0:04

Until they've been through one , a job interview

0:07

can feel like juggling flaming chainsaws

0:09

for a college graduate in any field . Arguably

0:12

, after they've been through one , it can feel that way

0:14

again . That's why UT Tyler

0:16

began offering a mock interviews event

0:18

to undergraduates a couple of years ago

0:21

, and now it's available to area high

0:23

school students as well . A

0:25

couple of years ago , and now it's available to area high school students as well . I'm Mike

0:27

Landis . Ut's Highly Radio connects with professional branding coach and adjunct lecturer

0:29

, gail Johnson to find out how

0:31

it all works . How does it all work ?

0:34

It all works very easily with one

0:36

simple concept , michael , and

0:38

that's you have to understand your

0:40

value , you have to uncover your value

0:43

. If you don't know what your value

0:45

is , that makes up your professional brand

0:47

, then when they start asking you those

0:49

questions , you're going to be stumbling

0:51

. You're going to be mumbling and you're going to start with

0:53

well .

0:55

That's right . Well , the famous , well

0:58

, tell us about the genesis of the

1:00

mock interview events at UT Tyler .

1:02

The genesis started back in 2009

1:05

, when I was asked by the

1:07

dean to teach

1:10

a career course

1:12

. How do you

1:15

get from the college to the

1:18

office . Yeah

1:20

, the job market . And I walked

1:22

into class that day and I'll never

1:24

forget it . I looked at the students . I said , okay

1:26

, we're going to start , let's go around the room , tell me about

1:28

yourself . And there was total

1:31

silence . They were panic-stricken

1:33

and I went okay , these are

1:35

business students and I'm a businesswoman

1:37

, right . And I went we've

1:40

got to fix this Yesterday and

1:42

I changed the scope actually

1:44

of the class , reorganized

1:47

it . So we started with having

1:49

students uncover their values and

1:52

then come up with a story to

1:55

prove that they own that value

1:57

. Because think about it in

1:59

your resume , michael . Every

2:02

bullet point on that resume which

2:04

, oh , by the way , recruiters look

2:06

at that for five to seven seconds . So

2:08

you better have that concise and

2:11

bullet form so that they can glance through

2:13

it and get interested in you Every

2:17

one of those are value statements and

2:19

you have to understand I'm

2:22

telling that person across

2:24

the table from me that that's

2:26

what I'm going to bring that organization . I

2:29

have leadership skills , I'm

2:32

a demonstrated leader , oh

2:35

yeah . So what's the recruiter thinking

2:37

? Prove it , gail . Prove

2:40

it . And that's where you're ready

2:42

, because you know you own the value

2:44

, because we've gone through that , we've uncovered

2:47

it and now , when you're

2:49

asked to prove it . You've come up , tell a story

2:51

of how you use that

2:53

leadership . And

3:08

we do that . We tell that story

3:11

using you've heard of the STAR method

3:13

. That's been around forever situation

3:15

, task , action , result my

3:17

co-author and I , because we

3:19

have authored the book your Standout

3:22

Brand Workbook Notice , I said

3:24

workbook , not textbook , and

3:27

in that we added the T takeaway

3:30

. What did you take away from that experience

3:32

? So now the star is start and

3:34

if you can walk through that methodically

3:37

and interestingly , okay

3:39

, because you're trying to engage your listener

3:42

, not put them to sleep , and

3:44

demonstrate that I have this value

3:47

that you just asked me about , and

3:49

here is my story to prove I

3:51

own it .

3:53

So you're not asking these young people to reinvent

3:55

themselves , you're asking them to

3:57

investigate themselves .

