Nothing makes me more nervous than an email arriving in my email inbox telling me I have been invited for an interview. Of course, I will have hoped for this when I was writing my job application and updating my CV but nevertheless, it causes me to worry about what questions I will be asked and even worse, will the interviewers like my answers?
After many years of practice and some successful interviews, here are my top tips:
- Preparation is key – make sure you research the company and check the job description.
- Be confident – think about your body language and try to maintain eye contact.
- Make notes of what you learnt in your previous roles and any challenges you had, these can be helpful when giving examples – you can use jobs websites such as Indeed or Reed to give you examples of how to explain your previous job roles in English. https://uk.indeed.com/ https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs
- Always ask a question at the end of the interview – make a list of 3-5 questions before the interview that you can ask, it could be something as simple as, ‘what is the dress code?’
- Structure your answers using STAR for questions where you have to describe a previous work situation e.g. tell me about a time when … – situation, task, action, result
- Prepare for common interview questions – see my useful list below!
Want to prepare yourself for the world of work? Why not join one of our Business English courses here at English Path which will help you to work successfully in English!
