What to say at your job interview English Phrases Tips

dad oh right so welcome back to our live

stream this week everybody thank you for

joining us as always we’re beginning

today’s episode today we’re going to

focus on job interviews we have a lot to

talk about

I planned a lot of things to discuss

we’re going to look at some sample

questions of course and what those

questions mean I tried to choose some

questions that I thought would be kind

of common questions but that maybe the

meanings aren’t always so clear for you

so we’re going to talk about that and I

wanted to talk about some sample

responses to those questions so that’s

what we’re going to do today it’s a lot

of things to do so I want to start as

quickly as possible I know that YouTube

is up great hi YouTube hello everybody

good morning good afternoon good evening

from wherever you are I looked it up we

have all kinds of different time zones

joining at different times of day I

suppose so welcome

Facebook is up - great so as we wait

just a couple minutes for everybody to

join us I want to of course introduce

something that’s actually a connection

to what we talked about last week last

week for those of you who joined us we

talked about like exchanging your

contact information and how to do that

politely um so I did actually usually I

try to do something like on Twitter or

Instagram to show kind of like how I use

those points in my everyday life this

week though I wanted to connect kind of

this week’s topic with last week’s topic

so as you’ll see in a second here I

actually I tweeted a poll a quick poll

yesterday about how you choose to use

social media how you exchange contact

information with your work colleagues so

this is what I think we’ll see in just a

second here the poll that I tweeted

yesterday ready to go it’s coming up

okay good so I tweeted this yesterday

asking um

like essentially I said we talked last

week about sharing your contact

information like do you have facebook or

do you have Twitter or Instagram or

whatever but this week because we’re

talking about job interviews and lately

like social media connections and your

job can kind of raise some questions in

the workplace I asked everyone on

Twitter this question do you exchange

social media contact info information

with your work colleagues this was a key

question that I raised so the results

came in this morning I checked this

morning actually here so 58% of you said

you’re close colleagues only you

exchanged your contact information with

38% of you said absolutely not so this

is from like I had like 40 people

respond it was a very short poll but

this is something to think about perhaps

when you are looking for a job when

you’re having job interviews when you’re

going to meet people and talk about your

work some people choose to be very

careful about their social media

presence so maybe this is one thing to

think about today kind of in the

background as we discuss okay so with

that I want to get right into today’s

topic it looks like Facebook is up good

morning let’s see site though son hello

someone from Vietnam Hong Sean hello

and Joe hello someone from India yeah

mooch son hello good okay and all right

Harley hi I see you in YouTube welcome

back a Francisco blur Juan from Brazil

fantastic okay let’s get into today’s

topic then there’s a lot to talk about

so today I’m going to talk about three

things as I mentioned today we’re going

to talk about three primary or a couple

of things one sample questions and then

sample answers for that and then we’re

going to talk about sort of the end of

an interview as well so I’ve broken it

into really three parts that I want to

look at so first I’m going to talk about

the questions we do at the beginning of

an interview second will be kind of some

common questions in the middle of an

interview and third

we’ll be questions to ask the

interviewer yeah this part right here

right here so this is the our kind of

agenda for the day so first we’re going

to do this bit questions at the

beginning of an interview this will be

the first thing I want to talk about so

good so and if you’re just joining of

course as always please make sure to

like and share the video it is very

helpful for us so I hope we can share a

lot of really good information yeah

please hit the like button on Facebook

or on YouTube okay but let’s begin with

the first part so some typical questions

that you get at the beginning of the

interview I want to start with a very

typical initial a very typical first

interview question which is tell me a

little bit about yourself tell me a

little bit about yourself so this is a

small question however this is a

question that’s inviting you to give

kind of a general introduction so you

should give a short history of yourself

when you hear this question essentially

so when you are answering this question

depending on the place you are at in

your career or in your life you should

include in this in your answer to this

question your studies what did you study

maybe have you lived in different

countries what languages do you speak

maybe where have you worked in the past

so you can use probably past tense and

let’s see present perfect tense to

answer some of these questions so maybe

share some key things some key points

that you learned what are your interests

what are your achievements so you would

you should probably give a general

summary of yourself in this question

when they say this is this isn’t really

a question you’ll see this is sort of a

general statement that the interviewer

makes tell me a little bit about

yourself so that’s the first one that’s

a very common one to begin I think

interviews so that’s the first one I

want to talk about second another common

question you might get in an interview

near the beginning of the interview I

have a couple

paired here is how did you learn about

