SPCH 210: The Art of the Interview¶

Course Description ¶

Speech 210 (1cr) provides intensive skills training to prepare students for job interviews. Particular attention is given to tailoring application materials and increasing virtual presentation skills. Two versions of the course currently exist – full 15-week and 7-week mini-mester.

Course Design ¶

Spch 210 is designed as an intensive, skills-based course focused on deliverables. By the end of the course, students should have engaged in a variety of interview processes and created job search materials, which should be useful as they engage in future employment endeavors. The course allows students repeated opportunities to engage six phases of job interviewing: 1) analyzing career opportunities, 2) examining the role of social media, 3) building a network, 4) tailoring a cover letter and resume to a specific position, 5) identifying types of interview questions, 6) constructing responses to common interview questions during telephone, video, and live, virtual interviews.

Sample Syllabus

Required Course Materials ¶

No text is required. All resources should be freely available online or embedded in the course website.

Course Sequence ¶

Unit 1: Beginning the Search¶

Syllabus Quiz
Introduction video/discussion
SOAR analysis and discussion (including worksheets & job/internship announcement)

Unit 3: Screening Materials¶

Targeted cover letter
Targeted resume

Unit 4: Virtual Interviewing¶

Please use the following sequence for the interviews.

InterviewStream & peer review
Telephone interview & exit discussion
Skype-type interview & exit discussion

Core Assignments ¶

Assignment Weights¶

Title	Weight
Introduction video and discussion True	10%
Syllabus quiz	5%
SOAR analysis and discussion	10%
30-second commercial (i.e., elevator pitch) & discussion	10%
LinkedIn Page & peer review	15%
Cover Letter and resume	15%
InterviewStream & peer review	10%
Telephone Interview	10%
Final (Skype-type) Interview	15%

Introduction video and discussion¶

The introduction video serves two purposes: 1) to lay the ground work for an online, learning community and 2) to assess the current video/camera, presentation skills of students. The video should be two to three minutes, and students should be asked to make a favorable first impression and encouraged to respond to each other’s posts.

Syllabus quiz¶

To ensure students have read and understand the course policies and procedures, require a syllabus quiz by the end of the first week.

SOAR analysis and discussion¶

The SOAR analysis is an off-shoot of the analysis method used in some businesses. Students select a specific job or internship to pursue during the course. Students should be qualified for the position and analyze their strengths in relation to the position and the hiring organization, the opportunities the position will provide for advancing career goals, how personal aspirations connect to the position, and finally their readiness to take on the position. Students should discuss each other’s analysis.

30-second commercial¶

A fully edited video introduction with good production values, the “commercial” can last 30-60 seconds and is essentially an elevator pitch, which will form the foundation for career fair introductions, LinkedIn summaries, and cover letters. The content should express central ideas discovered in the SOAR analysis.

LinkedIn Page¶

Students should demonstrate an ability to engage the interest of future employers by crafting an audience-oriented profile and listing relevant experience and media.

Cover Letter and Resume¶

The cover letter and resume should be targeted to the position or internship the students chose at the beginning of the semester. On the page, students should demonstrate ability to organize and arrange material for easy flow. Special attention should be given to organization, format, content, proofing, and concision.

InterviewStream & discussion¶

Instructors will make a 5-10 question interview appropriate to the position the student has chosen. Students should demonstrate competency for verbal and nonverbal language and technical ability. Students should peer review or discuss the InterviewStream videos.

Telephone Interview¶

Instructors will create an individual interview, screening script to engage each student with questions appropriate to the position the student has chosen to pursue.

Final (Skype-type) Interview¶

Students will create a short presentation in response to a prompt, which should be appropriate for the position being pursued. The presentation should demonstrate oral and virtual communication skills, as well as a conversation starter. Questions for this interview are more flexible and responsive.

Worksheets¶

Provide necessary preparation for core assignments. During the minimester format, some students may have difficulty turning in worksheets in time for meaningful feedback before an assignment deadline. You may schedule worksheets and/or include the worksheets in the overall scoring; you may also give students the option to turn in worksheets by a set date if the student desires feedback (but not require the worksheets be turned in). Turning in worksheets during the 15-week course is advised to keep students engaged and motivated.

Discussion Boards¶

Provide social learning and peer-to-peer feedback opportunities. Consider prompts that will challenge students to provide meaningful commentary.

Grading ¶

Rubrics for each project are available in the assignment library. Please share the rubric with students at the beginning of each unit. Please submit the rubric to Blackboard grades to help with departmental assessment. Using the rubric to determine grades also provides consistency across sections of DWR courses. The goal is to provide grades and feedback to students within one week of presentations.