Talking about job interviews

Introduction Becca and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about job interviews – the formal conversations you need to have when looking for new places to work. Learn some vocabulary you can use to help prepare for job interviews and find out Becca's least favourite question to answer. Vocabulary nervous worried about something confident fairly sure you are going to do well at something skills things that you can do well examples stories or achievements which you can use to support the things you say about yourself Transcript Becca Hi Neil. How are you?   Neil I'm very well, Becca. How are you?   Becca Yeah, I'm very well as well, thank you. Today on Real Easy English, we're talking about job interviews.   Neil Job interviews... they're quite hard, aren't they?   Becca They are. They're a little bit stressful.   Neil Very stressful.   Becca But first, before we get started, we need to remind our listeners and our watchers that there is a transcript and a worksheet and activities over on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.   Neil So, Becca, job interviews – how do they make you feel?   Becca Ooh, they make me feel a little bit nervous, Neil.   Neil Nervous? Is that because it's an important thing and you really want it to go well, so it's that feeling of being worried that it won't go well? Becca Exactly. And I think it is natural to be nervous and natural to worry a little bit, because if you're not worried, it means that you don't care.   Neil That's true, yeah. And it's actually... it's a really strange situation, a job interview, because you meet these people, who you don't know, and you have to be friendly and smiley and show that you're a nice person, but also that you are serious and you can do the job.   Becca And it is difficult to find that balance between being very friendly and also seeming very confident in yourself. What are some common questions that you might be asked in an interview?   Neil So, a really common interview question is, "Why do you want this job?" and it's a good question because if you don't want the job, it means that you're lying immediately and that's not a good sign. So, I think that's a really good question, but it can be difficult to answer so you should probably be prepared and think about it before the interview.   Becca I think with that question as well, it's really important to be confident in your answer, because there will be lots of people who are answering that same question as well.   Neil Yeah, absolutely. And also, it's a little bit false when you are talking in an interview because you are answering the questions, but you're also trying to display lots of things, so you're trying to tell someone about your skills and your experience, for example.   Becca Yeah.   Neil Your skills are the things that you can do that will make you good for the job. And the experience, of course, is if you have done this kind of thing before.   Becca Yeah. And usually, you'll give the interviewer your CV, your cover letter, which is a piece of paper that has your skills and experiences, but they'll still ask you about these things, and they'll want a little bit of a more detailed explanation so that they can get to know you a bit more.   Neil Yeah. And what they really want is examples. So, I think it's very easy to say, "Oh, you should do this or you should do this in this situation." But if you can say, "I did this in a previous job. I did this and then it was a successful result," then that is what people want to hear.   Becca Absolutely, yeah. And on top of that, another way to prepare for a job interview is to research the company or wherever it is that you're interviewing because if you can give them examples that fit, maybe with the job that you're interviewing for, then they'll really like that.   Neil Yeah, that's really good advice on how to prepare for a job interview.   Neil Now, job interviews don't always go well. Can you think of a time you've had a really bad question? What's the worst question you've had?   Becca Ooh... often the interviewer will ask what your weakness is. So, you have your strengths – those are the things that you're really good at – so, like, your skills. And then your weaknesses are the things that you might not be so good at, so you don't really want to tell the interviewer what you're not good at! But it is important, I think, to be honest.   Neil Yeah.   Becca Maybe it's difficult to balance me saying what my weaknesses are, but also, you know, kind of making that good for the job.   Neil Yeah, it's really... it's really tricky to answer because you don't want to be completely honest and say, "Oh well, my weakness is I really hate working and I can't get up on time."   Becca Yeah...!   Neil But you also don't want to pretend that you're perfect because nobody believes that somebody is perfect.   Becca Absolutely, yeah. Alright Neil, it's time to recap some of the vocabulary that we used in this conversation. And the first is an adjective that we all probably might feel in a job interview and that is nervous. So, nervous is when you feel worried about something.   Neil Yeah, we also heard, or we used, the word confident. If you are confident, it means that you are fairly sure that you're going to do well at something.   Becca And you can be confident in your skills, for example. So, your skills are the things that you can do. And when you're in a job interview, you need to tell the person interviewing you which skills you're good at.   Neil Yes, and it's best if you use examples – examples of real things that you've done that you can tell people, so it doesn't sound like you just took these examples from the internet.   Becca Well, that's it for this episode of Real Easy English, but we have a worksheet on our website. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.   Neil Join us again next week for another easy conversation. Bye for now.   Becca Bye! Now try this... Watch The London Letter Challenge. Download a free worksheet. Discover more programmes for your level.  Find all our latest programmes.