We have talent: Mock group interviewing improves employer perceived competence on hireability

Abstract

New business graduates often have difficulty finding suitable employment in a competitive job market. Students need direct instruction for communicating their self-competence to employers. This paper highlights a practical application of mock group interviewing (MGI) and instruction over five semesters exploring multiple practice rounds of behavior-based interviewing with 521 undergraduate business students at one 4-year public university. A culminating MGI event afforded students opportunities to practice their communication and soft skills with area business professionals (N = 126) as interviewers. Results show promise that MGI training may improve employers’ perceived competence of students’ hireability and be beneficial for students with diminished self-competence.

Keywords:

• Mock interviews
• hireability
• soft skills
• perceived competence
• employment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).