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Lord Botetourt business teacher Jon Cook has a friend in Dennis Cline who is district manager of Kelly Services Inc.  Several years ago Cook actually purchased a diamond engagement ring from Cline who he was a manager at Finks. Together they have come up with a great way for Career Pathways students to learn the job interview process.

This is what Cook told about the interview session which took place on Tuesday, October 20.

"Lord Botetourt Business Department is teaming up with Kelly Services for interviewing.Cook's Career Pathways class has a solution in today's economy, when jobs are hard to find - brush up on your interviewing skills. We not only want our students to have the skills needed in today's economy, but we want them to be first when employers do their selection. Our class gives them a chance to work on their interviewing portfolio and deliver a top notch interview."

He continued, "We give them six potential jobs to apply for. The students have to provide a cover letter, resume, job application, and a thank you letter. Kelly Services will review each portfolio and select a group of students to interview live in front of their peers. The live interviews are helpful in the fact that each student experiences the nerves, butterflies, and all the anxiety that goes along with interviewing. Even the students who aren't selected will benefit by experiencing interviewing first hand by observation."

During fourth block, Cline explained different components about the job interview to the class. He told the students that for every one job, 125 people will apply to land it. He picked three students from a stack of the resumes to interview. they were Tyler Vetick, Mary Fritts and Russell Woody. Each applied for food service work which would be a field where a young person could find a job.

Vetick won points for saying his best ethic is that he is a hard worker. Fritts got points for having experience. Woody however was exemplary in his interview. He came dressed in a dress shirt and tie, he answered the questions very politely and he waited to be asked to be seated." The whole class voted for him and Cline concurred.

Indeed said Cline, the degree of politeness  in an interview is crucial and may be a skill lacking in younger folks these days. "Yes Sir" rather than "Yeah" will win more points in an interview. All three remarked they were nervous which is a common side affect of a job interview, said Cline.

Said, Cook, "This is the second year that I  have teamed up with Kelly Services and it was a huge success last year. The project was thought of in Botetourt teacher in service QTL courses. The following QTL strategies were used in this project: Cooperative Learning, Mental Models, Clear Learning Goals, Advanced Organizers, and Homework Practice. All strategies are a result of level three learning."