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Top Interview Tips: Common Questions, Nonverbal Communication & More | Indeed

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So, picture the scene - you're on holiday, you're in your hotel room, but there are a few problems: the kettle is not working, there aren't any slippers, and there's no hot water. What to do? Are there any strategies, or special words and phrases that you could use? Well, yes, there are.

So, how about this: we'll do a small roleplay - I'll be the receptionist... (clears throat) the receptionist, there we are - and I'll wait for the guests to call me with their problems. Listen out for how they complain - do they say the problem straight away? Ooh, there's the phone now.

Rob
Hello reception. It's Mr Carter here. I checked into the room on the 4 floor just a few minutes ago actually.

Rob
It's Mr Carter here. I checked into the room on the 4 floor just a few minutes ago actually.

You'll hear seem to quite often. It's often used with a negative auxiliary like can't or doesn't.

But remember - you do need to make your point clear, even though you're being polite.

Well that's it from me, but I'll leave you with one more conversation to listen to. Catherine seems to be having a problem in her room - and what is it with slippers in this hotel?

Thank you very much. And something else I've spotted, actually, is, in the room there don't seem to be any slippers.

Catherine
No, I'm afraid not, no. There's normally a pair of little paper slippers aren't there? And I just can't find them anywhere...

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BBC Learning English - Course: intermediate / Unit 4 / Session 4 / Activity 1

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So, picture the scene - you're on holiday, you're in your hotel room, but there are a few problems: the kettle is not working, there aren't any slippers, and there's no hot water. What to do? Are there any strategies, or special words and phrases that you could use?

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Polite and Professional English for Handling Complaints - Learn Laugh Speak

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Dealing with complaints can be stressful - especially when you're doing it in a second language. But with the right vocabulary and phrases, you can sound confident and calm in any situation. This guide will help you use English for handling complaints in a clear, polite, and professional way.

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Job Interview Tips 5 - You're Hired | Learn English | British Council

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Arianna: Hi, what's your name?
Mitch: Mitch Keiser.

Arianna: Hi Mitch, what do you do for a living?
Mitch: I work for Pro Football Focus. I'm a college football analyst for PFF here in Cincinnati.

Arianna: What's your favorite part about your job?
Mitch: Getting to watch every college football game and then write about it later on. I write articles covering college football.

Arianna: And what's your favorite article you've written?
Mitch: I wrote an article last fall about why Michael Penix should have won the Heisman. I was pretty happy about it and then he played really well, so that's probably my favorite article.

Arianna: How many hours a week do you work?
Mitch: 40. Sometimes more in the season. Summertimes you get probably less than 40 'cuz it's off-season, and then when fall rolls around probably like 60 hours some weeks.

Full time vs Overtime
In the U.S., a standard work week is 40 hours, usually 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. If you work more than 40 hours, that's overtime, and you get paid extra. For example, if you make $10 an hour, overtime is time and a half, so for every hour worked over 40, you'd make $15.

Arianna: How much do you earn each year?
Mitch: Not enough. Not enough. I'm going to say that.

Arianna: What's the minimum you could earn if you just started out?
Mitch: Probably like 30k would be the minimum (like the lowest). I make a little more than that, but not great, you know.

There are no notes for this quiz.

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Arianna: Hi, what's your name? Mitch: Mitch Keiser. Arianna: Hi Mitch, what do you do for a living? Mitch: I work for Pro Football Focus. I'm a college football analyst for PFF here in Cincinnati. Arianna: What's your favorite part about your job?

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What are the most valuable skills for the jobs of the future

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Skills for jobs of the future - Part 1 | Globant Converge

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Philip is the CEO of WebWare, an IT company. He needs to hire a new sales director as soon as possible.

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One Minute English Video #751 What is your ideal job?

