At the Interview

1. Forget to shake hands with the interviewer.

2. Make a real effort to answer every question the interviewer asks. Never answer “Yes” or “No” or shrug.

3. Smoke or sit down until you are invited to.

4. Give the interviewer a hard time by giggling, yawning, rambling on unnecessarily or appearing cocky or argumentative.

5. Admit it if you do not know something about the more technical aspects of the job. Stress that you are willing to learn.

6. Show some enthusiasm when the job is explained to you and if the interviewer asks if you have any questions, have at least one ready to show that you are interested and have done your homework.

7. Stress poor aspects of yourself, like your problem of getting up in the morning.

8. Always show your best side: especially your keenness to work and your sense of responsibility.

9. Sell yourself. This doesn’t mean exaggerating (you’ll just get caught out) or making your experience or interests seem unimportant (if you sell yourself short, no one will employ you).

10. Ask questions at the close of the interview. For instance, about the pay, hours, holidays, or if there is a training programme.

11. After the interview, think about how you presented yourself: could you have done better? If so, and if you do not get the job, you can be better prepared when you are next called for an interview. Good luck!

c) Can you add one more Do and one more Don’t to the list? Which do you think are the three most important points?

II. Work out the meanings of the following words from the context.

1. scores of

a) a few b) a large number of c) hardly any

2. chasing

a) escaping from b) running after c) applying for

3. count yourself

a) congratulate yourself for being b) feel proud that you are c) consider yourself to be

4. the jitters

a) over-confidence b) nervousness c) lack of experience

5. side-track

a) distract b) emphasise c) interest

6. issue

a) argument b) purpose c) difficulty

7. giggling

a) arguing b) coughing c) laughing in a silly way

8. rambling on

a) talking for too long b) going for a walk c) hesitating

9. cocky

a) nervous b) proud c) over-confident

10. done your homework

a) practised being interviewed b) worked hard at school

c) found out as much information as possible about the company

11. get caught out

a) be found to be lying b) be in danger c) be wasting your time

12. sell yourself short

a) are too nervous b) are too modest c) don’t talk enough

Use a dictionary to look up the words you couldn’t guess.

III. Read the following interview. Do you think Arthur will get a job? Why? Why not? Job Interview

Secretary: Ah, Mr Newton, would you go now, please?

Arthur: Oh, me? Yes, right.

Mr Pratt: Let me see, you’re Mr Newton, are you?

Arthur: Yes, that’s right.

Mr Pratt: Well, do sit down. You may smoke, if you wish.

Arthur: Thank you.

Mr Pratt: Now my name’s Pratt and I’m the assistant to the Managing Director, and these two gentlemen here are Mr Hardcastle, the Personnel Manager, and Mr Gibbs, one of our directors. Now, Mr … er … Mr Newton, I’d like you to tell us if you would, what it is that makes you want to come and work for us.

Arthur:Well, I’ve noticed that electronics seems to be one of the growing industries at the moment and er…

Mr Pratt: Yes?

Arthur: Well, I happened to be just glancing through the Financial Times the other day and happened to come across your company report, so I read it and it seemed to me that your record over the past year had been quite an impressive one.

Mr Gibbs: Ha-ha! It’s nice to know somebody reads our reports, eh, Mr Pratt?

Mr Pratt: Yes, indeed. So you know the sort of things we make and the kind of people we sell them to, do you?

Arthur: I know you make electronic equipment and computers and I imagine that banks, insurance companies and other large firms are your main customers.

Mr Pratt: Well, that’s part of it, of course, but there’s a host of other applications in the electronics field. But if you did come and work for us, you’d soon learn – I certainly haven’t got time to explain them all to you now. Now Mr Hardcastle, I’m sure you’ve got lots of things you want to ask Mr Newton.

Mr Hardcastle: Yes, I wanted to ask you one or two questions about yourself that don’t come out clearly in your application. For example, why did you wait so long before deciding to further your education after you left school? I notice that it wasn’t until you were nearing the end of your time working as a – let me see – a librarian in Middleford that you decided to take your A-levels and then go on to the Management Training course at Earls Court.

Arthur: Well, I don’t know myself really. I suppose I was short of confidence really. It wasn’t until later that I thought to myself – well, if others can get on, why on earth shouldn’t I?

Mr Gibbs: Good for you!

Mr Hardcastle: You didn’t really like working in a library, then?

Arthur: It was quite pleasant, but not very demanding. It would have been better if I’d had something interesting to do. As it was, I was just a sort of dogsboy there.

Mr Gibbs: You’d have to do some pretty basic jobs here, you know, if we accepted you as a trainee.

Arthur: Yes, but that would be different. Then I’d know where I was going.

Mr Pratt: Well, thank you Mr Newton, that’s all for the time being. Could you just wait outside, for a bit, please? We’ll call you in later.