Students in ROP classes, such as medical and career planning classes must participate in Portfolio Day on March 7 and March 14, which means they are required to create an employability portfolio to use in a mock interview. Portfolio Day allows students to be given the opportunity to experience a job interview.
Some things that students must do to be successful in their mock interview by business leaders, is to come dressed in casual professional attire and present themselves to the interviewer and answer various interview questions. Students prepare several months before their interview takes place. They learn how to behave in an interview and gather all of the necessary information to be successful. This means that students need to create their own portfolio that they must provide to their interviewers that contains their resume, an application and references.
Portfolio Day can be challenging for some students, especially if they have never had an official job. If that is the case, they have to come up with experience other than a job to add to their application.
ROP teacher, Mrs. Stephanie Austin stated, “Students have to think about things they have done or been involved in before. Something that they were responsible for, such as clubs, fundraisers, drive thru dinners, or even responsibilities at home.”
This is not the only challenging thing that students might face on Portfolio Day. Some might be stressed or anxious because they must be ready for one-on-one speaking with their interviewer and also be ready to answer questions they are possibly not fully prepared for, which makes it a great learning experience for a real interview.
Portfolio Day is an amazing opportunity for many students as it helps prepare them for their future job search preparation and it helps them build more confidence in interviews.
