Mastering the Interview with DocuSign

The interview process can sometimes feel very daunting, but when you have the Students Rising Above team on your side, anything is possible! On November 15th, Students Rising Above advisors and DocuSign employees joined forces to host a DocuSign Career Day at Aspire Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy in Oakland. DocuSign employees from various departments ranging from Marketing to Financial Operations volunteered their afternoon to facilitate informational and mock interviews with Aspire High School students. Sixteen high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors spent the afternoon learning various ways to approach common interview questions and how to best present themselves during an interview.

The first portion of the day was spent preparing the students for their mock and informational interviews. Students learned about professional etiquette and what not to ask during an informational interview. We also showed students where to find additional resources like the Informational Interview Request Email Template and Interview Preparation articles found on the SRA Hub to refer to in the future when they are preparing for their own interviews. Before meeting the DocuSign volunteers, students went around and practiced their best handshakes and introductory sentences.

After all the introductions and handshakes, the DocuSign employees spent the next thirty minutes on a career panel answering student’s questions pertaining to finding the right major, preparing for an interview, learning from mistakes in their jobs, and incorporating their passions into their careers. Trial and error was a common theme found in many of the DocuSign employees’ answers. If nothing else, they wanted students to walk away with the idea that in all aspects of life, failure can be an opportunity to learn and grow.

Right after the panel, the students went into the mock interview portion of the event. The 2:1 ratio for the mock interviews provided a great dynamic for students to bounce ideas off of one another on how to approach answering interview questions. For the next thirty minutes, students had the opportunity to review a mock job description, match qualifications on a resume, and actually participate in a mock interview.

During the lunch break, DocuSign employees and students grabbed a couple slices of pizza and went right into informational interviews. Students asked the DocuSign employees various questions about what they liked most about their jobs and what a typical day is like in their positions. Students also had the opportunity to practice their networking skills and ask for the DocuSign employees’ contact information to follow-up with in the future.

In our post-survey, students wrote:

• “Really good event! I enjoyed it greatly!”
  
• “Everything was great!”
  
• “It was a helpful experience.”
  
• “I really enjoyed learning new things. I think it was helpful to learn about interviews.”
  
  

All in all, it was a very engaging event! The students learned a lot about how to best prepare for an interview and the DocuSign employees were able to reflect on their journeys to finding their careers and share some wisdom the workers of the future could appreciate. Interviews can be nerve-racking but we hope with the skills the students learned today, they will know how to put their best foot forward and rock their next interview!