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Do a 2-minute presentation describing your ideal job and your plans to get it:

Which job? Specific job title (My ideal job would be…)

Responsibilities (That job would involve… / I would be in charge of…)

Qualifications needed (To apply for this job you need… vocational studies, a university degree, languages…)

Skills and personal qualities needed (This job requires… excellent organizational skills because…)

Plans to get the job (In order to get this job I will first do… Then I will… Finally I have to…)

Why this job? (I have chosen this job because…)

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Job interviews can be a nerve-racking experience, especially when you don't feel prepared for them. And with the variety of interview questions that can be asked these days, it's hard to know what type of questions you should prepare for.

Here are three types of interview questions that you should practise answering before that important job interview.

1. Common interview questions

Tell us about yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why do you want to leave your current job?

These questions are for the interviewer to get to know you and to see if you're the best person for the job. Don't simply list things like your hobbies, your strengths or your work experience. Instead, give examples and use them to show your personality and the characteristics you have that make you perfect for the job. Your interviewer may want to ask questions about certain areas of your CV, so use this opportunity to link your experience to the job you're applying for.

Avoid: Giving a detailed life history or telling long stories that are irrelevant to the job or to the company.

2. Competency questions

Tell me about a time you had to work as a team. Tell me about a time you had to use your creativity to solve a problem. Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict with a colleague and how you handled that situation.

Here, the candidate is asked questions about situations they have faced in the past that can demonstrate a particular skill they have. These could include skills like critical thinking, influencing, problem solving or flexibility. Interviewers often want to hear about challenges you've had, not just about times when everything went smoothly, so be ready with examples such as how you resolved conflict in your team or dealt with someone who was not working well. This will demonstrate that you can handle difficult situations.

When preparing for the job interview, read the job description carefully for the required skills and abilities and try to recall situations where you had to use these skills. Then use the STAR technique when talking about these examples:

Situation - Give details about the context of your example and what you were trying to do.

Task - Describe your responsibilities and the challenges you faced.

Action - Describe what steps you took to deal with the situation.

Result - Talk about the end result and how you contributed to this outcome.

Avoid: Going in unprepared and having to think up examples, or saying you've never faced any challenges at work.

3. Hypothetical questions

What would you do if you had a different opinion from your boss about how to do something? How would you deal with a large volume of work with several staff members off work? What would you do if you had to introduce a new policy that you knew was going to be unpopular in your team?

Hypothetical interview questions are similar to competency questions except that instead of asking you to talk about an experience you've had in the past, they present you with an imaginary situation that you might face in your new job.

This might seem difficult to prepare for, but remember that your answers are meant to demonstrate the skills needed for the job. When preparing for the interview, consider the qualities that the interviewer might be looking for, qualities like conflict management, time management or people skills. Then think about how you can demonstrate those qualities in a range of situations. Start with situations that you've experienced and move on to other possible situations that you might encounter in the role you're applying for.

Avoid: Going off-topic, changing the subject and not answering the original question.

Whatever type of questions they ask, interviewers want to find the right person and are keen to give you the opportunity to demonstrate what you can do. With some preparation, you can show them that you're the perfect fit for the job.

Discussion

Language level

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Preparation is the key to a successful job interview. Here's how to be ready for some common question types.

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Business Result Upper Intermediate unit 16

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Image: Getty

Introduction

Meetings at work can be stressful spaces to speak. Do you struggle to talk about your ideas in meetings? Do you know how to interrupt politely? In this episode of Office English, Pippa and Phil talk about some useful phrases you can use to speak in meetings in a friendly and professional way.

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is a transcript of a spoken conversation and is not a word-for-word script.

Phil
Meetings. They're a big part of our time at work. Some people love them. And some people hate them.

Voicenote clips
Sometimes meetings can feel a bit pointless and you're just trying to fill the time.

So, ideally, there's an agenda. So you know what's going to be talked about and discussed.

I do sometimes get nervous speaking up in meetings because I have a bit of a fear of speaking in front of people.

Pippa
In this episode of Office English from BBC Learning English we're looking at how to speak up in meetings and get your ideas heard.

