Interview in English: how to prepare to get a job

Edition Lifehacker wrote a manual that will help you look competent in front of a foreign HR specialist and make a good impression.

Фото: Depositphotos

1. Write the truth in your resume

Typically, companies do not require the applicant to know English so that later the manager can boast of the linguistic knowledge of the employees. The language will be needed for work. Therefore, it is worth indicating in the resume the real level of English proficiency. So you save yourself time and nerves without applying for a position where you are most likely not to be hired. Because even the most thorough preparation does not pump your language from pre-intermediate to advanced.

2. Prepare a list of questions you may be asked.

Most likely, during an interview you will be asked about the same thing as in a Russian-speaking interview, because HR scripts are fairly unified. The most common of the questions:

• Can you tell me a little about yourself? — Tell us a little about yourself
• How did you hear about the position? — How did you hear about the vacancy?
• What do you know about the company? — What do you know about our company?
• Why should we hire you? - Why should we hire (namely) you?
• What are your greatest professional strengths? — What qualities help you in your work?
• What do you consider to be your weaknesses? — What do you consider your weaknesses?
• What is your greatest professional achievement? — Tell us about your most important achievement
• Tell me about a challenge or conflict you've faced at work, and how you dealt with it - Tell me about the difficulties or conflict you encountered at work, and how you solved the problem
• Where do you see yourself in five years? — Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What's your dream job? — Describe your dream job
• What other companies are you interviewing with? — Do you go for interviews with other companies?
• Why are you leaving your current job? — Why are you leaving your current job?
• Why were you fired? - Why were you fired?
• What are you looking for in a new position? — What do you expect from your new job?
• What type of work environment do you prefer? — In what environment do you prefer to work?
• How would your boss and co-workers describe you? — How would your manager and colleagues describe you?

3. Learn all about the company

Carefully study the site of the company where you are going for an interview. But do not stop there. Find informal communities of the organization, interviews of the head, pages of employees in social networks, information about competitors. You need to get as much data as possible so as not to get into trouble. At the same time, from photographs from the office, find out how best to dress for an interview.

4. Prepare answers to your questions.

At the interview, they do not expect crystal honesty from you, but you shouldn’t lie frankly either. Build answers based on what they want to hear from you. Here you will find useful results of a mini-study of the company. For example, in response to a question about your preferred work environment, you will describe exactly the same as in this organization.

On the subject: How to create an ideal resume at different stages of a career: expert advice

Prepare stories about your successes and failures, which you eventually managed to transform into victories, stock up on facts and figures. This will make the conversation substantive and not dispense with on-duty words about sociability and teamwork, which will distinguish you from other candidates.

5. Write down the answers

It is better not to formulate the text of your speech in the form of answers to specific questions. Make small semantic blocks that you can juggle in a conversation. This will allow us not to compare questions with answers in our heads, but to choose information that is meaningful.

Consider a few nuances:

• Choose simple designs. All sixteen times (plus ten in the passive voice) are used only in lessons at schools and at the queen's receptions, but this is not accurate about the queen. Spoken language is distinguished by short sentences and simple words without zaumi.
• Check the English-English dictionary for the semantic accents of the words you use. For a non-native speaker, not all the nuances are obvious. A wording that is neutral for you can be offensive to the person you are talking to.
• Do not abuse idioms. The use of stable expressions undoubtedly indicates a deeper knowledge of the language. But if the speech consists only of them, the speaker looks unnatural and even comical.

To formulate the answers, you can enter a question in English in the Google search bar and see what options offer specialized job search sites. But copying their word for word is still not worth it.

6. Make a summary

The answers to the questions you wrote down are not for fun, you have to learn them. But memorizing a text is a bad idea. You will look unnatural and nervous if you forget something. Therefore, make a plan-summary of your speech. You can write out one key sentence for each block or words that you will rely on.

7. Learn the answers

String on the skeleton of the text created using the abstract, "meat" from facts, events, and stressed phrases. The main task is to learn to tell stories intelligently and consistently without peeping in a piece of paper. You should easily switch between the blocks as if you were generating the answers right at the time of the interview.

8. Rehearse the answers aloud

Even if the text sounds smooth in your head, try saying it out loud. So you realize that you need additional rehearsals. Attract caring loved ones who will be ready to listen to how you go astray and start over. It’s good if one of them knows English and will ask clarifying questions in order to create an atmosphere close to “combat”.

If no one is found in the immediate environment, use the Internet. Moreover, you can even contact a native speaker. To search for an interlocutor, use foreign forums, Skype. Even Chatroulette is suitable, if you are not afraid that you will have to look at other people's genitals before an adequate person gets in touch. Explain the task to him and tell about yourself as planned. This will help consolidate the text and give confidence.

9. Build your vocabulary

The interview will not be limited to questions on duty, so it’s better to refresh the main terms that are used in your profession. The following words may also come in handy:

• a team-player - team player
• adaptable - easily adaptable
• competent - competent
• creative - creative
• dependable - reliable
• determined - purposeful
• enterprising - enterprising
• enthusiastic - full of enthusiasm
• experienced - experienced
• flexible - able to quickly adapt to circumstances
• loyal - devoted
• motivated - motivated
• problem-solver - a person who solves problems
• reliable - reliable
• successful - successful
• team building skills - team building skills

10. Grind the result

If you have followed the previous nine recommendations, you are ready for an interview. But there are little things that will help you look even more convincing at the interview.

On the subject: Three questions that must be asked to the employer at the interview

Try to avoid disturbing pauses in the conversation while remembering the answer you need. Please note that all introductory constructions, nerve jokes and parasitic words must be in English. "I am ... what's it called? I am a JavaScript developer ”is better than“ I am ... damn it, how is it ... I am a JavaScript developer. "

Watch out for intonations. In English, sentences expressing a confident and authoritative opinion, formal questions and answers to them require a downward tone. The questions use an upward tone.

Try to treat the interview as a pleasant conversation, and not as an exam.

This is primarily a conversation with a person who you should like. Therefore, be nice, polite, confident, competent. So you can get a position, even if your knowledge of English is far from ideal.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How to create an ideal resume at different stages of a career: expert advice

Without Facebook, kisses and the word 'no': a Russian-speaking immigrant told how to establish business connections in the USA

How to effectively learn a foreign language if you are already an adult

Do not be afraid of interviews, be afraid of their absence: how can an immigrant properly present himself during an interview with an employer

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