Mock Interviews and Morrisby Guidance

Over the past fortnight, Upper Sixth have been preparing for life beyond school through a series of individual mock interviews. And who better to put them through their paces than a series of successful Old Leightonians, who were also once preparing to embark on their career journeys from the Park.

Suited up, albeit behind the screen, students were matched to a professional in the field they are hoping to pursue, and from here experienced a process similar to what they could expect for a future university or job application.

Sixth Form student, Rowan, who is working toward studying Human Sciences was excited to find out more about the discipline with Lottie Dodwell, Interpretation Developer at the Natural History Museum.

Lottie, who graduated Leighton Park in 2011 and went on to study Biological Science at St Peter’s Oxford, before a Masters in Science Communication at Imperial College, now develops the portfolio of NHM exhibitions world-wide.

Rowan reflected, “Lottie emphasised how important it was to consider the camera in the interview – this year is very different to previous, so you have to make more of an effort to connect with the interviewer who is on the other side of the screen. She also said that an interview isn’t about giving a ‘correct’ answer but instead showing the interviewer your thought process and how you come to a solution or conclusion.

I found the interview was a bit like a gameshow – we had a picture round which was fun! It was more relaxed then I thought it would be and felt more like a focused discussion rather than getting grilled on knowledge.”

Spencer who was joined by Michael Binyon, British Journalist and eminent Foreign Correspondent, commented “My mock interview was very beneficial as it gave me a chance to practice answering interview style questions with somebody I didn’t know and allowed me to see what I would have to do in the real thing. Afterwards, I felt very confident going into a real interview because I knew exactly what I had to do.”

Spencer continued to describe his experience with Old Leightonian, Michael, who graduated in 1962, now known for serving as The Times’s Moscow Correspondent as well as reporting from Bonn, Brussels, Washington and all over the Middle East.

“We joined the Google Meet and I introduced myself and thanked him for taking the time to interview me. Then he asked me questions about my studies and academic interests and how I’m finding the IB. We then spoke about things closer to the subject, for example we spoke about basic Arabic linguistics, if I am aware of the size of the task of learning Arabic from scratch, and if I had any experience of languages with other writing systems before. We then spoke about my work in French. It was quite relaxed and more like a conversation about things that I know about and find interesting, which was slightly unexpected as I thought the questions were all going to be super hard! It also helped that Michael was very friendly!

Since my interview with Michael, I’ve had an interview with the University of Manchester and have been offered a place, so I am very grateful for Michael’s help. I also received an invitation to interview from Oxford yesterday which is very exciting!! I’m very grateful to Sally [Saunders, Head of Careers] and Jenny [Powlesland, Head of Teaching and Learning] for setting up the interview.”

Sally Saunders, Head of Careers & Assistant Head of Sixth Form, commented “Under normal circumstances we would have been able to visit a partner school or invite OLs into school to meet with students. Given the current restrictions we had to think outside of the box to give the students a quality experience to support them in their preparations for their university interviews. We were overwhelmed by the response of the alumni community and OLs connected with our students from all over the world from a wide range of industries such as medicine, law, journalism, investment banking and engineering. The mock interviews and the detailed feedback they were able to give was incredibly useful and has helped to give students the confidence to succeed when it comes to the real interview. The change also allowed a greater number of OLs to participate as they were able to join meetings remotely from their place of work, or at evenings and weekends.”

Penny Wallington, Alumni Relations Manager, enthused “Our Old Leightonian’s have given their time selflessly. The discussions and advice they have offered has been invaluable. We hope that the OLs will have gained from this experience too and reaffirmed their connection to Leighton Park through the next generation.”

Year 11 will now follow the lead of Upper Sixth as they partake in Morrisby interviews over the next two weeks, having already completed useful profiling work.

Sally Saunders remarked “Things are a bit different this year with students and advisors meeting on Zoom. But as our students have shown, they are quick to adapt and are benefitting from this opportunity.”