Common English Interview Questions and How to Answer Them Well
welcome back to our weekly live stream
my name is Alisha and today we’re going
to talk about English for job and school
interviews today’s lesson is going to
focus on some very common questions you
hear in job interviews and school
interviews and I’m going to talk about
some sample responses and give you some
ideas for how to respond with your
information so I hope you can find a lot
of useful stuff I’ll talk about some
important vocabulary words you’ll hear
in job and school interviews too so
we’ll begin in a couple of minutes as
you join please don’t forget to hit the
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other people can find today’s lesson
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for joining I’m going to share the video
now and then I’m going to begin so today
we’re going to kind of have the same
pattern for each part of the lesson I’m
going to introduce the question and some
points about your answer and while I’m
preparing please send in the chat please
send your sample answers to the question
I will try to check I will try to check
your answers there are lots of points
there are lots of things to check in the
chat though so if I miss yours I’m sorry
but please send your example sentences
in the chat and I will try to check them
alive if I can’t have really sorry so
let’s begin I have shared the video so I
want to start with this question this is
maybe the most common first question in
a job interview and you’ll hear
something similar so it will be very
close to the same in a school interview
the question actually it’s not a
question it’s like a command so this is
tell me tell me a bit about yourself
tell me a bit about yourself and at
native speed this question sounds like
tell
a bit about yourself tell me a bit about
yourself so this is something the
interviewer I am asking you the question
the interviewer asks you this question
so tell me means please talk to me
a bit a bit means a little about
yourself
so this command is actually a request a
command it means please give a short so
a little please give a short
introduction so this does not mean you
should tell your life story
so don’t share just a lot of information
like where you were born where you grew
up all of this when you answer this
question give a short introduction so
you should share your focus if you’re a
student or if you want to go to a
university or a college what is your
study focus if you are applying for a
job what is your work focus or what is
your career focus so share your focus
share like your goals what things do you
want to do in the future or maybe what
were your past goals and share important
accomplishments important
accomplishments so this means in your
study experience or your life experience
or your work experience what are maybe
like two or three really important
points for you important points for your
studies or for your career so for
example like did you win an award or did
you have a really great success at work
so what’s something that was really key
really really important for your career
so this should be a very quick
introduction so some examples are coming
in I’ll use your examples from the
YouTube chat Aman says my name is Aman I
finished my Gretsch I graduated maybe I
graduated from such-and-such University
I am such
such years old okay I come from a family
okay so there that’s very focused on
your personal life that example is very
personal information focused keep it
focused on your studies so what did you
study what are your career goals so try
not to share a lot about like personal
personal stuff but share about your
goals your goal so it should be career
or study minded so for example if I
wanted to talk about mine like I could
say for example like I studied
communication in college and I wanted
past tense I wanted to work in media so
I did an internship with ABC company and
now I want to create my own project so
that gives some key information what is
my study focus what is my experience a
key experience where did I work what do
I want to do next so that’s a very very
short example but those are the kinds of
points you should be sharing okay oh
nice one I just there’s one on YouTube
if you’re in the YouTube chat you can
check out Christians comment he says I’m
a software developer and I’ve been
working in the in the field for around
three years I’ve worked in different
teams projects and programming languages
I’d love to be a tech lead so that’s a
very short next one very very short
introduction you could in a real
interview you could give some more
details but that’s a nice example okay
so the second question you may hear
second or another very common
introduction or base question is this
one why do you want to work at this
company why do you want to work at this
company or for schools why do you want
to attend this school so attend means
that go to this school like become a
student at this school
why do you want to work at this company
why do you want to attend this school so
be specific specific means you give
detailed reasons for something so don’t
say all your company seems interesting
or oh this school seems nice
like specifically give detailed
information why do you like that company
or why are you interested in this
company this job specifically so don’t
say also money this is generally not a
good answer so show that you understand
the values or sorry the schools or the
company’s values and goals so values and
goals means what is important for the
company is the company really interested
in like environment or like social
responsibilities is the school really
like focused on technology is there a
specific department that’s interesting
for you about this school so why that
school or why that company explains
specifically why and how do the
companies or the schools values match
your values so in other words like they
