Episode 02

Marcia and Philip discuss the applications they've received and the interview format.

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercises. You can also read the transcript.

Transcript

Philip: So, how many applications did we get, Marcia?

Marcia: Well, overall we've got over 200!

Philip: That many?

Marcia: Yes, but most of which we can discard right away ... people who don't have the right experience, qualifications, that kind of thing.

Philip: Of course.

Marcia: ... and then we get the people who submit ten-page-long CVs, or CVs in comic book font, or green ink, or ... they attach a photo of themselves disco dancing, you know the kind of thing? So, I've whittled down the serious candidates to a shortlist of 12 people.

Philip: And we'll interview all of them?

Marcia: I think we should but, obviously, I'll let you have a look first.

Philip: Great. So, who have we got then?

Marcia: Well, I think we've got some pretty strong candidates. Two in particular.

Philip: They have the right kind of profile?

Marcia: I'd certainly say so. Strong educational background, experience in multinational sales, language skills ...

Philip: Good. I look forward to meeting them.

Marcia: So, I'd say we do the standard interview format.

Philip: Sure.

Marcia: A few general questions, then on to specifics.

Philip: Yes, exactly. I want to hear specific details of when they've solved problems.

Marcia: Yes, and then something about 'vision', as you put it.

Philip: Yes ... what do you think about a brief presentation?

Marcia: I think that's a good idea. We could ask them to give a short presentation on where they see the company going and how they see themselves taking us there.

Philip: Great! You know something? I'm really looking forward to this!

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

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Discussion

What tips do you have for preparing a CV?

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Language level

Intermediate: B1

Upper intermediate: B2

I believe that it is very different how to deal with an interview in every country, one example of this is Mexico and Canada the former asks for a photo in your CV and the latest no, but we agree that is quite important mention our skills and background about our education and others jobs where we were.

I recommend write a brief presentation about yourself and below of each experience put two or three achievement. Try to be objective and specific. Also, put a photo showing your natural smile.

My tips for a CV are : At first introduce yourself in a confident way telling all information about your school ,your family , your district that you live in. Secondly mention your previous experience and the places you worked in Then mention your personal skills. Finally tell the information for the hiring person that it makes him hiring you.

My tips for a good CV? I don't know, probabbly a clear , concise and short presentation of your professional experience , education and career goals. Don't forget to insert your achievements, they are in most of the cases more important than the other things ( e.g. job resposabilities).

In a resume, please mention only relevant qualification and experience to which profile you are applying for. also mention your key strength which is required by your applied position. Keep the resume short

My CV tips: A highly visual CV format where only relevant educational and personal information, professional experience (including company logos) and finally professional skills are displayed. All this in one page.

Tips for CV In order of appearance: - personal information, - name of the seeking job and main personal skills - summary of professional skills - list of previous jobs - other skills (softwares, foreign languages, miscallenous) - hobbies I then adapt this CV depending on the ad I answer.

My tips one page be serious

Tips for cv. • Begin with the personal information. • write your career objective. • list your work experience from the recent. • High light your education. • Use formal colors like black and blue. •list your Achievements • write your hobbies and interests.

The most useful tips to do a perfect CV are: - Longest as necessary - Show skills as languages - Education history - Previous jobs

The CV include : - The information personal. - Degree qualification - Experiences work - Skill languages, team work, ... - Vision, Target. - Salary.

Tips for preparing CV - one page - study - professional experience - skills - languages - hobby - examples of successful projects - strengths/weaknesses If I forgot something, add in comments please. It could be useful for other readers

Hi, The tips that I has for preparing a CV includes: - A profile. - A vision statement. - Personal skills. - A detailed educational and working experience. - Language and technical skills. Thanks.

Hello Dear Kirk I have a question from you. I try at the end of each lesson, answer your question and occasionally ask you some problems, but I don't notice your response. Could you have a notification to me or other students, for example on way email?

Hello shahhoseini

That's a good idea, but I'm afraid that there are no notifications like the ones you ask about on LearnEnglish. I will mention this to our technical team and if I have any news to report, I'll let you know.

You might want to copy the URL of the pages you've asked a question on into a document. Then, once your question is answered, you can erase the URL. That's a pretty basic system, but perhaps it could work for you.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

that's very good to improve my English thank's

This video is very interesting. It provide good information about CV preparing. It's very usefull. We can also know why our job applications are often rejected.

Very interesting video, all seems so natural. Thanks

nice terminologic story is going on... thanks to the scene/text writers on the behalf of all your team... ;)

Some information i have got via this video make me impressive.As a man of getting few chance to work international companies, a chance for knowing useful word is coming to me.

The video is beneficial while providing general information to those who are preparing for a job application with what could probably need to be answering in an interview. The interviewee can equip themselves with some necessary and useful instruction.

Hello, here is Sergio from Brasil. I appreciated very much the LearnEnglish! It is too helpful to improve my English. Thank you and best regards.

Hello, Episode 2 video isn't working. Could you please check it? Thank you

Hello Carolina

I'm sorry about that. It's working for me now -- is it still broken for you? If so, I'd recommend trying a different web browser or device to see if that helps. Please let us know if you still can't see the video.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi, Thank's for videos. But they are talking very fast.

Excume, I can´t watch the video, Could you help said me what can I do please?

Hi Rafa777,

Are you still not able to watch the video? I've just checked it and it was working for me, so I think it may have been a temporary error. If you still can't see the video, please let us know what browser version you are using and we'll look into it. I would also suggest trying to view it in a different browser or on a different device.

In any case, I'm sorry for the inconvenience!

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you for the lesson!

Great course. But still too short. Is there other series. I'm looking forward to studying more.

Hello Isxcool,

We add new content regularly so keeping checking the site for this.

In the meantime, you can choose from our existing skills content by visiting the appropriate part fo the site:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/skills

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks a lot. I mean I'm preparing my job interview now. So do you have more courses about the career. Because it's more useful.

I'd like to download it , how can i ?

Hello Nada Magdy,

I'm afraid the videos on LearnEnglish are not available for download for technical and legal reasons. On our audio-only pages you can find links to download the audio as an mp3 file.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

thanks~

Good job!

hi I'm Bilal from Syria thank you for these useful videos I feel that I'm getting better in English when listened to these videos I'm grateful to you

That is very usefull

Hi Kirk, How can you help me for to speak and write english ? Thank you

Hello Diona,

Welcome to LearnEnglish! This is quite a broad question but we have a useful section on just this topic. Please take a look at our Getting Started section which discusses how best to use LearnEnglish - this should answer your question. Please also visit our Frequently Asked Questions page, which has tips and advice on specific aspects of English such as vocabulary, speaking, writing and so on.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi Peter,

Over two hundred applicants for a position! Unbelievable! And I'm also impressed by the fact that so many applicants are just for joking, not serious ones.... Does this kind of things really happen frequently in job hunting? I wonder...

Hi, Tomoaki! I think that people sending a CV in comic font or in green ink are strange persons, may be, over artistic, or they might not be familiar with business style. I cannot imagine anyone writing a 10 pages CV, but even two full pages are too much, don't you think? Sometimes people even mention their middle school achivements, which I think is excessive.

I agree with Laris Fdz

Thanks for the video

deal)

would love to learn more english hola frds add chat contacto ---------------

Hello mariagregfg,

Please see my response to your other comment.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

This is very helpful.

Yes Kirk, I often check into other areas of the British Council. And I encourage my students to use the website. Very, very, very useful to have such a resource. There are some things that Britain still does really well.

Episode 02

Preparation

Transcript

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Language level