For most of them, it was just a practice run. Still, about 700 students from the area got a chance on Tuesday to sit down with leaders and hiring administrators from businesses and government and nonprofit agencies from Suffolk and the surrounding communities.

Organized by the Advisory Council for Career and Technical Education, part of Suffolk Public Schools, the event furnished students with valuable experience, providing face-to-face mock interviews with about 60 representatives of actual employers.

Most of us can remember the nervousness that accompanied that first real job interview. The worries are probably universal: How should I dress? What should I say? How should I respond to questions about my lack of experience? What kind of pay rate should I expect or be willing to accept?

For most of us, there was nothing to do except press on with the interview, perhaps moving ahead with advice given to us by a family member or a friend, maybe with a bit of inside information if that friend or family member worked for the company. For most people, though, that first job interview — and many of those that follow it, for that matter — is a nerve-wracking affair of second-guessing our answers and wondering if we’ve botched any chance of future employment.

Those students who took part in the mock interviews at the Suffolk Hilton Garden Inn, however, can rest in the knowledge that even the worst faux pas would not be career-killers. This event was designed to give the experience of the process without the risk. And in doing so, it served to raise the self-confidence of those who attended.

It might be another year before these students set up their first real job interview. Or it might be even longer than that, if they attend college. Whenever that first face-to-face takes place with a potential employer, though, these students can recall that first time they sat down across the desk from an interviewer in Suffolk and relax a bit. They’re old hands at this now.