Job Interview Conversation [PDF]

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Job interview conversation Mike: Good Morning, John. I am Mike. John: Good Morning. Mike: How are you doing? John: I am doing fine. Thank you. Mike: How was the traffic coming over here? John: I am so glad that the traffic was light this morning. No traffic jam and no accidents. Mike: That is good. John, let’s start the interview. Are you ready? John: Yes, I am. Mike: First of all, let me properly introduce myself. I am the Finance Department Manager. As you know there is an open position in my department, and I need to fill this position as soon as possible. John: Please, tell me a little bit about the position. Mike: It is an entry-level position. The new employee will have to work closely with the Accounting department. He will also have to deal with the bank on a daily basis. John: What type of qualifications do you require? Mike: I require a four-year college degree in Finance. Some working experience would be helpful. John: What kind of experience are you looking for? Mike: Doing office work is good. However, since this is an entry-level position, I do not require a lot of experience. I am willing to train the new person. John: That is great! Mike: John, tell me a little bit about yourself. John: I was a student at West Coast University, and I just graduated with a Bachelor degree in Finance. I have been working part-time as a payroll clerk for the last two years.

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Mike: What are you looking for in a job? John: The job should help me see what Finance is all about. I have learned a lot of Finance theories at school, and now it is time for me to put them into practice. Mike: Anything else? John: I also hope that it will help me grow in my field. Mike: What are your strengths? Why should I hire you? John: I am a hard-working person and a fast learner. I am very eager to learn, and I get along fine with people. Mike: OK. Now, let me ask you a few quick questions. You do not mind working long hours, do you? John: No, I do not. Mike: Can you handle pressure? John: Yes, I can. When I was going to school, I took quite a few courses each semester while working at least twenty hours every week. And, I handled that situation very well. Mike: Do you still have any questions for me? John: No, I think I have a pretty good understanding of the job. I believe that I can handle it with ease, and I hope to have the opportunity to work for you. Mike: John, nice meeting you. Thank you for coming. John: Nice meeting you too. Thank you for seeing me. Expressions used in the conversation I am so glad Let’s start the interview First of all: As soon as possible Entry-level position On a daily basis 2

I am willing to That is great! Work part-time What are you looking for in a job? Put into practice Hard-working person Fast learner I get along fine with everybody I do not mind Work long hours I can handle the situation Have an opportunity Nice meeting you Interviewer: Good afternoon, please have a seat. Interviewee: Thank you. Interviewer: How are you doing today? Did you have any trouble finding the office? Interviewee: I'm fine thank you, and I had no trouble at all getting here. Interviewer: Great. Well let's get started. Could you tell me a little about your educational background? Interviewee: Yes, I graduated from UCLA in 1995, with a Bachelors degree in journalism. After that I enrolled in NYU's master's program for journalism, graduating in 1998. Interviewer: I see. Now, how about your work experience? Interviewee: After I left NYU, I worked for a year at the Daily Newspaper. Interviewer: And after that? Interviewee: From there I moved to San Francisco and was employed by the Bay Area Chronicle, covering local and state politics.

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Interviewer: What was the biggest story you covered while you were there. Interviewee: I covered several that I thought were important, but I would have to say the investigative piece I did on the cover-up of the governor's staff involvement in the embezzlement of education funds was the biggest. Interviewer: How did you like it at the Chronicle? Interviewee: Overall, I liked it a lot. The people were great and my boss was supportive and understanding. Interviewer: According to you resume, you left there three months ago. What have you been doing since then? Interviewee: Mainly taking care of our baby, she just turned three months old. But now I'm ready to go back to work. Interviewer: What brought you to Denver? Interviewee: My husband’s company transferred him here last month. Interviewer: One final question. Why did you apply here? Denver has three daily newspapers to choose from. Interviewee: I felt that this paper is better suited for my conservative thinking, my unique writing style, and my diverse areas of interest when covering political news. Interviewer: Well, thank you for your time. We'll be making a selection in a couple of days and will call you one way or the other. Interviewee: Thank you for seeing me. Have a pleasant day.

