business skills 360 the podcast that looks at the other side of business English
hello and welcome back to the skills 360 podcast I'm your host Tim
Simmons and today I want to look at how to prepare for an interview in English
when I say prepare I'm not talking about making an appointment at the hair salon
or picking out a clean shirt I'm talking about doing some research anticipating
what you'll be asked and practicing how to respond yeah I know I'm always going
on about preparation but this time it's not just a suggestion it's essential if
you do it right you'll be able to head into the interview feeling relaxed and
confident and that will increase your chances of landing the job now here's
the thing most interviews cover the same basic territory sure you might get a
couple of curveballs but for the most part you can predict what questions
you'll be asked and that means you can plan your answers I don't mean script
your answers it's pretty tough to appear authentic and natural while delivering a
memorized response but you can outline your answers and practice your delivery
so how do we go about doing that well let's start by talking about how to
introduce yourself in an interview in English the old tell me about yourself
question it's a amazing how many people are thrown by
this question or fumble through an awkward response as they wait for the
real interview questions but first impressions are important and you need a
good answer for tell me about yourself my advice is to keep it succinct instead
of rambling on keep it professional but show passion and keep it positive and if
you need a formula try present past future how does that work check out this
example I'm currently a marketing manager with a medium-sized software
firm since I was young I've loved writing and design and all things tech
so in university marketing felt like the perfect fit and I went straight from
college to IBM where I worked for five years I'm happy with what I've
accomplished but I'm really looking for a new challenge now and I love what you
guys are doing in that example you heard me mention my current position my
educational and work background and the change I want in the future if you
master your tell me about yourself pitch you can practice responding to the
next most common English interview question what are your strengths first a
don't don't give them a laundry list of random skills like well I'm good at
communication organizing teamwork and I take the initiative all the time
that's totally forgettable instead choose two or three important strengths
that relate directly to the position you're applying for
choose ones that will set you apart from others and give some evidence so if
you're applying for a marketing manager position you might say people tell me
that I'm a creative manager I can motivate a team and make people feel
appreciated for example our team recently tackled a tough project for a
really demanding client and did you notice that I said people tell me that
I'm a creative manager it's not just your opinion you're telling them that
other people think so too now I wouldn't necessarily take the same
approach to the next type of question you're bound to face and which you
probably dread answering the what are your weaknesses question yes you're sure
to get this question in a job interview so you'd better be ready for it three
bits of advice first don't choose something that's actually a strength I'm
talking about the old well sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist they've
heard that before it doesn't fly anymore secondly choose something that isn't
central to the position you're applying for thirdly talk about how you've worked
to improve this weakness let's say you're applying for a marketing manager
position and you're asked about a weakness you might try something like
this in the past I've struggled with public speaking giving presentations to
large groups of people at a conference for example is a real challenge
that said I've joined Toastmasters and I've been working hard to develop more
confidence with this other good weaknesses to talk about being patient
when working on a team delegating responsibilities giving
feedback or analyzing data if one of those isn't central to the role it could
be a good one to mention all right how about a quick recap of these tips first
practice a good response - tell me about yourself that's professional passionate
positive and succinct second talk about strengths that are related to the job
and set you apart from others and third talk about a weakness that doesn't blow
up your chances of getting the position and that you've worked to improve that's
all for today if you'd like to test yourself on what we've just covered have
a look at the business English pod dot-com website
there you'll find a quiz about today's show as well as a PDF transcript so long
and see you again soon