Guest post by Kelsey Kuester of Mount Mercy University Enactus

Mount Mercy University’s Enactus team continued their career readiness workshop, titled EmpowHer, with the Catherine McAuley Center (CMC) earlier this month. Three sessions were previously held by the Mount Mercy Enactus team to prepare the women of the Transitional Housing Program for future job opportunities. The first meeting was an informative session concerning resumes, cover letters, and job interview etiquette. The second was a shopping trip to Kohl’s to allow the women to purchase appropriate attire for a job interview. The most recent preparation session was a demonstration of mock interviews hosted by Mount Mercy Enactus students and advisors. All of these sessions led up to the final meeting, a new component of the EmpowHer prog ram this year, in which residents were actually able to participate in mock interviews, putting to use the knowledge and skills gained in previous sessions.

Interviewers & interviewees receive instructions for the evening

As a member of the Mount Mercy Enactus team, we wanted to make these interviews as realistic and beneficial for the women as we possibly could. The Enactus team contacted Human Resource professionals from the community to conduct the interviews and provide constructive feedback. So that the women could practice answering questions relevant to their intended line of work, we contacted professionals from the industries residents were interested in. Representatives of TrueNorth, GoDaddy, Mercy Medical Center, US Cellular, and Aramark volunteered their time to assist with the mock interviews.

Each resident participated in two to three interviews, allowing her to experience multiple sets of questions and interview styles. Every step of the interview process, from check-in to follow-up was recreated. The women were expected to be on time for each interview and to check in at the front desk of the Center. Residents were just as equipped for the mock interviews as they would be for a real interview—they wore the professional clothing that they purchased at Kohl’s on our shopping trip and were expected to bring a copy of their resume. They even wrote thank-you cards addressed to the interviewers to get into the habit of doing so.

Participants wrote thank you notes to the interviewers, a culmination of the entire EmpowHer project.

After all of the interviews were over, each resident that participated was given feedback from each professional with whom they interviewed. Patti Seda, a Human Resource professional from TrueNorth said, “It was obvious that the women had great coaching and great mentorship.” She also said, “The interviews went really well. The women were so well-prepared. I think this was a wonderful program. I’d like to have all of my candidates go through this program!”

One of the residents who participated in the program said, “The mock interview process was a confidence builder. It gave me an opportunity to find out what I needed to work on and where my weaknesses were within the interview process.” Our Enactus team is very excited to see what the women will do with the knowledge and confidence gained and where it will lead their careers in the future!