James arrives for an interview. He is 18 years old, and very nervous, as he has never been for an interview before. He has applied for the job as a part-time telephone salesman.

Interviewer: Good afternoon. James:

Er, good afternoon.

Interviewer: Please sit down. Did you find our offices all right? James:

Yes, with no difficulty. I've passed this building several times before.

Interviewer: Right. Well, I can see from your CV that you like meeting people and enjoy being sociable. James:

Yes, I'm a very outgoing sort of person and I'm not afraid to take the initiative, although my friends say I tend to talk too much. 4

Interviewer: Well, that's exactly the kind of person we need. Why do you think you will be good at this job, though? You won't be meeting people in person, but only over the phone. James:

I think I have a good telephone voice, and I am very confident on the phone. I've also some experience in sales, as you can see from my CV. I think I would find this work very interesting, and it will give me some good work experience.

Interviewer: Okay. As you know we need someone for at least three hours, three evenings a week. Will you be able to cope with this and your schoolwork as well? James:

I'm confident that I can do that.

Interviewer: Right, then. Shall we give you a trial period of say ... two weeks? If you'd like to come with me I'll introduce you to my floor manager who will show you the ropes. James:

Yes, and thank you very much.

AN INTERVIEW DIALOGUE Read through this outline of the responses of three applicants to the same questions asked of them in an interview. Consider their answers carefully. Good morning, my name is Ms Martin. You've applied for the Laboratory Assistant's position right? A. Yes. B. Yes Ms Martin, I have. C. Yes Ms Martin. When I saw it advertised I thought it would really suit me.

Can you tell me why you replied to our advertisement? A. I .... I 'm not really sure .... ahh .... B. Well, I've always enjoyed science and felt that this position would offer me an opportunity to extend my skills in this area. 5

C. I think that I'd be really good at this kind of work. In fact I learn so fast that I'd be looking for promotion very shortly.

Do you know exactly what you would be doing as a Laboratory Assistant? A. Well, I don't really know for sure, but I think it's got something to do with helping out the scientists in the laboratory hasn't it? B. A Laboratory Assistant helps to maintain scientific equipment, keeping a check on the supplies in the store, and preparing the chemicals for experiments. C. Oh, a Lab. Assistant helps make sure that all the experiments are done properly.

What sort of student do you regard yourself as . . . did you enjoy studying while you were at school? A. I wasn't the best student. I didn't really like study all that much, but I did it when I had to B. I suppose I'm a reasonable student. I passed all my tests and enjoyed studying subjects that interested me. C. I'm a really great student I didn't have to study much because I always seemed to get by without worrying too much about it.

What were your favourite subjects at school? A. I liked Science-it was O.K. . . well, at least the bits I understood were O.K. B. Maths and Science were my favourite subjects at school. I also enjoyed doing History. C. I'm afraid that I only liked the ones I was good at. The others were so boring that I found them to be a thorough waste of my time.

Do you have any further plans for further study? A. I hadn't really thought much about it . . .I don't know what courses I could do. B. Well, I've thought about doing the part-time Chemistry Certificate course at Technical College. I think I would really benefit from doing that. C. Well, if I had to do it I suppose I would, but now I ve finished school I'd much rather try to get my social life back into full swing again.

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Suppose our company wanted you to attend an institution to further your skills.... How would you feel about this? A. Attend a what? B. If the course would help me improve my prospects for promotion and help me to be better at my job I would definitely do it. C. Attend a course? When? I hope it would be in the day time? Would I get time off from work to attend it? I hope it's not at night-my social life would be ruined.

Have you ever had a job before? A. No I haven't. I've never really been game enough to get one. B. Yes. I have worked part-time at a take away food store-the one just round the corner. . . C. No. I've really been too busy, what with all the study I've had to do to get a good result. . .

