Information Technology Business Partners Provide Interview Experience

The Dane County School Consortium (DCSC) office, in conjunction with Herzing University, recently held its second annual Information Technology (IT) Round Table for incoming Youth Apprenticeship IT students. Representatives from Dell Software, ENVISION iT, American Family Insurance, Adecco and UW-Madison Biochemistry conducted mock interviews from their Human Resources and Information Technology departments. Jeff Westra, Director of Career Development at Herzing University, was instrumental in recruiting these businesses from Herzing’s technology committee, and through Madison’s Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) membership.

Each interviewer spent twenty minutes role playing an interview with each student candidate. Every student received feedback with tips on how to strength their interview skills. Students from Belleville, Deforest, Oregon, and Sun Prairie school districts arrived early Wednesday morning with resume in-hand to check their interview skills at the IT Round-Table Interview event. For many students, this was their first professional face-to-face interview. Having been coached by Mr. Westra, the students stepped up to the challenge of making a good first impression and relating their information technology skill sets to the interviewers. Each of the interviewers was positively impressed. The mock interviews will be followed by actual interviews at participating businesses in the youth apprenticeship program.

Youth Apprenticeship is a 1-2 year State of Wisconsin program that enables high school juniors and seniors to experience a career while in high school. Students take related technical courses, work approximaely 12-15 hours per week, and continue high school academics as required for graduation or post-secondary education. For more information go to www.dcsc.org.