Unit 01 :
Job interview

Pre-advanced

Vocabulary

Repeat these words/ phrases after your teacher.

  • interviewer (n.)
  • smooth (adj.)
  • fairly (adv.)
  • I’m all ears (phr.)
  • platform (n.)
  • content creators (n.)
  • backers (n.)
  • raise (v.)
  • fund (v.)
  • reading up on (phr.)
  • engaged (adj.)
  • thrilled (adj.)

Dialogue

Read the dialogue aloud with your teacher.

Josh

Katherine

Hi Josh, I’m Katherine and I’ll be your interviewer today.

Nice to meet you, Katherine. Thank you for taking the time to interview me today.

My pleasure. So how did you get here today?

I took a taxi. Traffic was pretty smooth.

Good to know. Okay, let’s begin our interview now. Since we’re a fairly young company, you might not have heard much about us. 

So, I’ll give you a brief introduction.

I’m all ears.

Beneflex is a platform that connects content creators with backers from around the world. 

We started the company last year because we were independent artists who were finding it difficult to raise enough money to fund our projects.

Actually, I’ve been reading up on everything I could find about the company online.

It seems that you have a passionate team and an engaged community. I’d be thrilled to help the company grow.

Article

Read the article with your teacher.

3 small talk tips for job interviews

1. Skip the clichés

Friendly chats about the weather are easy to lean on. However, they aren’t very impactful or memorable. So, skip the generalities and clichés. You can bet that every other candidate is using those—and you want to be the one to stand out.

2. Find a common interest

You’d have spent some time researching your interviewer before you arrived at the meeting. Whenever you’re doing that polite digging through his or her social media profile, keep your eyes peeled for any common interests you share.

You can bring up something relevant about yourself when your interviewer asks that inevitable, “How are you?” question. If he or she takes that bait, you’ll be engaged in an interesting conversation about a shared passion in no time.

3. Comment on something company related

Of course, you’re there to demonstrate that you’d be a great fit for the company. Those little snippets and peeks into the company can be an awesome and highly relevant topic of conversation with your interviewer. So, don’t be afraid to use them!

Source: https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-small-talk-tips-thatll-instantly-make-your-interviewer-like-you-more

Discussion：

Answer the following questions to your teacher.

  1. Do you think you are generally good at job interviews? Why? Why not?
  2. Do you remember your first job interview? How was it?
  3. Are there any specific rules that should be followed when making a business introduction in your country?

Let’s practice

Choose the correct answer.

  1. Which of the following pictures demonstrates thrilled?

2. I took a taxi. Traffic was pretty smooth.
The word smooth in this sentence means?

A. not noisy
B. not jammed
C. straight
D. fluent

3. Since we’re a _____ young company, you might not have heard much about us.

A. a little
B. fairly
C. simply
D. merely

4. The Foundation has ____ a variety of faculty development programs.

A. found
B. funded
C. fueled
D. find

5. It is difficult __a.__ independent artists to __b.__ enough money to __c.__ their projects.

for / found / raise / at / fund / rise

6. Both my wife and I _____ annoying when our neighbors come to visit without telling us first.

A. find that
B. discover that
C. discover it
D. find it

7. Actually, I’ve been ____ everything I could find about the company online.

A. reading up
B. finding up on
C. looking up on
D. digging up on