We have a lot of other applicants for this position. Why do you think that you deserve to get the job? A. I can't think of any special reason-I suppose I'm no different from most other people. B. Well, I've found out a lot about this type of work and my research suggests that I would be quite capable of doing the work involved. I also think that I would be able to handle any training course reasonably well. C. I reckon I'd probably be the best applicant you're likely to get for the job.

Now, do you have any questions you'd like to ask me about the position? A. No thank you. I don't think so. B. Yes. Ms Martin, could you tell me what hours I'd have to work, and for whom I'd be working? C. Yes. . . What's the pay like?

I think I have asked you everything I wanted to. Thank you for coming along to the interview. A. Thank you Ms Martin. Goodbye. B. Thank you. When will I know if I am successful? C. Oh, think nothing of it. . . Could I see where I'll be working?

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Interviewer (Ms Hanford): (opens door, shakes hands) Good morning… Job Applicant (Mr. Anderson): Good morning, Joe Anderson, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms Hanford. Hanford: How do you do? Please take a seat. (Joe sits) It's quite the rainy day outside, isn't it? Anderson: Yes, luckily, you have a nice underground parking lot that helped me avoid the worst of it. I must say this is an impressive building. Hanford: Thank you, we like working here... Now, let's see. You've come to interview for the position of e-commerce manager, haven't you? Anderson: Yes, Peter Smith encouraged me to apply, and I think I'd be ideal for the position. Hanford: Oh. Peter… he's a great sysadmin, we like him a lot … Let's go over your resume. Could you begin by telling me about your qualifications? Anderson: Certainly. I've been working as the regional assistant director of marketing at Simpco Northwest for the past year. Hanford: And what did you do before that? Anderson: Before that, I was a Simpco local branch manager in Tacoma. Hanford: Well, I see you have done well at Simpco. Can you give me some more detail about your responsibilities as assistant director? Anderson: Yes, I've been in charge of in-house personnel training for our Internet customer service reps over the past six months. Hanford: Can you tell me a little bit about what you've been doing in your training? Anderson: We've been working on improving customer satisfaction through an innovative ecommerce solution which provides real-time chat service help to visitors to the site. Anderson: I understand that you have been expanding your e-commerce to include social networking features. Hanford: Yes, that's correct. Anderson: I think that my experience in customer relations via the Internet in real-time puts me in the unique position of understanding what works and what doesn't.

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Hanford: Yes, that does sound useful. What difficulties and challenges do you think we might run into? Anderson: Well, I think we'll continue to see consumers spend more of the shopping dollars online. I've been studying how sales directly relates to customer satisfaction with online services. Hanford: Would you mind giving me a bit more detail on that? Anderson: Sure ... if customers aren't satisfied with the service they receive online, they won't come back. It's much easier to lose customers online. That's why you need to make sure that you get it right the first time round. Hanford: I can see you've learnt quite a lot in the short time you've been working in ecommerce. Anderson: Yes, it's an exciting field to be working in …

A Job Interview Dialogue: Mr.Allen: Good morning Ms. Brandies, please have a seat. Ms.Brandies: Good morning, it's a pleasure to meet you. Mr.Allen: Could you tell me who you work for at the moment? Ms.Brandies: I work for Frank and Smith importers. Mr.Allen: How long have you worked for them? Ms.Brandies: I've been working for Frank and Smith for the past three years. Mr.Allen: And how long have you been working in the accounting department? Ms.Brandies: I've been in the accounting department for the past six months. Mr.Allen: You know this job requires a lot of travel. Have you done much traveling for business? Ms.Brandies: Yes, the job I had before Frank and Smith required me to travel monthly. Mr.Allen: And why did you leave that position? Ms.Brandies: I was offered a more interesting position at Frank and Banowitz. Mr.Allen: Have you had any experience in sales? Ms.Brandies: Yes, I've spent a few years working part-time as an advertising consultant for schools offering summer language courses. Mr.Allen: That's interesting. How successful have you been? Ms.Brandies: The schools I've worked for have all had increased registrations as a result of my collaboration. Mr.Allen: Very interesting...

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