Practice makes perfect and University Career Services is trying to help students achieve, well, perfection.

Career Services hosted mock interviews Wednesday and Thursday in hopes of better preparing students for the interview process when they apply for jobs. This year the event was different from mock interview sessions in the past, Kimshi Hickman, interim co-executive director of the Alcon Career Center said.

Fifty-nine students took part in the mock sessions that were run by company representatives from companies such as Alcon, Deloitte & Touche, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Brandt Engineering Co., Walgreens, Zale Corporation, Buckle and Wells Fargo Financial.

“I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for students to have a chance to practice not with just the Career Services staff but with employers who are doing interviews day in and day out,” Hickman said.

Hickman said she invited employers who frequently hire interns and offer full-time positions to TCU students to come and run the mock interviews.

The sessions covered every aspect of what employers look for in interviews, including body language, verbal responses and effectiveness in describing strengths. One of the key focuses was behavioral interviewing, Hickman said.

“(Behavioral interviewing) is still the type of interviewing that most of our students are encountering regardless of what industry or what their major is,” Hickman said.

Ty Codner, regional recruiting manager for the greater Fort Worth area for Enterprise Rent-A-CAr, said she has been impressed with TCU students.

“I’ve seen some very neat and professionally assembled resumes,” Codner said.

The way students incorporated their student affiliations into their deliveries was outstanding, she said.

Codner said she would like to see TCU students fine tune their ability to communicate just how effective they have been in a particular position and to be able to express it with examples.

When describing her overall experience, she said TCU students have done “absolutely fantastic.”

Fred Butler, store manager for Walgreens in Weatherford, reiterated Codner’s sentiments. He said some of the things he looks for are eye contact and hand movements when answering questions. He said this is important because gestures like that can distract an interviewer.

The interviews were informational and it was helpful to get feedback from professionals, said Ambika Sharma, senior political science and international economics major.

“I like that they told me strengths and gave me areas to work on,” Sharma said.

Hickman said Career Services feels the new format has been successful and hopes to continue hosting the event.