Episode 03

Marcia calls the candidates to give them details of the interview.

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

Preparation

Transcript

Marcia: Hi, I'm Marcia Boardman. I'm calling from WebWare.

Daniel: Oh, hi, Marcia. Great to hear from you.

Marcia: You'll have already been told you've been shortlisted for interview ...

Sarah: Oh, yes, great ... hello? Can you hear me?

Marcia: Yes ... Is it OK if I call you now? Would you like me to call you back later?

Sarah: Erm, no, no, no, that's OK.

Marcia: Good. Well, we're very excited about meeting you. OK, I just want to talk you through the procedure for the day. Someone will meet you when you arrive, reimburse you for any travel expenses you may have, and then bring you up to meet myself and Philip Hart, the CEO.

Daniel: OK, sounds good. So, will you be the only members of the interview panel there, then?

Marcia: Yes, it'll be just me and Philip who will talk to you. The interview will be in three parts. First of all we'll ask you some general questions about yourself and your educational and professional background, then we'll move on to specifics.

Sarah: Oh, er, specifics? Erm, well, er, what kind of questions will you be asking?

Marcia: Well, it'll be very similar to the personal statement you submitted with your CV. We'll be expecting you to give actual examples of problems you've faced and solved, and of what you feel are your major successes in your career so far.

Daniel: OK, well, yeah, that sounds great. Can't wait!

Marcia: Then there'll be a chance for you to ask us any questions about the job itself or WebWare in general.

Sarah: Oh, erm, OK. I'll think of something!

Marcia: After that, we'd like you to give a short presentation on how you see WebWare as a company progressing, and how you see yourself taking us there.

Daniel: OK, so will I be expected to give, like, a formal-style presentation?

Marcia: It can be as formal or as informal as you like. There'll be a flip chart and a data projector there available. If you need anything else, just let us know.

Sarah: Oh, erm, OK, a presentation! Erm, I'll think of something. I haven't done one of those in a while ...

Marcia: Is that all clear? Great. So, Daniel, I'll see you at 11 a.m., a week tomorrow.

Daniel: OK, great, yeah, I look forward to meeting you! Thanks, bye.

Marcia: OK, so, Sarah, we'll be seeing you at 1 p.m., a week tomorrow. Best of luck!

Sarah: Oh, thanks. I'll need it!

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Hi again Leo,

Many words in English (as well as most languages, for that matter), have different meanings or uses in different contexts. In the phrase you ask about it, 'routine' refers to a way of questioning or interrogating people that is used very often by police officers.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Profile picture for user Leo Liu

Submitted by Leo Liu on Sat, 03/11/2018 - 11:16

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Dear moderator, I have a question. What the sentence "in the pursuit of " mean? Because I can't find the meaning in the dictionary. I only knows the "pursuit" is means an activity. I think the phrase means the purpose. Can you help me? Thanks a lot. Best regards, Leo

Hi Leo,

In 'in pursuit of', 'pursuit' means something like 'attempt' or 'try'. So 'in the pursuit of gold' would mean 'trying to obtain gold'.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Yshc on Wed, 06/06/2018 - 21:09

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Oh, and the same is with the Task 1

Submitted by Yshc on Wed, 06/06/2018 - 21:05

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Hello! Unfortunately I'm unable to do the Preparation task - there are some techial problems with it. I tried to open it using different devices (PC with Windows 10 and iPad) and different browsers (Chrome, Mozilla, Edge and Safari), but the result is always the same - the big grey square appears with no task in it.
Profile picture for user Peter M.

Submitted by Peter M. on Thu, 07/06/2018 - 07:29

In reply to by Yshc

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Hello Yshc,

I'm afraid we had a few technical problems with the exercises but everything should be working correctly now.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by julio arnaud on Fri, 18/05/2018 - 15:43

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It was ok. I usually listen twice to be sure I understand the whole video.
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Submitted by Myette on Tue, 06/03/2018 - 15:11

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I like the videos, the conversations were easy to follow. It is also good to show 2 different types of interviewees. This will help the young job seekers on how they present themselves in an interview. Many thanks to the whole team.

Submitted by Tomoaki Hachiya on Thu, 08/02/2018 - 00:20

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I once worked for a major bank in Japan, and I remember the day I had a job interview at the bank. I think the procedure of the interview was more casual and simple than this video, and it was already decided that I would be hired but gave me an interview just for formality. It's a rather sad memory of mine since I had to resign the bank because of my mental problem, and after that I learned that I'm not a person to belong to an organization but to do something by myself, which led me to become a translator of English, my present job..