want to see like does this person’s like
values or does this person’s goal match
our goals are they the same so be
specific to prepare for this question
read the website of course read the
website what is the company about what
is the school’s focus so you need to
understand that and you need to think
about your own focus so how do those two
match how do those things match okay
let’s see so send some examples if you
can I’ll try to check there’s some good
examples coming in here for this
question I’ll come back to that in a
moment so please make sure to be
specific specific here and generally
it’s not a good idea don’t mention
salary don’t mention money
this question so the company wants to
know the school wants to know do we have
similar values and similar goals okay
some examples so okay Daniel on Facebook
says I want to work in your company
because your company is the best okay so
the best what so your company is like
the top company in this field or your
company is the best with like social
responsibility so the best what so give
some more detail share something
specific about why you’re interested in
that school or that company ok knock
Lorne on Facebook has made me a better
example I want to study MBA and ID a
business school because I want to start
my own business ok nice start then then
this business school has a great program
to learn how to do that so match your
goal to the school you want to attend
so put a connection in there when you
answer this question what’s your
connection to the school or the company
ok let’s continue to the third question
here this is another very typical
question maybe you need some explanation
though so the last one for this part
where do you see yourself in five years
where do you see yourself in five years
this see yourself means imagine yourself
so in five years means five years from
this day so from the interviewer from
today as well imagine yourself imagine
you in five years so what’s like what’s
your vision for yourself so what are
your goals what are your goals what do
you want to do and again how do your
goals match the company’s goals or the
school’s goals so again you’re making a
connection this one is about a future
connection so the company wants to see
is this
person going to continue working with us
in a positive way or will they
contribute something positively so again
it’s about matching matching okay let’s
see if there’s a lot of good examples
coming in uh let’s see I don’t know
where to see myself next week says Leah
okay I’m looking for a couple of and
specific answers to these questions I
see some very general questions about
where you’ve been working but you need
to think about how to answer these
questions specifically so in five years
this is a future question I’m seeing
some past tense and past tense questions
this is a future or some past tense
answers this is a future question in the
future so like you can think over the
next few years in the year 2020 in 2021
and 2022 what do you imagine for
yourself what do you want to do
professionally or for your studies so
not like maybe your personal goals
necessarily but what are your career
goals again tie it to connect it to your
career kay Lao has a nice example on
YouTube in the YouTube chat I want to
join your company because your company
provides free services to disabled
people which matches my goal my life
goal to help people
I would like to develop empathy towards
those in need nice nice great so that’s
a great way to connect your goals to the
company’s values okay sounds good
let’s take one quick break then and then
we’ll continue to kind of the middle the
middle part questions so today is very
focused on school and work English so I
want to share with you these PDFs you
can find it from the file year where is
it we have a couple I think new
ones that I haven’t shown you in a while
there’s a business PDF which I have lost
just a moment here it is there’s the
business this excuse of it to that I
wanted to show you for those of you for
those of you for tho okay those for
those of you who are studying force for
work we have a business English PDF this
has vocabulary words for the office yes
but on the back I’ve shown this before
are phrases you can use in a meeting so
these are business and work-related
expressions from meetings and there’s
some other stuff here job titles so how
to express your job title or how to talk
about the job you want so check this out
you can download this for for business
for work the other one if you’re
studying for school is this this is
back-to-school I know
but on the back again these are
expressions to use in your class so how
to speak to your instructor or how to
speak to your classmates these are some
phrases to use in class and some other
vocabulary words too so you can get this
and you can get the other one I just
showed you can get both of these for
free from the link below the video on
youtube or above the video if you’re
watching on facebook if you’re watching
on instagram please check on YouTube or
Facebook and again I cannot see your
comments live I’m very sorry
okay so with that let’s continue to part
two for today these are the kind of like
middle part of the interview questions
so if you have not already please make
sure to like and share the videos or
other learners can find today’s lesson
alright I see some examples coming in by
the way let’s see mmm
I saw a couple mm-hmm some Oh move
without Milla I think on YouTube says
I’m from Malaysia making doing my own
business and I’d like to improve my
English to make sentences okay so maybe
that’s like a school goal or something
like that
so try to try to make it specific
specific to the place that you’re
applying to okay let’s go to this part
I’ll stand over here so these two are
very similar questions they’re very
simple questions really but they’re hard
to answer they’re difficult to answer
for some people so first is what are
