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A suit ironed by mom, a tie picked out by a little sister the night before, and even a bow tie.

The professional attire at South Carroll High School on Tuesday morning may have not had the same origins as a normal interviewee in a professional capacity, but the desire result was similar: a sharp look to impress the person across the table.

This week, juniors at the school brushed off suits, formatted their resumes, and for many, experienced their first "real" job interview with a volunteering professional during the school's annual mock interviews.

The school's media center looked the same: spaced at tables across the warm room, students sat ramrod straight as interviewers from the community casually chatted with them. The dressing up just reflects how students have begun to take the mock interview more seriously through the years, agreed two volunteer interviewers, Tom Neff and Frank Dertzbaugh.

They said especially this year, students were dressing more professionally than before.

Neff, a Mount Airy resident who is retired and runs a computer business out of his home, was recruited a few years ago by Dertzbaugh, a Mount Airy construction business owner, who has been doing the program several years.

About 28 business representatives, retired professionals, educators and administrators volunteered with the program this year.

The 15-minute exercise pairs students with professionals to simulate interviews that the students could encounter for jobs, college admittance and scholarship awards.

"It's really fun," Neff said, adding that he's been impressed at the focus and drive that some of the high school students have, noting one student a few years ago who wanted to drive a sanitary truck. "He had a plan: help his uncle, buy a truck, then start his own business."

Dertzbaugh said he enjoyed that some of the students were undecided on their career plans, saying the experience was not only enjoyable, but educational.

"I see visions these kids have that I would have never dreamed of," he said, noting that one student who was interested in music and also electronically inclined wanted to meld the interests into being an amplification electrical engineer. "The kid knows how to solder. ... He'll do it and he'll be amazing when he does it."

Bonnie McElroy, an academic facilitator at South Carroll High School who oversees the week-long interviews with co-worker Pat Riesner, said the first interview is always nerve-wracking for kids.

The mock interview gets that out of the way.

Dertzbaugh said many kids don't know what to expect.

"These kids haven't done this before," he said, saying most haven't even had a part time job, possibly a repercussion of a tough economy in the past few years. "To deal with a business person can be unnerving."

He said the experience is an eye opener though, helping the students prepare for the future, one bit of feedback at a time.

Bob Beckwith of Mount Airy, an outside sales consultant with Premier, a division of the School Specialty Company which provides agenda books to many schools, said he volunteers because he feels it helps the students prepare.

He said hearing the feedback from a source other than a teacher or parent might help a student.

On Monday, he had nine students who wanted to be, among other professions, a veterinarian, a horse trainer, an engineer and nurse. Regardless of desired career direction, Beckwith, who has hired in a professional capacity before, said the interview helps prepare the students as they approach graduation.

"Students are matched with interviewers at random," McElroy said, saying she wished she could match the 216 juniors up with professionals in the field they're interested in, but it wasn't currently possible.

The roughly 80 other juniors in the school are involved in the Career and Tech Center interview with those in their field. Students do not receive a grade for their participation, but are required to graduate. Each interviewer goes through about seven or eight interviews filled with questions about work history, skills, weaknesses and where students see themselves in five years.

Afterwards, the interviewer and teen go over the interview before the students head to a room at the back of the media center to rate their experience.

"I tell the kids these business people take a half day of work because they like teenagers and want to help you," McElroy said, saying students are often initially hesitant, but often come back in the room and say, "‘That wasn't so bad.'"

E-mail Angie Cochrun at acochrun@gazette.net.