3:58

Yes and be authentic . That's

4:00

the fun part of it . Okay , we

4:03

start first of all . We'll back up

4:05

a little bit . The first thing they're going to

4:07

do in the mock team interview certainly

4:09

our students get headshots . We start

4:11

off with getting a professional headshot . Why

4:13

? Because they're dressed professionally , they're in business

4:16

suits or you know professional

4:18

business attire when you go into

4:20

an interview . So the very first

4:22

thing after you do that , you go

4:24

back to the Souls College and

4:26

before the , as the business folks arrive

4:29

, you're introducing yourself

4:31

. And you notice I didn't say elevator speech

4:33

or elevator pitch

4:35

, because that's now conceived

4:37

or people interpret that as a sales pitch

4:40

. So call it what it is , it's an

4:42

introduction . So you walk up

4:44

, stick your hand out , shake hands , eye

4:46

contact , smile and say hi

4:48

, I'm Gail Johnson , I'm

4:50

a nationally known , nationally

4:53

respected , and you go on and on and on

4:55

and you tell a little bit about yourself

4:57

. Everybody knows what they do , right

5:00

, I'm a senior management major

5:02

at the University of Texas , soles College

5:04

of Business . In addition , I'm a patriot

5:06

athlete , whatever it happens to be

5:08

. And then you slide ever so

5:11

carefully , one of your values

5:13

that you want to showcase and you sneak

5:15

it in there , maybe during the

5:17

what you do portion . So we teach

5:19

them who you are your first name , last name

5:21

, what you do . Okay , for

5:24

maybe three or four sentences , because

5:27

the purpose of the introduction is

5:30

to engage them in conversation

5:32

. It's not to just blah

5:34

, blah , blah all kinds of information you

5:36

want to say hi , I'm Gail Johnson . I'm

5:38

a nationally respected professional

5:40

branding author , lecturer and keynote speaker

5:42

. Pause , see if

5:44

there's a connection there . In addition

5:47

, I teach how to develop

5:49

and manage a successful career at the University

5:51

of Texas Soles College of Business and

5:54

you hear the listeners say , oh

5:56

, I went to UT Tyler Bingo

5:59

Touch point . So now you have

6:01

a touch point , you're starting the conversation

6:03

and if you never finish your introduction

6:06

, that's great , because the purpose

6:08

is to get to know each other and

6:10

start building a relationship . And if you're smart

6:13

, you follow up , and one of the ways you can follow

6:15

up is connect with them on LinkedIn . That's

6:17

how you build your brand , that's how

6:20

you communicate your brand . Then , once

6:22

you're through with the introduction and we do

6:24

that for about 30 minutes we have

6:26

breakout sessions . And Mike

6:28

, think about it . This

6:31

is a conference . You've been to conferences

6:33

First day . What do you do ? You all meet

6:35

, you have an introduction , you network

6:37

conferences . First day what do you do ? You all meet , you have a introduction , you network . The next day you decide

6:39

what breakout section sessions you're going

6:41

to attend . So it's set up also

6:43

to give them that training . So

6:46

they , the students , decide

6:48

who they want to sit with . We have

6:50

wonderful businesses that have been supporting

6:53

this yeah , businesses that are doing the interviews

6:55

. Yes , absolutely .

6:56

So these are real world people .

6:58

Absolutely . They come in , they love

7:00

it . They're awesome People like Heartland

7:02

Securities and Sherwin-Williams

7:05

and Cavenders we get Amazon

7:07

coming in from Dallas . I

7:09

mean these are and they're just wonderful

7:12

folks . And guess what , Michael ? A

7:14

lot of them are UT alum . That's nice

7:16

Okay . And guess what , Michael , A lot of them are

7:18

UT alum that's nice Okay .

7:19

Yeah , I put a whole other spin on recycle . That's a touch point .

7:20

Yes , that's a touch point .

7:22

Absolutely yes .

7:23

So the students decide

7:25

who they want to sit at at the breakout

7:28

session . So you have a couple

7:30

of business professionals we also

7:32

have , like CTCU

7:34

and Ultra and Southside

7:36

and you name it . They're

7:38

there . Okay yeah , survey

7:41

and mapping , so it runs the

7:43

gamut . So the student picks who they want

7:45

to sit with . They're usually five or six

7:47

of their classmates , so it's

7:49

a team group interview

7:51

and they spend the next 45

7:54

minutes practicing what

7:56

businesses use , which is open-ended

7:58

, behavioral-based questions .