Phil
Welcome to Office English. Our guide to the language of the world of work. In this podcast we discuss words and phrases you can use to help improve your business English in the office. I'm Phil.

Pippa
And I'm Pippa. Today we're talking about meetings. We've already heard that meetings can be very stressful, even for native English speakers. But what do you think Phil? Do you speak up a lot in meetings?

Phil
It depends on the meeting.

Phil
Sometimes you have a meeting with people you work closely with, a small meeting, and I find it quite easy to try and contribute and ask people and, and things like that. Sometimes you're in a bigger meeting with people you don't know so well, or maybe you're meeting people you don't work with, a client or a different department. That's a lot harder.

Pippa
Mmm, yeah. I agree. And when you get stressed like that, you maybe don't want to speak, or you're nervous to contribute, or you feel that you're tripping over your words, you're getting what you're about to say wrong. And so that can be really stressful.

Phil
It's something that I think most people are nervous about. And so, today we're going to talk you through the basics of meetings and phrases you can use to get your voice heard.

Pippa
So, we've been invited to a meeting. There's lots of people in the meeting who we don't know. And at the start of the meeting everyone is asked to introduce themselves. How can we do this professionally, Phil?

Phil
And I think that's really good because, I don't know how it is in other languages, but in English your job title often doesn't really say what you actually do.

Pippa
Yeah. So it's not very useful to tell people that. Anything else we can say here Phil?

Pippa
Yeah. Because if you don't know people they might be questioning why you're there. And so it's good to kind of say early what your expertise is and what you have to bring to the meeting.

What about if you don't get a chance to introduce yourself at the start of the meeting, Phil?

Pippa
Yeah. And if you have kind of got that rehearsed it is a good way to kind of start talking. You've got over the initial nervousness and then you can actually say what you want to say.

Phil
Right, so we've introduced ourselves and the meeting has started. What about if somebody else makes an interesting point and we want to respond confidently in the meeting?

Phil
Well, it helps you engage with what someone's saying. You might be linking things that are useful. Yeah, I think it can be useful, particularly if what they've said is really relevant to what you're trying to sort out in the meeting.

Phil
I guess it's, as you said, it's a polite way of disagreeing. Do you think they really like that idea when they say it?

Pippa
I don't know. It depends, I think, on what we're talking about! But it's just a polite way to say it. It's not really very helpful in a meeting, especially if you don't know people, to say "I think that idea is rubbish and I prefer my idea". So it's all about kind of being friendly and polite with people in meetings. Another way you could try and enter the conversation is to just ask a question. So you can say What about... or How about... we try this? That's a good way to kind of enter into a discussion and a conversation.

Phil
Yeah. It's like you're putting something on the table for everyone to talk about.

Pippa
But sort of saying What about... or How about... rather than a very direct question is just a bit more polite.

And now a really difficult scenario. What if there are lots of important people in the meeting who are all dominating the conversation? The meeting is moving really quickly and you're nervous about speaking but you have some ideas too. What do you do, Phil?

Phil
Well, I think I maybe do this too much. But it's you kind of sit and wait for the right moment, so you wait for it to be, there to be a little bit of a pause and then you can say something.

Pippa
Yeah, but what about if you don't get the pause and you need to interrupt? What would you say then, Phil?

I'm sorry, but I think we need to talk about... this topic. And again the I think it's a bit hesitant, but sometimes that can be useful cos you're showing, it's a way of showing respect and being polite.

Phil
Yes, I think that's a really good idea. Of course, we're talking here from a context, we're here in the UK, and in Britain we tend to have politeness as a really important thing. So we say I'm sorry a lot. Or can I just do this...

But this does differ in different places. Some other cultures are a lot more direct and maybe then you don't need to apologise quite so much for saying things. So it's... perhaps listen to how people speak in the place where you're working, cos these cultures change, don't they? They're different in different places.

So we've learned some useful phrases to help us speak up in meetings. But let's hear again from our BBC colleagues because there's one thing we haven't talked about and that's how to make sure our meetings are useful.

