Janet McNece of Productive Staffing once had an applicant glide into a job interview on Heelys sneaker skates.

Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce President Steve Halter has had a person show up to an interview accompanied by a banned shoplifter back when he was manager of Wal-Mart.

To teach Technical Career Center students not to live in infamy as such, human resource professionals and school volunteers performed botched interviews on Friday, March 4, in front of each class.

“I just think if you make a bad enough impression it’ll stick with (the students), as opposed to drilling what they should do, which they tune out after a while,” explained TCC Vocational Resource Educator Barbie Hon, the event organizer. “Many of our students are going to go straight into the workforce.”

Students shared observations with their teachers after the role-play during which applicants said inappropriate things, got distracted by their cell phones, used poor body language, etc.

“Your interview starts from the moment you get out of your car. Even before that, on social media,” commented TCC Director Charles Kinsey, who would like to see the exercise take place with each cohort of students going forward.

The TCC began the mock interview exercise during the 2012/13 school year.

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Cutline: Auto repair students make observations about actor Chris Rushin of the Boys and Girls Club, saying he was fidgety, maintained poor eye contact, told inappropriate jokes and showed overall bad character.