8:01

Interesting , all right , all of it's fascinating .

8:03

So tell me a time when you oh

8:06

, I have a great example and let

8:08

me share it with you the ellipse at the end of it .

8:10

Tell me a time when you yes .

8:12

OK . So what are they asking ? They

8:14

want you to prove that you can do

8:16

what they've just asked . Maybe it's organization

8:18

skills , maybe it's team skills , whatever

8:20

it is , and you're ready for that answer

8:23

because you've practiced

8:25

it , you've uncovered it and

8:27

it's authentic . And guess

8:29

what ? It's your story and no one

8:31

can stump you on your life . You're

8:33

not memorizing anything .

8:35

You know these students will come from a variety of disciplines

8:38

offered at UT , Seiler and elsewhere , but

8:40

it sounds like this is a lesson in marketing

8:43

. I mean particularly branding themselves . Absolutely

8:45

, what do you think a resume is lesson ?

8:45

in marketing , I mean particularly branding themselves . Absolutely . What do you think a

8:47

resume is ? You're

8:49

marketing and branding who , the person

8:52

whose name's on that resume . Okay

8:54

, when you walk in and

8:56

you're dressed , you look sharp , you're

8:58

ready to go , you're organized , you're 15

9:01

to 20 minutes early . What are you

9:03

non-verbally marketing your

9:05

brand ? You stick your hand out

9:07

, web-to-web , firm handshake , eye

9:10

contact , smile . That's all

9:12

a part of your brand . Everything

9:14

is your brand , so you always need

9:17

to be on and be careful

9:19

and be conscious of that .

9:21

And authentic .

9:22

Authentic .

9:23

Authentic .

9:24

Yes , that

9:28

, and authentic , authentic yes , and I'm passionate so passionate about this that

9:30

I realized in 2017 , we need to start earlier

9:32

, and I am a huge fan

9:34

of Career and Technology CTE

9:37

. I actually , before

9:39

they broke ground , I was working with Tyler

9:42

ISD on their CTE project

9:44

, nice . In my opinion

9:46

, it should be the benchmark for the entire

9:48

United States what we're doing in the state of Texas

9:51

. It's phenomenal . So I call

9:53

, I reached out to Tyler ISD

9:55

, jessica Brown and Leah Stanley

9:57

at White House and said you know , I'd really

9:59

like to bring what I teach my college

10:02

students into the high schools . And

10:04

they said , great , when can you come

10:06

? And we are now reaching

10:09

students throughout East Texas

10:11

, all the way to Rusk and

10:13

Henderson and soon to be Tatum , to

10:16

Brownsboro , to Crandall High

10:18

School on the other side of Buckeyes , right

10:20

, and teaching these students

10:22

the same thing I'm teaching

10:24

the students in the colleges and

10:26

guess what ? In order for them to finish

10:29

the course and get their certificate

10:31

, they have to come to the mock team interviews

10:33

. So now we have the

10:35

college students with their teams

10:38

and now we have the high schoolers and

10:41

they go through the same thing

10:43

they learn to network , they get dressed

10:45

up ready for an interview . They've got their resumes

10:48

. They've practiced communicating

10:51

their brand . We've worked with them and

10:53

they love it . I get students

10:56

that started in their freshman year and

10:58

they come back every semester because

11:00

they're learning and growing . It's

11:04

just phenomenal and it's making

11:06

all the difference in the world .

11:07

Takes me to my next question , and that is that

11:11

there's any kind of metric that indicates how

11:14

successful the program is and its stated

11:16

purpose ? A note or an email is nice , funny

11:18

and having them come back .