Pippa
Beth talked about having an agenda. So what do we mean by an agenda, Phil?

Phil
An agenda is a... it's a list of things that you're going to talk about in the meeting. And it's very common, definitely in Britain it's very common that you might have a slot at the end that might say a AOB, any other business. But the idea is that during the, the other slots you only talk about the things that are on the agenda. And it's... ideally you share it before the meeting. So everyone knows what you're going to be talking about, why you're talking about those things, and it gives you a chance to think about what you might want to say.

Phil
Yeah, that gives you nice, efficient meetings that finish on time, hopefully!

Pippa
That's the idea, anyway!

Phil
And that's it for this episode of Office English. Remember you can find courses and activities to help you with your English at bbclearningenglish.com.

Pippa
Next time, we'll be talking about how to remind people to do something, or chase them up for a response.

Phil
And of course, we'll discuss some essential phrases to help you unlock your career potential.

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BBC Learning English - Office English / Meetings

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We've all been in badly managed meetings: meetings that seem to go round in circles without any decisions being made; meetings that are dominated by the same few voices; meetings where people talk and talk with no clear purpose; meetings that seem to go on forever ...

A European survey found that the typical staff member spends 187 hours a year in meetings. The report suggested that 56 per cent of those meetings were considered unproductive. In a survey of office workers across the UK, it was found that each employee cost their company an average of £38.50 for every meeting they attended.

So how can we have more efficient, effective and even inspiring meetings? Here are six tips.

1. Set a clear agenda.

An agenda is a list of points to be dealt with at the meeting, in the order in which they will be discussed. If you have a long list of bullet points, consider prioritising the items and breaking each topic down into its key issues.

Indicate on your agenda how much time you'll be spending on each topic, who will be presenting or leading it and whether a decision or some kind of solution will be needed. Also, remember to send out the agenda a few days before the meeting so that participants have time to prepare.

2. Review the attendee list.

When we are busy, the last thing we need is an invitation to a meeting we don't really need to attend. So, consider carefully who needs to be there. Invite someone to a meeting if:

the points on the agenda are relevant and the decisions will affect them

they have expertise to contribute

they have the authority to make the decisions required.

3. Keep the meeting focused on the agenda.

Follow the agenda and politely redirect participants back to it if you find that they have gone off-topic. Introduce the idea of 'parking' ideas and discussions that are not strictly relevant or urgent. This gives you the chance to acknowledge ideas and issues that might be important to the participants but which are not a priority right now. You can then follow up by including 'parked' ideas in the meeting minutes and exploring them at a different time.

4. Encourage participation and be sensitive.

The most vocal participants might not be the ones with the best ideas. Give everyone a chance to speak and encourage participation from quieter colleagues. However, avoid putting anyone on the spot. Also, be sensitive to underlying issues and emotions and help the group deal with conflict in a productive way.

5. Clarify, check and record.

Don't assume that everyone understands each other, especially when the meeting language isn't everyone's first language. Ask for clarification, summarise each time a point is made, check that the participants agree and ensure that decisions are made. Ask someone to take notes of what is being discussed and ensure that action points - tasks to be done and who will do them - are recorded in the minutes.

6. End the meeting on time.

Meetings that don't end on time can leave participants feeling tired, frustrated and stressed. So, assure your participants that the meeting will end on time and set the timer on your phone to ring about five to ten minutes before the end. Use the last five to ten minutes to summarise and bring the meeting to a close.

If we all make an effort to make every meeting we attend an efficient and effective one, meetings can help us communicate well and be part of a productive team.

Discussion

Language level

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We've all been in badly managed meetings: meetings that seem to go round in circles without any decisions being made; meetings that are dominated by the same few voices; meetings where people talk and talk with no clear purpose; meetings that seem to go on forever ...

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Wordwall - Create better lessons quicker

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Spin the wheel - Spin the wheel to see which item comes up next.

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Are you looking for a new job or recruiting a new employee? Watch our video series for intermediate or upper intermediate level learners.