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Who Studies English By Skype?

March 11th, 2013 | Posted by rachael in Business English | Improving your English | Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

Who studies English by Skype? This is a very hot topic nowadays. Many people have found that the traditional way of studying English in a classroom with 29 other students does not really give a good background in speaking English. Skills such as writing and listening can be learned in a classroom setting, but to really learn how to speak, you need to practice speaking. When you are in a classroom, if each student speaks for five minutes a class, the 45 minute class session is very quickly used up. Many people are turning to private English teachers, but sometimes if you don’t live in an English speaking country, you may not find a teacher in your area. This is why many people are turning to the Internet and Skype to learn English.

Who studies English by Skype?

This is a very wide open question. As an online English teacher, I’ve taught students from different countries and professions who like the convenience of having lessons on Skype via their home computers or their smartphones.

I have taught business people from Brazil who need to be able to speak with their business partners in Europe.  Sometimes an international company has to have all their employees from different countries speak English to each other in the course of their work.

University students also take lessons by Skype because they can fit in an English lesson between their university classes.  They also have the flexibility to reschedule a lesson if something comes up and they need to do another project for class.

People who are job hunting often need to learn English so that they can get a better job. A lot of jobs in Europe need people who are bilingual, in their native language as well as in English. Even the job interview may be in English. Taking English lessons by Skype can be very helpful in getting a new job.

As you can see, there are many different types of people who take English lessons by Skype.  Maybe you can learn English by Skype too?

 

 

 

How to pass your marketing job interview

April 4th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

Often, we think of marketing job interviews as completely unstructured tests of creativity but in reality, marketing directors have their favourite questions just like all recruiters.  Choose a famous company and one of their leading products and use these as a basis to answer the following questions.

  1. Why do you think you will do well in marketing?
  2. What does “marketing” mean to you?
  3. Other than marketing, what other jobs could you see yourself doing?
  4. What do you do when customers tell you “no”?
  5. What resources will you use in order to increase the sales of this company?
  6. What do you think of our current campaign?  How would you improve upon this?
  7. What would you say were the most marketable points of our product?
  8. If you were to identify our top 5 “typical” consumers, what kind of people would they be?
  9. How would you identify with our target audience?
  10. How do you cope with pressure?
  11. What do you think is the best way to convince someone in that building over there to come to this building just to buy our product?
  12. What campaigns have you run in the past and what were their strengths and weaknesses?

 

Buzzwords for marketing job interviews

And no marketing job interview would be complete without dropping the following buzzwords:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Putting your website #1 on Google search
  • Lead generation – Getting the contact details of people who might buy
  • Conversion rate optimization – Making sure that leads are good
  • Mobile media – Getting your message on Blackberries, iPhones and other smart phones
  • Social networking – Face book, Twitter etc
  • Market segmentation – Knowing who your “typical” consumers are

 

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Getting it right at the second job interview

March 13th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

Congratulations! Your resume in English made an impression and you got the call to go in for a first job interview.  All went very well and now you have been called back for a second interview.

It is important not to get too cocky just yet.  A call-back for a second job interview does not mean that you have the job and it does not mean that the second interview will be a breeze.

It does mean that they have narrowed the pool of candidates and instead of competing with hundreds of resumes or tens of first-interview candidates, you are now just competing with the few best candidates.  The competition just got tougher.

Second job interview: taking it to the next level

Second job interviews are usually not just with the person who will be your immediate supervisor.  They are usually with the directors or other decision-makers superior to your potential supervisor.  This means that the questions just got harder.  You need to prepare for the second even more diligently than the first.  If you researched the company for the first interview, you should know even more for the second.

One extra step that you can do to help you to prepare for the second interview is to mentally review the first one.  If there were any questions that you feel you did not answer well, prepare to answer them better this time.  If there were any aspects of the job that you were not clear on, prepare some follow-up questions.

Questions at the second job interview

Also, now is the time to start asking the questions that you held back on the first time.  Remember, you are seriously being considered for this position so start asking the questions about the benefits, the work environment and what your daily tasks would be like if you held back from asking in the first interview.

 

Idioms in this article

  • get cocky- be over-confident
  • be a breeze- be easy

Job interview follow-up

February 23rd, 2012 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

So the interview is over now and it is just a matter of waiting for the response now, is it?  Wrong.  If you are really interested in the job, you need to stand out from the rest by communicating more with the interviewers than the others do.

Getting remembered in a positive way is the key to marketing yourself.

So how do you follow-up after a job interview? 

Remember to get the interviewer’s information at the interview.  A business card has the person’s name and title, the business address and the interviewer’s email address.  You will need these four things.

Send an email as soon as you get home.  Do not wait or you may forget.  When you send the email, make sure that you spell the name of the interviewer correctly (compare it with the card), otherwise, you may be remembered but not for the right reasons.  Thank the person for their time and let them know that they can contact you anytime.

