Hey it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English and this is exactly where you
want to be every week to get the confidence you want for your life and work in
English. Today we are all about job interviews in English,
particularly power words you can use to effectively communicate that you are the
right fit for the job you want.
Right now you might be thinking that I'm going to share words like team player,
honest, hardworking, confident, loyal.
But no, none of those words are on my list. And here's why.
In a job interview,
you're expected to only use positive words to describe yourself.
Everyone knows that. You've probably heard the expression in English,
you're supposed to 'sell yourself.' Honestly,
I hate that word and the whole idea of selling yourself.
The truth is the interviewer doesn't want to hear words that you think describe
you. The interviewer wants to know two things.
Can you do the job well and are you the right choice for the position?
And today we're going to focus on the kinds of power words you can use to say
that yes, you absolutely can do the job.
And you're the right choice. Then at the end,
I'm going to share one word you should definitely avoid using in a job
interview.
Let's dive right into the eight power words you can use in a job interview in
English. With each word,
I'm going to tell you why it's a good choice and I'll give you an example
sentence starter that you can use when you are answering an interview.
Question number one is the word responsible or responsibility.
Every recruiter or interviewer,
every employer is looking for someone who is going to do their job and take
ownership of it.
What that means is they can rely on you to do the job you're supposed to do.
They don't need to worry that you might try to avoid doing work or give other
people all of your responsibilities.
When you're answering questions about your past experience using sentence
starters like it was my responsibility to or I was responsible for are great
ways to talk about what you've done in the past and that you took your job
seriously.
Number two is the word to collaborate or collaboration.
If you want to highlight that you work well with others,
then the verb collaborate does that perfectly. In fact,
the precise definition of collaborate means to work with other people to achieve
an end goal.
And here's a simple sentence starter you can use when you want to highlight a
past experience of collaborating with others:
in my last job I collaborated with to accomplish.
And then just be sure to include the key details that you need from your past
experience. Power word number three is initiative.
If you've been watching me for a while,
you know that I've done many lessons in the past on collocations.
Collocations are groups of words that native speakers naturally use together.
If you want my past lessons on collocations,
I'll leave links to those below the video.
I say all of that because the word initiative is often used with take.
To take initiative and what this means is that you do what needs to be done
without anyone asking you. For example,
if your team shares the responsibility of keeping your coffee break room clean,
if you see that the trash is overflowing,
if you're the kind of person that takes initiative,
then you just take the trash out. Even if it's not your turn,
even if nobody asks you do it because it needs to be done.
Similarly,
if you know that a colleague is struggling to meet a deadline and they could use
some help,
it means that you take the steps needed to offer specific help to your colleague
before she needs to ask for help. Honestly,
employers love people who take initiative because it also shows self confidence
and that you're a hard worker.
A great sentence starter to use with this word is I took the initiative to and
then share a specific example when you did something because you knew it needed
to be done. Power word number four is lead.
This is an obvious power word because it's the root of the word leader and
leadership and it means someone who inspires others to take action and here's
how you can use this in a sentence starter. In my previous job,
I led my team or I led my department on and then include the specific project.
Power word number five is resolved.
This one is all about problem solving.
When we use the word resolved,
it communicates that everyone who was part of the problem or disagreement was
satisfied in the end, and that is a very positive outcome.
Honestly, this is a powerful skill to have.
Not everyone is capable of finding a solution that makes everyone happy.
So if you have a specific story from your past,
here's how you can talk about it: when X happened.
So insert the specific problem or disagreement.
I resolved the situation by and then share the actions that you took.
Now before I get to power word number six,
I'm curious if you're starting to notice a theme with each word and sentence
starter? I'm asking you to highlight a specific story or example.
And here's why.
You can tell an interviewer that you're a great leader or you can show an
interviewer that you're a great leader by highlighting a specific experience in
your past. Which one do you think is more powerful?
And that leads me to the next three power words you can use in your job
interview in English and the one word you should avoid.
Word number six is measure or measurable.
This is about being as specific as possible with your stories.
If you want to tell your interviewer that you increased sales last year,
that's fantastic,
but if you can make it measurable by saying that you increased sales by 7.9%
last year, that is even more powerful.
It gives you more credibility and provides stronger proof to your interviewer.
So if you want to use this word in a sentence, you could say something like,
the measurable result of my efforts was a 7.9% increase in sales last year.
Power word number seven is closely related and the word is result.
If you have a story about how you collaborated in the past or that you led a
team,
the interviewer will absolutely want to know what was the end result.
For example, if you have a story about a conflict that you help resolve,
what happened after the resolution?
Did the team successfully complete a project under budget?
Did you win an award for best marketing campaign of the year?
What was the final result of the action steps that you took?
This is a great word to pair with the other words on this list.
You might talk about an opportunity that you had leading a team and then at the
end you could say the result of that was and then share what happened in the
end. Word number eight is going to surprise you.
It's simply the word example.
It's kind of a weird choice, isn't it?
Every question in a job interview is an opportunity for you to share an example,
a real example, from your past that highlights that, yes,
you can do the job and you're the right choice.
Now let's get to that one word I definitely want you to avoid.
I'm curious, have you ever said,
I'm a great team player in a job interview? If you have,
it's okay, don't panic,
but in the future I want you to avoid using that word and here's why:
that sentence, I'm a great team player,
became so popular that now it's a cliche.
A cliche is a phrase or an opinion that is used so much that it loses its power
and that sentence has lost its power. It's no longer unique.
Everyone says it and the truth is you are unique.
You want your interviewer to know that you're unique and you have all the skills
necessary to do the job well.
The best way that you can stand out is to use power words that accurately
describe you and avoid using cliches. Now,
if you really want to show that you work well with other people,
then there was one word on our list that would be perfect for you.
Do you remember what that word is?
To collaborate or the noun collaboration.
Use those words instead.
With that you have eight power words to use in your next English job interview
and I've got two challenge questions for you today. Number one,
I want to know one word on this list that you could use in a job interview and I
want you to try using it in a practice sentence.
That sentence should include a story or an example of when you've exhibited that
behavior. In the past. My second question is,
what is one English job interview question that makes you super nervous?
I would love to know what it is so I can be sure to help you prepare how to
answer it. Well. With that, thank you so much for joining me.
If you found this useful,
please be sure to let me know and you can do that in three simple ways.
Number one,
give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you
never miss one of my Confident English lessons. Number two,
share it with friends on Facebook or LinkedIn.
And if you know someone who's preparing for a job interview in English,
go ahead and email this lesson directly to them.
I promise you they'll thank you. Have a wonderful week.
Thanks again for joining and I'll see you next time for your Confident English
lesson.