Girls Meet the Workforce: Junior Year, Big Dreams, and Bold Steps

High school is tough for any teenager, but for junior year girls, it presents a whole other level of challenges. With junior year being the time of AP classes, standardized tests, and preparing for college applications, girls are expected not only thrive in the classroom but also take on extracurriculars such as sports teams, clubs, and arts outside of school, and this doesn’t even scrape the surface of preparing for your future after graduation. Although school and extracurriculars are important, Girls Inc. recognizes gaining real world work experience is crucial especially when entry level jobs require applicants to have years of expertise right after graduation. Enter Girls Meet the Workforce. 

On March 22nd at Santa Ana College, junior year girls took time out of their busy schedules to practice their interview skills (on a Saturday morning nonetheless) particularly for a “externship”, an apprentice-like program Girls Inc. offers to give girls their first insight in the professional world of their choosing. 

With a few volunteers from WISE, the girls were broken into groups of five or six to finetune their responses to common interview questions such as “What’s a difficult situation you had to overcome?” or “what are you most excited about for the externship?” Some girls tackled the questions head on while others needed a second to put their ideas into words, but they all provided their personal spin and gave insights into their passions and aspirations including being excited about learning from women in their field of interest and challenging their skillset. Job interviews can be daunting for anyone, whether you’re fresh out of school or a veteran, between wanting to be a stand-out candidate and putting a positive spin on your strengths and areas of improvement all while trying to ease the tension and have a meaningful conversation rather than a one-sided interrogation. These girls might not have years of experience under their belt (they haven’t even had their prom yet), but they spoke adamantly about their classes, clubs, and instances where they were required to show leadership and perseverance from dealing with misogynistic tendencies from male peers in a STEM class or going above and beyond in their summer jobs as lifeguards or stage managers in school plays. With each passing question, each girl took control of their narrative and didn’t shy away from embracing what they have to offer in a work environment. They might not have a packed resume and portfolio, but they proved that being young and starting out is never an excuse to hold back on making the most of your career.

With one of the closing questions being “what three words describe you?”, a popular interview question many dread as it forces them to be creative with their vocabulary and define themselves, no two girls said the same word and covered an array of impressive qualities such as describing themselves as “resourceful”, “determined” and “team player.”

The only question that the girls found challenging to answer were the silly ones thrown in at the end like “If you were a dessert, which one would you be and why?” which proves how seriously the girls were taking the mock interviews and were delighted that not all interviews are strictly business but allow for creativity and enjoyment. After the interviews when the girls and volunteers returned to the classroom before going on break, many continued to converse with their respective interviewees/volunteers by asking them about their career trajectory and connecting with them on Linkedin which only solidified how eager they were to go above and beyond and network- skills that not even some adults aspire to maintain. If this event was a testament to how the next generation of women will embark on their professional journeys, the future is beaming with success and breakthroughs. Girls Inc. is well-known with equipping young girls with the resources they need to embrace their full potential such as college essay mentoring and externships and WISE is elated to join forces with them. The mock interviews were just a stepping stone for the girls and WISE can’t wait to be with them every step along the way.