[I “retired” from Stanford in 2022, but I continue to develop the YCISL program. I haven’t posted to this Wiki in months because of the retirement, but I continue to be involved in activities related to YCISL.]<\/p>\n
I volunteered as a mock interviewer for a career fair organized by the Sequoia Union High School District. The event will take place in a couple of days. From the information I have received about the event, mock interviewers will (1) need to find an agreeable job scenario to discuss, (b) review the resume together with the student, and (3) engage in Q&A to help the student develop interview skills.<\/p>\n
In preparation, I came up with a list of interview questions based on the Life Lessons in EQ-mindset of the YCISL.<\/p>\n
1. Can you name one or two work places you would like to get your first job<\/strong>? What role or position would you like to have? 2. Could you recall one or two experiences that have prepared<\/strong> you for such a work scenario? 3. What would you enjoy contributing<\/strong> to that work place? Can you give an example of where\/when you have been a contributor? 4. What would you do to grow<\/strong> in that work position? Is that consistent with your educational mindset? 5. What traits or habits do you have that make you an outstanding<\/strong> candidate for the role? 6. What are your strongest skills<\/strong>? Which weak skill would you most like to improve? 7. Do you thrive most working independently<\/strong> or in a team<\/strong>? Explain. 8. Have you worked on a project<\/strong> at school? Were there any challenges? How did they get resolved? 9. Have you ever experienced a setback<\/strong>? If yes, could you share what you learned from it? 10. Imagine yourself in the future<\/strong> at the workplace. Describe the scene. 11. What makes you happy<\/strong>? What motivates<\/strong> you? 12. How do you make decisions<\/strong>? If I ask you to find and choose a location for a meeting at your school, how would you go about making that decision? Well, I hope these question ideas based on my YCISL experience will serve the purpose to educate these high school students in interviewing skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [I “retired” from Stanford in 2022, but I continue to develop the YCISL program. I haven’t posted to this Wiki in months because of the retirement, but I continue to be involved in activities related to YCISL.] I volunteered as a mock interviewer for a career fair organized by the Sequoia Union High School District. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,9,25,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activity","category-ideas","category-lessons","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5172,"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5168\/revisions\/5172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ycisl.su.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHopefully, this is a good lead-in question. In a way, it’s a quick divergent-convergent thinking<\/em> question based on waggle-dance reasoning fast thinking<\/em>. I might ask what other work places came to mind, but were edited out.<\/p>\n
\nThis question relates to the “A Message to My Past Self”<\/em> exercise where we reflect on our history including positive influences, decisions & circumstances. This forms our “bibliography” of support & evidence, & initiates our positivity starting point that we learned from Alison Ledgerwood.<\/p>\n
\nProductivity & proactivity are basic expectations of any work situation, and remind me of our Lego exercise, the Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow exercise, the Egg Parachute Drop exercise, Human Knot exercise<\/em>, and so many more. In YCISL, we look for teamwork, team-building and leadership<\/em> as the EQ-action elements in developing our growth mindset<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nA discussion about education<\/em> is certain to arise in a first job interview. But as Sir Ken Robinson story-told in his epic TEDTalk: “…but if you ask people about their education, they pin you to the wall.”<\/em> This question would explore the propensity for growth with a growth mindset<\/em>, but also a balanced understanding that a fixed mindset is sometimes appropriate (and expedient).<\/p>\n
\nThis question is a request for the student interviewee’s feature list<\/em>. We look for 3 soft skills features that will match the preferences<\/em> & satisfy the needs & requirements<\/em>. This is about using competitive advantage<\/em> in the elevator pitch<\/em>. Compatibility & work quality are also involved.<\/p>\n
\nIn the early YCISL years, we collaborated with Chris Pohalski on using SkillScan<\/em>. This exercise lays out the skillset<\/em> and identifies strengths<\/em> as well as weaknesses<\/em> that the person would like to improve upon. This touches on feature list<\/em> & growth mindset<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nThis question relates to our Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow<\/em> exercise with respect to group interpersonal dynamics<\/em>. We can also think about the analog-digital model<\/em> described by Austin Kleon where independent and team work are necessarily interconnected and balanced.<\/p>\n
\nWith this question, we can explore the structural approach to problem solving<\/em>. With the initial response to this question, we can journey through the project experience using (a) the phases of the YCISL Simple Innovation Framework<\/em> of Brainstorming-Prototyping-Building-Test & Readiness-Rollout<\/em>, or (b) the Gamestorming<\/em> framework of Open-Explore-Close<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nFailures or setbacks are explored in YCISL through our Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow<\/em> exercise, and the lesson “Fail Early, Fail Fast.”\u00a0<\/em>This question would reveal EQ with regards to responding to a setback. Is there ownership<\/em>? Was there value<\/em> gained from the setback experience? Was there interest<\/em> in learning what caused the setback or failure? Was appropriate closed loop-corrective action<\/em> taken?<\/p>\n
\nOf course we need to look at the third stage of our Your Personal Story series: “A Message to My Future Self.” Through this scene setting question, we look at the design thinking<\/em> details of the potential result of hiring the interviewee. The imagined scene is as much a useful picture for the interviewee as the interviewer.<\/p>\n
\nMost work places would prefer having a positive<\/em> environment. We know that a single negative point can trigger a contagion and cause a diversion or distraction. It would be wonderful to learn how intrinsic motivation<\/em> boosts the interviewee’s state of mind.<\/p>\n
\nWe’re making decisions all the time. Sometimes, it’s using fast (creative) thinking<\/em> and sometimes it’s slow (reasoned) thinking<\/em>. And sometimes, it might be that “5-second rule”<\/em> from Mel Robbin’s about not making decisions. Or worse purposely avoiding having to make decisions. For work place decision making, ethics, honesty & trust may become involved.<\/p>\n