Did you attend an interview? What sort of questions were you asked?

People who have an interview coming up real soon and are worried they are often afraid of what they'll be asked in the interview. Most job seekers have been working for several years at their current job and are unprepared and out of practice for job interviews. Walking into an interview without knowing exactly what you are going to say is like trying to give a presentation without practice.

Replace the underlined phrases with correct forms of words and expressions from the box.

offer      turn down       shortlist interview         backgrounds

referees applicants       accept    qualifications

 

Fred had already (1) refused two job offers when he went for (2) a discussion to see if he was suitable for the job. They looked at his driving licence and contacted (3) previous employers Fred had mentioned in his application. A few days later, the supermarket asked him if he would like the job and he (4) said yes.

Harry didn't hear anything for six weeks, so he phoned the company. They told him that they had received a lot of (5) requests for the iob. After looking at the (6) life stories of the (7) people asking for the job and looking at (8) what exams they had passed during their education, the company (9) had chosen six people to interview, done tests on their personality and intelligence and they had then given someone the job.

3. There are some tips to follow for a person who is preparing for a job interview. Read them and add some more to the list, using a modal verb should.

Example: You should interview with confidence and give well-spoken answers.

1. interview with confidence and give well-spoken answers.
2. make a big, positive and long lasting impression on your interviewer.
3. eliminate your "fear of interviewing" once and for all.
4. turn phone interviews into face-to-face interviews in 19 minutes.
5. position yourself as the best candidate for the job.

Put these words in order to make up questions. Find out an appropriate answer to them. Act out this interview.

Questions

1. FairCom/your/What’s/at/job?
2. like/your/about/What/job/do/you?
3. challenging/job/What/find/your/do/about/you?
4. easier/What/have/found/your job/that/you/makes?

Answers

a) To be involved in different discussions regarding different projects. We need to understand the project requirements and how different they are from company to company.

b) I am the General Manager, responsible for the technical and business operations in South America.

c) To have a very good knowledge of the Brazilian market, including what are the main companies and what they do in their business. It’s critical to have deep technology knowledge and a good network of business contacts and associates.

d) What I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity to work with different customers on different projects and in different areas, all at the same time. With FairCom being a specialized database engineering company, most of our contacts are with tech leaders of projects of varying size and scope who demand specialized or high-performance solutions.

These are the questions you are expected to be asked during the interview. Choose some of these questions to make up an interview between an employer and a candidate for a job. Act out the interview.

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why did you leave your last job?
3. Do you know anything about our company?
4. What did you like about your last job?
5. What would you like to be doing five years from now?
6. Can you work under pressure?
7. Could you describe a difficult problem and how you dealt with it?
8. Why do you want to work here?
9. What were some of the things you did not like about your last job?
10.  What do you consider your most significant weaknesses?
11.  What are your biggest accomplishments?
12.  How do you accept criticism?
13.  What is the most difficult situation you have faced?
14.  What are some of the things that bother you?
15.  What do you consider your most significant strengths?
16.  Do you prefer working with others or alone?
17.  How do you get along with different types of people?
18.  Can you give me an example of a project that didn’t work out well?
19.  What are some of the things you and your supervisor have disagreed on?