11:20

Funny . You should mention that because we've actually

11:22

I've been working for the past few

11:24

years with Dr

11:26

Rochelle McWhorter , dr Marilyn

11:29

Young , dr Julie

11:31

DiLello on research

11:33

we've been doing on the Mock Team interviews and

11:36

it's entitled We've Got Talent and

11:39

we've submitted that to one of the

11:41

major journals and

11:43

I'm hoping to get that

11:45

published here very shortly . That

11:48

has what you're talking about

11:50

, the details of what we're doing , because I would

11:52

love to see this expanded

11:55

because it works . And one of the

11:57

ways I know it works is this year

11:59

when we sent out the invitations for the mock team

12:01

interviews , we had the business

12:03

Folks . 95%

12:05

of them responded positively and

12:07

said they were going to be there the first week .

12:09

Wow , how many people does this serve

12:11

when you put one of these on ?

12:13

Right now we have 100 undergrads

12:15

in management , marketing and

12:18

finance and I had to call

12:20

a couple of high schools and say I need you to back

12:22

off because , we don't have the

12:24

space .

12:25

Oh goodness .

12:25

Fire marshals would get real upset with us

12:27

. So instead of 33

12:29

, you can only bring 25 . Right , so

12:32

last , between 22 and 23

12:34

, the participation increased

12:36

88% Absolutely

12:38

phenomenal . Can I talk about

12:41

one more thing ? Sure , please . Okay , there

12:43

was an article in the Tyler paper

12:45

last , I believe it was November , and

12:48

there was a company that was going out of business and they were

12:50

saying oh , we just can't find anybody , yada

12:52

, yada , yada . And I went okay , I'm done , I'm

12:55

done with this . And I called

12:57

my friends at the Tyler and

12:59

Longview Economic Development Council , texas

13:01

Workforce Commission . I called

13:04

three of my business professionals

13:06

that have been with the Mock Team Interviews forever

13:08

Heartland Securities , southside Bank , and

13:11

one that's very actively engaged in

13:13

the high schools through TISD , which

13:16

is hood packaging , and then

13:18

, of course , I can represent the University of Texas

13:20

. And then I reached out to Tyler ISD

13:22

and Christy Murray's going to be there from

13:24

Tyler ISD and Leah Stanley

13:26

will be there from White House , and said we

13:29

are going to put a panel together . And

13:31

I got it all together and all outlined to

13:33

say you cannot sit in

13:36

your office , in your HR

13:38

chair or your management chair , and

13:40

expect them to come to you . You've

13:42

got to engage on campus

13:44

On May 1st , we're going to have a panel

13:46

it's a free seminar titling

13:48

Providing Success-Ready Gen

13:51

Z Candidates for East Texas

13:53

Businesses . Because my undergrads

13:55

and the high schoolers , they're Gen Zs

13:57

and they're the fastest growing population

13:59

that's moving into the workforce . They're going to

14:01

replace you and I , the boomers

14:03

, okay and some of the millennials

14:05

. So we have got to work

14:08

with them , figure out the best way to work with

14:10

them , because the exciting thing about

14:12

Gen Z's is they're bringing technology into

14:14

the workplace . They're going to make it faster

14:16

, quicker makes sense

14:23

. And now let's

14:25

get the community involved so we

14:28

have this working seamlessly

14:30

. So , instead of doing a

14:32

post on one of the job sites

14:34

and do a , you know

14:36

, hit the send button and hope for the best

14:38

, you actually are cultivating

14:41

young people , identify

14:43

them from a younger age , growing

14:46

them , bringing them in for internships

14:48

, part-time , full-time jobs and

14:54

then saying you know what ? We want to keep this young person and we're going to offer them

14:56

a full-time job . It's not rocket science , is it ?

14:57

It's common sense . Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio

15:00

connects with professional branding coach and adjunct

15:02

lecturer , Gail Johnson . For

15:04

UT Tyler Radio News , I'm Mike Landis

15:06

.