the position or how did you hear about

the position so how did you learn about

or how did you hear about the position

so sometimes an interviewer will ask you

where you got the information about the

job so did you find this from an

advertisement on the Internet

did you find it on the company’s website

or maybe you were introduced by someone

in the company if you have a

relationship with someone in the company

you can explain that here so sometimes

interviewers will ask how you found out

about the position maybe their

advertising in in different places and

that can help the interviewer

understand maybe your connection to the

position or to maybe someone else in the

company so you can just you can give a

short answer to this like I saw the

position I advertised on like ABC web

site or I heard about the position

through a friend who works at this

company or I was referred so if someone

like recommends you or refers you to a

position you can mention that here too

so this is how you found the job opening

essentially how did you find that so

these are common questions you might

hear one of these in the beginning

towards the beginning of an interview

but I want to go on to maybe one of the

most common questions one of the most

common interview questions that might

not be so clear the meaning of this

question might not always be so clear

but it is a very common one and it’s a

con it’s a question that you may hear at

job reviews or like it performance

reviews - so this is an important

question to know not only when you are

hired for a job when you are applying

for a job but also after you’ve been at

that job for some time so this question

and a please think about your answer for

this this is going to be our first kind

of chat response answer is the question

is where do you see yourself in five

years

where do you see yourself in five years

so the meaning of this question is what

is your vision of yourself in five

so here reviews the verb see where do

you see yourself but it’s in your mind

what is your goal for yourself

in five years so what do you imagine you

will be doing in five years so this

should be a professional a professional

situation so what do you imagine your

life will be like in five years so some

things to think about when you answer

this question in five years what do you

want to have achieved so in the past

five years what do you want to have

achieved or what do you want to have

learned and think about in five years

what’s going to be the next step for you

what do you think is the next thing you

want to work on so when you’re answering

this question though especially during

the first interview you’re applying for

a job it’s also important to think about

this question from the company’s side so

of course you have your personal goals

but you also need to think about how you

can match the company as well so be

thinking like okay how can I achieve my

goals but also how do my goals meet the

company’s goals so think about what the

company is working to achieve and what

you are working to achieve and try to

connect those think about how to connect

those when you answer this question so

think about how you can succeed but in

doing so in doing your job at the

company then how are you going to help

the company so this is a really

important question so think about how

you can kind of plan to grow along with

the company then too so this is a good

one to to practice so I want to practice

with this one to begin today so this is

our first question some of you are

already answering it that’s amazing

so imagine then in a job interview your

interviewer asks where do you see

yourself in five years so to answer this

question here’s one pattern of we can

use I see myself plus I have the verb

here in the progressive form so in five

years what is the thing what is the

or what is the activity you will be

doing in the future the activity that

will be in progress that will be

continuing for you so for example I see

myself teaching English in another

country for example or I see myself Oh

or I see myself studying in the UK for

example or I see myself working on

independent projects so imagine in five

years what are you going to be doing and

how can you explain that so if an

interviewer asks you this I see myself

what activity like so think of this

professionally I see myself building my

own company or starting my own company

or I see myself I don’t know developing

a new product for example so please

think of this in terms of your

professional goals your workable so some

of you like Denari says I can see myself

living in a big house that’s good that’s

fine for grammar but think about it for

a job interview Deena hey Deena welcome

back I saw you last week Deena has a

great answer on YouTube I imagined

myself in five years as I am an

independent woman who has careful aha

who has her own company or my own

business nice very nice very nice so

your professional goals

just remember also though to like when

you are making these statements for an

interview think about how to show your

goals match the company’s goals to

Sharlee says I see myself becoming the

manage something of a field ah ok thanks

I see myself becoming the manager a

manager in my field nice ok great I see

myself he day says I see myself teaching

Japanese using English on the Internet

oh very nice ok good norito says I see

myself traveling around the world okay

that’s a nice maybe personal goal

personal goals too so think about this

for professional goals for a job

interview yeah

Harley says I see myself building my own

car company ok great

MB I see myself working as a me

okay Oscar says I see myself teaching

physics in a university in my home

country fantastic you guys have really

interesting goals on Facebook manna says

says I see myself speaking English

fluently and learning Spanish fantastic

garrison hey I see myself working hard