Timing your job interview follow-up

If you have not heard from the interviewer after 5 days, give them a call and just reiterate your interest in the position and let them know again that if they require any further information or documentation to aid them in their decision-making process, they can contact you anytime.

Some people even recommend sending a letter (traditional, postman-style letter!) as this will show that you are very excited about the opportunity (not just with words).

Keep in mind that the more you communicate with the interviewer, the more you will occupy their mind and sometimes, sad to say, those who are not memorable are cut first.

You might need to follow up by phone or by email. At Live-English.net, we will help you get ready and confident for your job interview in English through online English lessons. And after the interview, you’ll need to show that you’re English is up to expected!

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The DO’s and DON’T's of job interview in English

February 12th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

Close your eyes and count to 10.  Does it seem like a long time?  This is how long you have to make your first impression on someone.  Not that long now, is it?  It is said that you make your first impression in your first 10 steps, your first 10 words and your first 10 seconds of meeting someone.

When you do a job interview, that first impression is crucial.  And yet so many times, I have interviewed candidates who speak excellent English but they do not use the English that they know well.  People who have been speaking a lot of English with native English speakers tend to pick up speaking habits that need to be controlled during job interviews in order to make a great first impression.

SO, here are the DO’s and DON’T's of job interview English:

The DO’s of job interview English

DO use formal language.  In order to show the interviewer that you can use more advanced English structures and that you can use appropriate English in business situations, use polite and formal English.

DO use buzzwords.  Buzzwords are words that are commonly used when people are talking about something in business.  Some common buzzwords might be “referrals”, “renewals”, “quality service” or “strict time management”.  You need to know what the buzzwords are for your industry.

The DON’T's of job interview English

DON’T say like unless you are comparing things.  The word like can be used to compare things such as “I work like a slave” but we also use it as an interjection.  An interjection is a word in a sentence that adds no meaning to the sentence such as “I, like, work really hard”. This kind of like is very informal and does not sound good in job interviews.

DON’T say you know.  Some people tend to use you know a lot when they are speaking.  ”I always go to work on time, you know.”  Again this is very informal and shouldn’t be used at a job interview.

DON’T use negative words.  Words like hate, bad, should be replaced positively: “The part of the job that I liked the least” or “It was not the best part of the job”.

 
Check out how English phone classes can definitely help you to feel more confident for your coming job interview in English.

What is your body language saying about you in job interviews?

January 23rd, 2012 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

Recently there have been a few good TV programs about people who use people’s body language to tell what they are really thinking.  Programs like Lie to Me and the Mentalist.  Being interested in psychology, I love to learn more from programs like this that are based on real research.

Body language and job interviews

Here are a few things that we can take from these programs (all verified in other sources too) that will help us to project ourselves as honest, genuine, dedicated candidates in a job interview.

Open gestures.

When you are speaking, use wide, open gestures as these show that you are genuine and you have nothing to hide.  Holding your arms in front of you with the palms facing up is a good example.  Crosiing your arms will of course make you look defensive and hands in your pockets makes you look unconfident.

Feet first

The way you sit at the interview table tells the interviewer a little about where you want to be as your subconscious will often point your feet in the direction that it wants to go.  So if you sit with your legs crossed and they are pointed towards the door, you look uncomfortable.  You look like you want to escape this situation.  The same is often true with your eyes glancing at the door (or a clock), and the direction of your shoulders.

Smile with your eyes

The way to tell if someone is giving you genuine smiles is to look at their eyes.  When you offer a fake smile, you use all of the muscles in the lower part of your face but your eyes do not smile.  Try this in front of a mirror.  Cover the lower half of your face and give a fake smile and the upper part of your face will not change.  Now, think of something that amuses you and you will see how your eyes smile when you are genuine.

Seasoned interviewers know to look for the smiling eyes.

Nervous legs

If you do cross your legs in the interview, be aware of your feet and legs.  If you shake your foot or bounce one leg on top of the other, you look nervous.  Interviewers are usually looking for someone who looks confident that they can do the job without looking arrogant.

Why your body language is important in job interviews

Keep in mind that first impressions are made in the first 7-10 seconds of an interview and that 55% of communication is through body language (38% through the tone of your voice and only 7% through the actual words that you choose).  So, if you are not sure about what your body is saying to interviewers, practice in front of a mirror.

If you have been following this blog, you have already written a resume that stands out and a good cover letter.  But make sure that hard work does not go to waste, interviewers will judge candidates on the their feeling about the person as much as or more than their qualifications. Read about some other things to avoid in a job interview at Top six interview faux pas.

 

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Bad job interview

January 12th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

I would like to share with you the story of one bad job interview that I had a couple of years ago in the hopes that you can learn some things about what not to do at job interviews.  I know that you might be thinking, “of course, everyone knows not to do that!”  But this is a true story and you would be surprised how many people make similar mistakes.

