardner, Bradley Hairston, Jay Stephenson, and Reed Sircy.
The annual mock interviews were originally established by Laura Morrow (BS ’00, MBA ’02), who taught business communication at that time, as an in-class exercise to give students an opportunity to practice their interviewing skills. Today they create an opportunity for strong alumni engagement. Professionals leave the event having broadened their networks and having contributed to the readiness of the next workplace generation. Students typically leave the event inspired and encouraged, and the interviews help Smith stay current in how workplace expectations may be evolving, she said.
Laura Morrow
Twenty years of mock interviews have allowed the college to forge strong relationships with local businesses such as Tractor Supply Company, Caterpillar Financial, HCA, Ryman Hospitality, LBMC, Barge Design, Nissan, Bridgestone, several banks and accounting firms, Kyzen Corporation, Amsurg, Ramsey Solutions, Asurion, the City of Franklin, the Tennessee Titans, the Nashville Predators, UBS, Cummins, Vanderbilt and HealthStream among many others.
This past March, Smith presented a session at the Western Regional Association for Business Communication conference in Tucson, Arizona, on the benefits of including this experiential activity as a regular part of classroom activities.