as a computer technician great um

Minh on YouTube I see myself working as

a tour guide great

it was so fact I see myself working as

something for the company but sorry I

missed it oh good I see myself working

very hard for the company okay that’s a

good one however if you want to use that

answer if you’re in a job interview if

I’m here like I’m interviewing you and I

say where do you see yourself in five

years and you say I see myself working

very hard at this company that’s nice if

you want to say that I think you should

include specifically a goal for your

time in the company okay so that’s

something to think about

all right great answers to this first

question but it’s time to take a break

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the test all right great

so let’s get back to today’s topic I am

talking too much so let’s get back to

today’s topic today we are talking about

job interviews job interviews talking is

goods as the producer so we’re talking

about job interviews if you just joined

us of course please make sure to like

and share the video I hope this can be

really helpful for a lot of people but

we’re going to move on to some questions

you might hear near the middle of an

interview so in the beginning of today’s

lesson and if you missed it you can

always watch this back later in the

beginning of today’s lesson I talked

about the question how did you hear

about this position or where did you

hear about where did you learn about

this position I want to move on to

another question that’s sort of related

it could be related in some cases the

question is why are you interested in

working for our company why are you

interested in work so in other words why

did you choose this job to apply to like

why do you want to work here so this is

a question that you should probably have

done some research to answer like when

you answer this question it’s a good

idea to show that you understand or are

at least interested in learning more

about the company’s goals so does the

company have goals that match your

professional goals so like you said you

gave some great answers to that where do

you see yourself in five years question

think about your professional goals and

the company’s goals and maybe explain

well they match really well or maybe you

think you can learn a lot from the

company and in learning from them you

can help them as well or maybe you

really admire that company’s work and

you want to work with them because you

feel like you you have a nice like

personal match with the companies like

social policies for example so why are

you interested in working for our

company so I’m interested in working for

your company because the company’s goals

match my professional goals and give

some examples example a or example B for

example okay so this is a question you

might hear well maybe in the middle or

maybe in the beginning of the interview

why do you want to work here in other

ways okay so I want to go on to another

one or actually there’s one more thing

that I wanted to mention about this

point though if you are interested in

working for a company that has that you

know has like good benefits maybe or

good pay that’s great congratulations

but when you answer this question if you

say I want to work at your company

because I heard the pay is good that’s

typically not the best response to this

question so maybe that’s a good thing if

perhaps the company has benefits that

would be beneficial or good for your

family maybe it’s appropriate to mention

that like as but as sort of like a side

point perhaps typically it’s not a good

idea to focus on like

or benefits as the first reason to be

interested in working for a company okay

so let’s go on to the next question I

want to talk about or the next maybe

issue that an interviewer might ask you

so a little challenging maybe this one

is tell me about a time you encountered

a problem at work how did you deal with

it so this first part tell me about a

time you encountered so encounter it

sort of means like meet meet so in other

words tell the interviewer about a

problem you had at your job and how this

how did you deal with it means how did

you fix the problem so when the

interviewer asks this question they’re

asking how do you solve problems so like

what’s an example of a problem you had

in the past and how did you fix it so if

for example like here like for example I

could say I had a new project called ask

Alicia where I needed to edit videos

regularly but I didn’t know all of the

details of the software that the company

used so I studied myself I studied with

online tutorials I asked advice from my

colleagues and then I gained more

familiarity I became able to use the

software and now I’m confident that I

can do my my recycle take care of my

responsibilities for example so give an

example have have this in your head

before the interview this is something

to prepare so what’s a problem that you

had what’s something that you struggled

with maybe and how did you fix that

issue so this is another one okay but

the next one that I want to talk about

is your neck your next question to

consider this can be a tough one to

answer Oh actually Luis in YouTube says

what happens if I don’t have any

experience if you don’t have any work

experience like if you’re a student for

example you can use an example from

University or perhaps if you are part of

a social group or you’re part of a club

for example at your university you can

describe an experience you had there so

this if you’re just starting out if you

don’t have work experience you can use

experi

from a different community group to

answer this question so a good point

thanks for that question okay

but I want to move on to the next

question for you guys to answer in the

chat so this is it this is kind of

tricky so the question from the

interviewer is what do you consider your

