Imperial's HR Division helps local school students prepare for job interviews

Members of Imperial's Human Resources Division helped students at a West London secondary school hone their interview skills last month.

At  Burlington Danes Academy’s first Mock Interview Day on 23 June, 12 members of HR joined employees from the likes of KPMG, Bloomberg, ARK and the BBC to sit on practice interview panels for 94 sixth form students -  helping to boost their confidence and give them an experience of interview processes.

Imperial’s participation formed part of the  Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s ‘Inspiring the Future’ initiative, which aims to join Human Resources departments and businesses with schools to get young people ready for work by helping them develop interview skills and providing guidance on applications, CVs and their career aspirations.  

Burlington Danes Academy is a secondary school situated between Hammersmith Hostpital and Imperial West. The Academy delivers A-Levels as well as vocational courses to almost 200 sixth form students.

Gerard Haliti, a Year 12 student at the school said: “I found the feedback really valuable. My interview panel explained the importance of knowing my CV and giving specific examples of skills and knowledge gained in the past to prove I have them.”

Cherry Thein, a fellow student, added: “It was really useful to have had experience of a real interview - I will be much less nervous now!”

Louise Lindsay, Director of Human Resources at Imperial, said: “It was clear that just a couple of hours of our time made a real difference to the preparation the young people were undertaking for the world of work and further study.  Most had never experienced an interview before so we were able to guide them on planning for their next ‘real life’ interview to ensure they were in a good position to show their full range of talents.  I hope to have the opportunity to do this again next year.”

Hailey Smith, Welcome Service Manager at Imperial, said: “I came away from Burlington Danes on Monday buzzing with excitement; I had spent the morning speaking with an amazingly inspirational bunch of young people each with their own strengths, interests and stories.”

“The chance to use the interviewing and feedback skills I have honed in HR to support these students was such an affirming experience. It was also a great opportunity to work with colleagues that I do not get to see that often. I would put my hand up to do it again in a heartbeat!”

Victoria Tanswell, Careers Coordinator at Burlington Danes Academy organised the eventfor the school. She said: “The day was a resounding success! The students were excited about attending their interviews with panels of experienced interviewers from such well-known companies and wanted to do their best to impress.”

“Some students arrived with copies of their CVs and were extremely well prepared and confident, and many others were nervous. All agreed however that the experience was worthwhile and were extremely thankful to the companies that attended and made the day such a success.”