your weaknesses what are your weaknesses
so weaknesses plural weaknesses means
this question means what are you not
good at doing what are you not good at
doing so the interviewer asks this to
understand like because nobody is
perfect right nobody’s perfect so the
interviewer asks this to understand like
your personality a little bit so you
should be honest you should be honest
you know exactly you should be honest
when you answer this question don’t say
I have no weaknesses it’s not a good
idea so be honest with the interviewer
so try to be honest but you should
explain that you know how to manage your
weaknesses so for example you could say
like it’s difficult for me to speak
in front of big groups it’s difficult
for me to speak in front of big groups
so maybe like meetings are scary for you
so you could say mmm this is this is
something that’s difficult for me it’s
scary for me and but I practice a lot so
I take a lot of time to practice before
a presentation and that helps me a lot
so this is maybe a very common weakness
speaking in front of lots and lots of
people maybe like now so so this is
difficult for lots of people
so explain the problem explain the weak
point that’s okay honestly and explain
how you fix the problem too so don’t
just say like I am not good at being
organised explain give some information
how do you fix that problem how do you
fix that problem okay then the other
half of this question may be the
opposite type of this question is what
are your strengths what are your
strengths so strength your strengths
means what are you good at what are you
good at so again be honest yes
but don’t be overconfident overconfident
means you have too much confidence you
sound arrogant arrogant is a bad thing
you sound like you like yourself too
much that’s not good so be confident so
you know I can do this I can’t do that
so but just be honest about it too okay
hang on YouTube says why did you add es
because this is the plural form weakness
is the singular form weaknesses is the
plural form so usually people have more
than one weak point es is the plural
form so weakness ends in an S we make
the plural form here by adding yes so
what are your strengths what are your
strengths so maybe you can say ah I’m
good
I’m good at planning events hmm you
could say I’m good at planning events
and I’m really good at sharing the
information so maybe company events or
maybe planning meetings and so on maybe
you’re really good at that so you can
share specifically your point and maybe
give an example of that strength that
can be really helpful a couple of points
here then one I’m good at your present
are you president your preposition
should be up here I’m good at this thing
I’m good at
noun phrase here your preposition it’s
difficult for me to verb it’s difficult
for me to plan it’s difficult for me to
stay organized it’s difficult for me to
speak in front of big groups it’s
difficult for me to something to
something okay let’s see other examples
ah me at on Facebook has a very common
weakness yeah my weakness is I want to
do everything alone I am weak on
teamwork so you can say maybe teamwork
is difficult for me
teamwork is difficult for me teamwork is
difficult for me great example then you
can explain like how do you fix that
problem how do you fix that problem of
teamwork so that’s another very common
one I think okay let’s go to the next
question the next interview question is
for jobs this isn’t this is a job
specific question maybe you don’t really
hear this one in schools so much so for
jobs why are you leaving why are you
leaving your current job why are you
leaving your current job current job
your current job means your job now so
why are you leaving why are you quitting
why are you going to stop working at
your company
now so again be honest in this question
don’t try to change the information
don’t try to create some story be honest
but be positive be positive so don’t
disrespect your job your previous job
don’t disrespect your co-workers don’t
disrespect the people you worked with
your bosses it’s going to sound very
negative so don’t be disrespectful when
you answer this question so for example
you could say maybe my contract my
contract is going to finish soon and I
want new challenges so you could explain
like now is a nice time and you don’t
want to get a new contract because you
want to find something new and
challenging to do so you could say
something like this my contract is going
to finish soon I’d like to explore some
new challenges so again be honest but be
positive also if you were fired so fired
means your boss let you go so you lost
your job you did not choose to leave you
were removed from your job in that case
explain why you were fired why you were
fired so maybe you had a medical issue
or something like that
but now it’s solved or there is some
other situation but it’s good to be
honest it’s good to be honest and
positive okay some examples are coming
in ah 0 1 on YouTube has a really nice
example I’m leaving because my job
duties are my responsibilities
I’ve been reduced so I have fewer things
to do and I felt that the job was not
using my abilities to the fullest or
challenging me enough nice answer really
nice answer great great great
Chris why always positive why so if you
if you come to your interview and you
talk negatively about your co-workers or
your company your the impression is that
you are a negative person and you might
be difficult to work with so you want to
make it clear that you can communicate
with other people you can solve problems
and you can like get over issues so of
course no workplace is perfect of course
but you need to show that you can you
can resolve issues and work forward not
just staying like a negative mindset so
yes if a negative thing happened that’s
okay but you should show that you
learned from that thing so I don’t mean
you have to only say good things I mean