strengths and weaknesses so in other

points or in other words what do you

think you are good at your strengths and

what do you think you are bad at so this

part especially is difficult to talk

about because you don’t want to say in

an interview really like I’m not very

good at this I’m not very good at that

but everybody has weaknesses so when you

talk about this you should explain these

are some kind of patterns you can use to

explain these things so when you say

like explain your strengths you can say

I’m good at bla bla bla

I’m good at like in my case like I’m

pretty good at multitasking and I can

handle many different projects at the

same time when you talk about your

weaknesses so things you are bad at or

not so good at things you are weak with

you can use this pattern sometimes it’s

difficult for me to verb so sometimes

it’s difficult for me to make plans or

sometimes it’s difficult for me to do a

lot of research for it I don’t know so

something that’s difficult for you to do

you can explain here finally after you

explain your what you’re not so good at

talk about how you fix this problem so

in my case for example like sometimes I

get like stuck like I want to I want to

do things perfectly every time and then

I take way too much time to research or

like to fix small points so how do you

fix this problem in other words so in my

case I can say I have learned to ask my

colleagues for advice or I have learned

to set a time limit for myself when

working on projects so I’m good at this

I’m not so good at this and here is how

I fix this problem that I have

identified with myself so these are this

is kind of a pattern we can use so think

for you then so the question here what

do you consider your strengths and

weaknesses what do you consider your

strengths and weaknesses so like I said

like I’m pretty I’m good at multitasking

and I can handle many things at

different times but like if I don’t know

that sometimes it’s difficult for me to

know the next step in the project and so

I spend a lot of time to think about all

the different steps take too much time

sometimes so I’ve learned to avoid this

by consulting or by talking with

colleagues or with managers for example

okay producer says so she has a funny

example sometimes it’s difficult for me

to stay awake

I’ve learned that a lot of caffeine

helps great great very nice and simple

example there good one good one thanks

ice okay good so a lot of you are saying

I’m good at building motors for example

I’m good at fixing computers so but

remember when the interviewer asks you

this question you can’t only say I’m

good at I’m good at I’m good at its you

need to explain like I am not so good at

this other thing so what aren’t you so

good at sometimes it’s difficult for me

to memorize everything nice fun okay

sometimes it’s difficult for me to

memorize everything absolutely so how

have you learned to fix that

lluís Wow nice one he has a paragraph I

would say that I’m a perfectionist yeah

that’s it that’s a common one I’m a

perfectionist as that’s so that’s a weak

that’s a weakness because usually I’m

trying or I’m looking to do everything

in the best way and for that reason I

waste a lot of time right right okay

good so many people are explaining like

they’re good at something or they’re not

so good at something it’s difficult

remember when you explain what you’re

not so good at how do you fix it okay

you says I’m good at learning new things

but sometimes it’s difficult for me to

socialize with other people I have

learned well I don’t know well so okay

so maybe if it’s difficult for you to

answer one of these questions maybe this

is that’s a good one to focus on how can

you answer this question so please think

of it

okay mmm

all right taking notes says Roberto on

Facebook so maybe something you’re good

at doing all right so please think about

it if you see one of these questions and

you’re like I don’t know how to answer

this maybe that’s a good question for

you to focus on all right I’m going to

just go to my last question for the day

if that’s okay because time is running

out quickly so the last question I want

to talk about today is kind of maybe it

could be confusing sometimes actually

the question is is a question to you as

the interviewee however it’s a chance to

ask the interview or something so the

question here is often the last question

in a job interview is do you have any

questions for me so if I’m your

interviewer I will maybe finish the

interview I’ll say do you have any

questions for me this is your chance to

show you research the company that

you’re thinking carefully about the job

and that you want to know more so this

this is gonna show maybe that you’re

taking initiative that you’re really

trying you you yourself are starting to

investigate are starting to research the

company and care about the job so this

depending on how formal the interview is

you can ask maybe some more general

questions or sometimes they can be a

little more casual like maybe you know

the interviewer or maybe it’s a company

that’s you know close to your family for

example so the response might be a

little bit different but I want to look

at a few examples that you could use

some very very general ones if you don’t

have any ideas these might give you some

hints so one question you could ask in

response so someone says do you have any

questions for me you might want to ask a

few things about working there so one

example that you can use is could you

tell me ah oh sorry I just realized in

my notes I have extra I didn’t finish

somehow that’s my mistake sorry

music I left some half written text

there so yes that’s my bed my my bad

means it was my mistake my bad it’s a

very casual expression anyway my bad but

this is a answer and answer do you have

any questions for me means could you

tell me a little bit about the work

environment here work environment so in