Business English idioms Job interview Lesson 1

good morning

oh and in case i don’t see you good

afternoon good evening and good night

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business english idioms job interview

donna a human resources manager is

interviewing marina for a sales position

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tell me about your most recent work

experience

right now i’m between jobs in my last

position

i was a marketing associate at com tech

international

i was there for two and a half years

i know i’ve heard of them but i’m

drawing a blank right now

what do they do they produced

international trade fairs

they were bought out last month by a

much larger company

and all of us were let go i see from

your resume that you also worked in

sales for the company

yes that’s right it was a small company

so i wore many hats

it was very exciting what are you

looking for in a job

well i’m a real people person so i would

like to take a position

where i have lots of interaction with

different people

describe your ideal boss i work well

with all different types of people

but i guess my ideal boss would be hands

off

i prefer to work independently and not

to be micromanaged

tell me about a time when you had to

think outside the box in your work

when i was at com tech we didn’t have

any money to buy advertising

i put in place a program offering

magazines a stand at the trade show

in exchange for an advertisement in the

magazine

that sounds like a good idea tell me

what sparked your interest in our sales

position

i noticed from your job description that

it requires a lot of interaction with

the marketing department

i’m very interested in marketing so i

thought this would be a good stepping

stone

to a marketing position yes this would

be a good way to get your foot in the

door of the marketing department

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between jobs

out of work unemployed

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example barbara is between jobs right

now

she hopes to find a new job soon note

saying one is between jobs sounds better

than saying one is unemployed

to draw a blank to be unable to remember

example i can’t remember the name of the

hotel where we stayed in budapest

i’m drawing a blank

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to buy out to purchase an

entire business or someone’s share of

the business

example when victor’s company was bought

out by microsoft

he was able to retire

to let someone go

to fire someone

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example mepsteen industries let their

accountant go after he made a major

mistake calculating the company’s tax

bill

to wear many hats to perform many

different job responsibilities

to play many different roles example

there are only five employees at our

company so we all have to wear many hats

people person

who likes working with people a friendly

person

example you’re sure to like paul he’s a

real people person

hands off

not too involved passive

not interested in managing details

example don’t worry chris won’t get

involved in all of your projects

he’s a hands-off manager

micromanage

to manage too closely to be too involved

in the details

example helen gets involved in every

detail of her employees work

she has a reputation for micromanaging

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think outside the box to think

creatively

to think in a new and different way

example the small law firm is losing

business to larger rivals

the firm needs to think outside the box

and come up with some creative ways to

market its services

to put in place to establish

to start to implement example

next month the company plans to put in

place some new rules for filing expense

reports

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to spark one’s interest to raise one’s

interest

to cause one to become interested in

example

an article in the wall street journal

sparked don’s interest in investing in

brazil

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stepping stone

a way of advancing or getting to the

next stage a position

a product or an activity that comes

first and prepares the way for what will

come next

example jennifer views her position as a

human resource manager as a stepping

stone to a larger position within her

company

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get one’s foot in the door

to get into an organization to take a

position with an organization that could

lead to a bigger opportunity in the

future

example taking a job as a receptionist

is one way to get your foot in the door

of a company

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you