you’re thinking you should be thinking
in a positive way okay some other
examples I missed one on Facebook but
but Nick knack or Nick or sorry again
has another example I have worked for
the same company for many years so I
want to try some new things good good
good Oh Sharif on YouTube has a good
question what if I am fired because of
disciplinary issues should I tell them
about that yes but you should make it
clear what happened like you or maybe
late like two hours late every day or I
don’t know what it was but you should
talk about how you fix the problem so
maybe the problem was because of maybe
personal issues and now you fixed that
and now you’re ready to start again you
made the change necessary so again show
how did you learn how did you grow
because your interviewer might contact
your previous job so you need to make
sure you’re telling the truth okay let’s
go to the last section the last section
is very brief because it’s very open
this is up to you but this is a very
important thing to prepare for this is
the question from the interviewer do you
have any questions for me
do you have any questions for me so yes
in a job interview or in a school
interview you get many many questions
sure but you should be prepared to ask
the interviewer some questions so this
is your chance to learn about the
company or to learn about the school so
for example some things you can ask are
like if you want to ask the interviewer
directly like what do you like what do
you like about working here what do you
like about working here what do you like
about working here means why do you like
this place
Eric says when am i starting what do you
like about working here so Eric
controlled us because has sent a joke
response when am i starting but if you
want to be a little direct you could say
another question is if I if I start
working here or rather if I started
working here or maybe let’s simplify it
even what what would be my first project
what would be my first project so here
we’re using what would be unreal
situation yes for grandpa there what
would be my first project so this makes
the interviewer think it makes the
interviewer imagine you in the job like
okay if this person joins my team his or
her first project
be this thing so the interviewer can
tell you probably this project or these
would be your team mates so what would
be my first project what would be my
first project what do you like about
working here and you can ask some
specific questions to the interviewer
about their experience other questions I
don’t see any other ones
ah someone says is it okay to ask about
perks and benefits yeah you can um you
kind of have to feel a little bit during
the interview what’s the feeling of of
this part of the first group of
questions of these questions if you’ve
made like a nice relationship and you
can kind of talk naturally it’s a little
easier to ask that question but you can
ask things like just the company provide
health insurance for its employees or
maybe what are what’s the calendar like
for employees is there a lot of overtime
you can ask those sorts of things so
yeah I’ll add those is there a lot of
overtime or does sorry it’s noisy does
the company does the company offer
health insurance okay does the company
offer health insurance something like
that you can ask if you ask too many
questions about like paid holidays
though it can sound a little not good so
try to try to have a little bit of
balance there and so generally a good
idea yeah so so so gong says should we
ask about benefits you can a little bit
a little bit maybe you can ask like I
said here about health care and maybe
other for maybe facilities that the
company
he has so generally you’ll you’ll get a
little more detail after after the
interview like and depending on the case
sometimes okay ah oh man I just lost my
comments okay that’s right all right I
have to end anyway
uh so I have to wrap up I have to finish
up today’s lesson there but I hope that
you found some good vocabulary and some
good many ideas for how to answer these
questions I know that interviews are
kind of a scary experience whether
you’re giving the interview or you know
asking people questions so we’ll end
there for today but if you missed
today’s lesson don’t worry it has been
recorded so you can check this lesson on
youtube or on facebook on instagram
please check YouTube or Facebook the
Instagram live video is only 24 hours so
please check it out elsewhere uh let’s
see next week we will be back next
week’s topic is how to report speech how
to report speech so how to report speech
means using the verbs like say and tell
and talk and speak and ask and those
verbs that like so many people ask
questions about I’ve gotten a lot of
questions about about this topic so next
week we’re going to talk about reporting
speech he said or she said or what did
he tell you or I spoke to that person
we’re going to focus on those speech
reporting verbs next week so please join
us next week 10 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time that is a New York City time please
google your local time if you don’t know
or just set a notification on youtube or
on Facebook so please join us again next
week to practice those speech reporting
verbs that’ll be a really good one
where we talk about verb differences and
don’t forget to get your free stuff I
showed you the business and school PDFs
today yes but we have many more I still
have
showing you all the new months there are
lots and lots of new ones here I have
not shown today please check the link
below the video on YouTube or above the
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things you can download from English
class 101 dot-com alright so we’ll
finish there today thank you so much for
liking the video and sharing the video
we really appreciate it so enjoy the
rest of your week enjoy your weekend and
we’ll see you again next time bye
you