Keep an Open Mind and Interview BIG

We had a great plan. We were going to host multiple campus events involving employers, students, and faculty with themes of professional growth and employment opportunities. However, a heavy feeling set in by the end of March 2020 and it would

not let up for weeks. The plan changed rather abruptly and we were left wondering how we could contribute to a new virtual landscape that would trap us for the foreseeable future. There were calls from campus colleagues, asking for ideas on engaging students in order to support their career readiness while also indicating that us college types care about them. What could be done virtually? In a campus environment that prides itself on personal interactions with students, faculty, employers, and others, what meaningful programming could exist over the web?

Answering these questions was tougher than expected. We started making progress when we decided to say “maybe” in response to ideas. Ideas would get a chance before we might exclude them. We would keep an open mind. We would try new things as a team, including the consideration of leveraging new vendor resources. This mindset led us to accept a Big Interview, “a whole interview prep system”, trial (https://biginterview.com) and we would incorporate it into a fresh virtual summer program for students. Some students found themselves out of the internships they were promised earlier in the academic year, and there were students searching for something productive to occupy a portion of their summer experiences. We featured Big Interview as a new resource for students who completed our igKnight Summer program, granting participants the opportunity to practice their interview skills on their own and with an assigned career advisor through the system, before experiencing a capstone mock

interview with an employer partner.

Once the summer program concluded, our career advisors learned that “Big Interview was by far rated as [students’] most helpful assignment in preparing for their fall job/internship search.” Also, by exploring this resource, “Students [were] empowered to drive their own learning” while “tailoring their experiences to reflect their unique needs.” After reflecting on her undergraduate years, one advisor exclaimed, “I wish I had this resource to prepare for my interviews!”

So, what did we learn? Well, Big Interview is a good resource and we look forward to exploring a long-term arrangement with them. We will also plan another virtual program for next summer – pandemic threat or not since virtual was a good way to go. Perhaps most importantly, we learned to put more trust behind our ideas and engage in honest conversations with teammates on what could be.