Honing Interview Skills 

Honing Interview Skills 

Written by: Chishabetty Watson | 11/15/25

In early November, nearly 80 students at Cranberry Area High School took part in mock interviews designed to help them gain real-world experience and build confidence for their futures. There were over 150 interviews conducted by more than 30 local businesses and organizations, giving students the chance to practice interview techniques and receive professional feedback.

Jason Kosmiski, the senior English teacher responsible for the event, said, “It was my first rodeo, moving from a primarily 9th-grade teacher to being the senior teacher.”

“I had a lot of help in preparation for this event from the interviewers themselves, plus from my colleagues: Trisha Dixon, Kerri Sutch, Jessica Kauffman, Principal Kayla Loll, and Andy Godnich.”

This year, Kosmiski “pioneered the use of virtual interviews built with AI to simulate actual interviews,” commented Kosmiski. “These tech tools allowed me to change the way in which our students interview.”

Speaking of the set-up, Kosmiski said, “I sent out a survey to the students to find out their career interests and then manually matched them with people from the community with that specific occupation or field, sometimes recruiting people so everyone would be able to talk to someone in those respective fields. That was a major challenge, considering all these variables when building a schedule, but it worked out really well.” 

“I was able to tailor their mock interview experience to reflect their career goals. If a student was studying to be a paramedic, I found that student a paramedic to talk to. Because of this, we had more interviewers this year than ever before; career professionals from law enforcement to the editor-in-chief of The Derrick were here talking to our seniors.”

Kosmiski noted that “it's a graduation requirement for all Cranberry seniors. The purpose is to give our students a real-world, authentic experience interviewing for a job or college admission. Each interviewer is also a "coach," providing feedback to each student about their resumes and responses to their questions. Since school has begun, seniors have been working on their resumes and cover letters, writing journals for commonly asked interview questions, and doing virtual interviews to prepare.”

The event drew high praise from interviewers. One commented that he “wishes 98% of his real applicants were as good as Cranberry’s students.” 

Interviewer Laura Hutchinson, representing UPMC, added, “You can tell they were very well prepared.”

By the end of the event, it was discovered that 11 Cranberry students were offered summer internships or jobs, and two students were immediately hired as freelance writers for the local newspaper.

Coordinated through Cranberry’s School-to-Work program, the mock interviews offered valuable insight into the professional world. By practicing these skills now, Cranberry students are setting themselves up for success beyond the classroom, and proving they’re ready for whatever comes next.