TU’s Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) successfully hosted its first Mock Interview Competition on April 27, 2021. The competition, comprised of two rounds, began with students across campus submitting their resumes for a Human Resource Generalist position. Four finalists, selected from the first round of resumes, were invited to a semi-structured interview, conducted by a hiring panel of four industry leaders from both the private and public sectors. Three of the four finalists were awarded at a virtual ceremony held on April 27th.
The first place winner was Amanda Margkrathok, CBE graduating senior with a double major in Business Administration (Human Resource Management concentration) and Business Systems and Processes. Amanda thought the interview was not as stressful as she expected. She said the interview felt more like a conversation than the interrogations she had experienced with other hiring panels during her previous job interviews.
Saron Alemseged won second place and Emily Eichele won third place. Both were graduating Business Administration seniors with concentrations in Human Resources Management. When asked about their takeaways from the Mock Interview Competition, Emily expressed that it was a great opportunity to practice interviewing. Saron’s advice to other student interviewees is to “Give yourself affirmations and present it.” These winners received cash prizes in the amount of $100, $60, and $40 respectively from the Department of Management.
Mr. Jimmy Lien, Regional Business Director for Cintas and competition judge, said of the winners “I would have no problem hiring all three of you at my organization.” Associate Professor Nhung Hendy, who organized the competition on behalf of the Department of Management and the TU Society for Human Resource Management student chapter, said that she hoped this would be an annual event open to students from all majors and disciplines, as human resource management is relevant and applicable to all disciplines and organizations.
Credit: Jacob Dunham, ‘21 and Hanna Cogar, ‘22