Developing a Great

Interview Strategy

Michael Mitchell, MAT

A self-managed online tutorial and job coaching experience with MICHAEL MITCHELL, MAT. 
Registration free for ACYCP members.


Bad News: Interviews are an inescapable and challenging fact of professional life. 
Good News: Any job applicant can learn to develop a strategic interview plan, which uses specific and effective skills to get the job offer. 
In today’s child and youth care (CYC) environment, funding, political events, or other dynamic changes can find CYC professionals out on the street looking for their next position, with little or no advance notice. Conversely, anyone could be offered a promotion, or advancement opportunity, with another employer just as suddenly.

Will you be prepared on short notice?
In competing with dozens of other applicants, will you nail the interview and land that all-important job offer?

Having a well-organized and rehearsed strategic interview plan can help any job applicant not only master basic interview requirements, but turn its challenges into opportunities.

Preparing today can bring so much peace-of-mind later, just when it’s needed most. This is a very “real-world” tutorial, which everyone can use, regardless of their current CYC organizational or employment status.    

 In this workshop, participants will:

  • Identify what an employer might specifically ask of a job applicant
  • Categorize their skills to match specific employer requirements 
  • Use a concise and accurate one-page professional resume as preparation for the interview
  • Learn how to trouble-shoot some of the more common interview challenges
  • Recognize the value of appropriate interview attire and behaviors 
  • Identify how an employer’s job description is the key to the interview
  • Know the strategic use of psychological preparation for interviews
  • Know how to adapt to different interview formats
  • Develop mandatory questions to ask the employer in the interview
  • Receive advice on how to appropriately respond to a job offer or rejectionLearn why interview follow-up is critical to getting the job offer 

Note:  This workshop is a companion to Eye-Catching Resumes, References, and Cover Letters, which is also free to ACYCP members.

Due to the nature of the tutorial, a certificate of attendance is not provided.  

This tutorial is free to ACYCP Members (current membership subject to verification). Please contact Laura Klemm to get the ACYCP discount code.  We will respond within 48 hours. 

Created by

Michael Mitchell, MAT

Michael Mitchell is a past vice-president and membership committee co-chair for the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice (ACYCP).

Michael is the former Program Coordinator of the Youth Job Center (YJC) program of Briarpatch Youth Services, Inc. in Madison, WI.  He holds a master's degree in secondary education and has worked in the child and youth care field since 1992. Michael has had over 25 years of experience as a for-profit business manager with domestic and international companies in New York, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Madison. He has 20 years of experience teaching and counseling clients in career development and employment skills mastery.

Michael has been active in several social and professional organizations concerned with the welfare of children and youth, including serving as past president of the Wisconsin Association of Child and Youth Care Professionals (WACYCP), and past-Treasurer and Steering Committee member of the Youth Resource Network (YRN) of Dane County WI.  He was a founding board member and Treasurer for Global Support for Kids USA.  He also served as a member of the Akasha group home community advisory board, is a past board member, vice-co-chair and newsletter editor for the New Harvest Foundation of South Central WI.  Michael has won numerous awards and recognitions for his professional work with children and youth.

Copyright © Academy for Competent Youth Work. All rights reserved