We recently had the chance to offer our level 2 business students a practice interview session with some Tesco employees.
Recently at The Henley College, our level 2 Business students took part in an interview process with Tesco. This is linked to a unit called People in Organisations which the students are currently studying. Before the interviews took place, the students submitted a CV and a letter of application to Tesco and the interview questions were then formed from these. Not only does this provide a practical and engaging method of learning for our students, it is also the perfect experience for our students for when they begin to apply for jobs, as they will have done the full process at least once before in their lives.
Four Tesco employees from their Slough branch, including store manager at Henley College governor James Lingard, came along to interview our students. This allowed our students to gain experience in communicating with real working professionals in a formal interview setting.
Governor and manager of Tesco’s Slough branch James Lingard said, "It was great to be alongside some of my Leadership Team from Tesco Slough and come into the college to support with the interviews. The Students were great - really high energy and an eagerness to learn. They did really well in their interviews and it was good we could give feedback afterwards to help them with future interviews for jobs. Some of them were that good we are hoping to get them on board to be part time Tesco Colleagues!”
We spoke to a couple of the students who took part in the event. Student Jo MacDonald reflected after and explained “I felt I delivered all of my points clearly during the interview. I feel today has provided me with a great insight into the interview process with an organisation and what is expected of me. This is good preparation for any future jobs I apply for. I have also learnt how to be better next time”.
Katarzyna Majerska also added that “Today has helped me in my preparation for interviews in the future. I found today very good experience for how interviews work and I feel I have got a lot out of today”.
Upon reflection of the day, Level 2 Business teacher and organiser of the interview sessions, Hannah McPhee said that, “I was very proud of the fact that the students prepared well for the interviews and had some questions prepared to ask Tesco themselves once they had been interviewed. They dressed smart and made sure they paid full attention throughout the interview process. I was even more proud of the fact that some of the students that showed interest in a part time job were selected for a job afterwards. The students did both the Business department and the college proud today.”
Well done to Hannah for organising such a brilliant event that has given our students the opportunity to gain some valuable employability skills, alongside their academic studies. Well done to all of the students who were involved, there was some great feedback and we hope the experience as a whole was both positive and beneficial.
Of course a big thank you to James Lingard and his staff for taking time out to come along and conduct the interviews, it is greatly appreciated.
If this sounds like the kind of opportunity you would enjoy alongside your studies, come along to our next information event and find out more of what we can offer you.
