Imagine a teenager preparing for an interview — and experiencing some sort of butterflies. This feeling was common among Bradford Area High School juniors this week as they participated in mock interviews to prepare themselves for the real thing.

During a mock interview, a member of the community or teacher met with several students to simulate an interview for a job. Not only do students receive grades for their performance during the interview, it is a graduation requirement.

Ed Hayden, Zippo Manufacturing Co.’s employee relations manager, was one of several community members who took part in the mock interviews Wednesday and Thursday.

“We try to give real-world examples for students who will be in the market for a career,” he said. “We try to prepare them the best that we possibly can for landing an interview, giving a great first impression and making sure their resumes are top-notch. When you are interviewing multiple candidates, you look for that one that gets your attention.”

Rebekah Cramer, a teacher at the high school, believes the interviews are valuable as students are able to practice dressing professionally, introducing themselves and talking about their skills.

Cramer’s advice for interviews included, “The most important thing is be able to comfortably talk about yourself and to be able to express your skills, things you want to do and things you are interested in.”

She also added that preparing questions for the interviewer ahead of time is an important part in an interview.

Hayden and Cramer both said they were impressed with students’ performances during interviews.

“The (students) I had this morning were very well prepared; they are going to go places,” Hayden said.

Cramer expressed her praise for the students by saying, “Most of the students take it very seriously. They really put forth effort as far as dressing up and coming prepared. A lot of them are nervous but that’s normal.”