The interview did not start well as while the candidate was waiting in the waiting area, he was listening to his iPod.  This is already bad because candidates appear to be uninterested and selfish.  But soon, he closed his eyes and started tapping his feet to the rhythm.  That’s not so bad I hear you think but then he started singing.  It was just a couple of lines before he caught himself and looked around to see if anyone had noticed.  He thought no one had but the centre that I managed was made of glass.  Someone notices everything in a centre made of glass.

At one point during the interview, I asked why he left his customer service job and he replied that he didn’t like working with people.  I asked if he knew that teachers need to work with people too.  He changed the topic.

The worst part though is that the candidate chewed gum throughout the entire interview.  Maybe he thought he wanted to have fresh breath but when that gum fell out of his mouth while he was speaking, it became the nail in the coffin.  It was at this point that I decided that I could not possibly offer this person a job based on his performance in this interview.

After the bad job interview, I was in the staff room and one of my staff asked me if he would be getting a call-back.  I never answer this question as you never know what will happen but in this case I gave a confident no.  The staff member asked me if I had noticed that he had been wearing white socks with black pants and black shoes.

The moral of the story is; if you want the job, be interested, don’t chew gum, dress properly and choose a job that suits you.

  • Candidate- a person who is being interviewed
  • Slumped posture- he did not sit up straight
  • His true colors- his real personality
  • The nail in the coffin- the last chance is gone
  • Get a call-back- to be invited back for the next round of interviews

 

Tricky Interview Questions

December 4th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

So, you are sitting in the nice comfortable office, waiting for your job interview in English to begin.  You have been both looking forward to and dreading this interview for days now.  It is such a good opportunity but since you already told all of your friends about it, there’s also a lot of pressure to nail it too.

You wonder what the questions will be and if you are really prepared enough to answer them well.  Perhaps you should have read more online information or tried to guess more potential questions to rehearse.  Either way, time’s over now.  You just gotta hope you did enough.

Some tricky interview questions to thing about

In this situation, which are the questions you are dreading the most? 

For most, it’s the weakness question or the salary question.  Most people are never quite sure about what to say.  But then there are the questions that you just start answering and then you wish you hadn’t. 

Here are some common answers both what people “say” (and what the interviewer hears).

Tell me something you don’t like about your old job

It’s a trap.  Take a second to think about it.  They want a happy, positive hard-working employee but here they are asking you to rag on your old employer. 

“My boss was not the most organized and I am looking for a more positive environment.”

(I am doing it politely now because I’m at an interview but complaining is my favourite hobby.  I was probably the reason for the negative atmosphere I am trying to escape so I probably won’t be with your company very long either.)

“I really enjoyed my time there but unfortunately, there was really no room to grow, I am looking to take on a lot to build my skills and get the experience I need to truly succeed in this industry.”

(I have mad skills and I’m looking to apply them)

Other things you shouldn’t mention here:

  •        “Working hours” (lazy)
  •        “Colleagues/customers” (unsociable)
  •        “Boss” (hates authority)
  •        “Salary” (greedy)

What is your biggest weakness?
Be honest here but not too honest.

“I work too hard and I care too much.”

(I am a liar and I will tell you whatever you want to hear at the interview)

“I would say my time management skills could use some improving.  I am currently reading a book to help me improve my time management skills and it’s really helping.”

(I know my weakness and I am working on it- No-one is perfect)

 
What salary do you expect?
No one can tell you how to negotiate.  It depends on the situation.  But it is often said that you should never bring this up at the first interview.

  • To nail it- to do a great job at something
  • To rag on someone- to complain about someone

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Questions to ask during an interview

November 19th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

At the end of a job interview, the interviewer almost always gives you the chance to ask him some questions. It is always good to respond quickly with some intelligent and appropriate questions.  This means that you should be prepared with a set of options but also that you should adapt and use the right questions for the situation.

So here are some questions that you might want to consider asking but remember to adapt them to the situation and what has already been discussed.  Be careful not to memorize a list of questions and then ask the interviewer about what he had just spent time explaining.

 

Questions to ask during an interview

  • What are you looking for in a candidate?
  • What potential is there for growth within the company?
  • Is there training provided and will there be a probationary period?Questions to ask during an interview
  • How much guidance or assistance is given to employees in terms of professional development?
  • What can I expect to be doing in the first week of employment?
  • What skills would you recommend I work on to ensure success in this position?
  • How many people would be working in the team with me?  How long have they been there?
  • Could you describe the atmosphere of this company for me?
  • Could you describe the company’s management style?
  • What do you think the employees enjoy most about working in this company?
  • What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this company and how do they compare to the industry standard?
  • What are the plans for development over the next 5 years and how does this department/position fit into those plans?
  • How will my performance be evaluated and will the criteria be made available to me?

 

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Role play job interview

November 16th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in Job Interview in English - (0 Comments)

It’s just a game.  Take it too seriously and you have already lost.  Job interviews seem like the most serious thing in the world when you are sitting in front of the manager being interrogated but I choose to see the manager as my opponent.  The game is to score more points than the previous players and the best points to make are the points that show you are right for this job.

The first thing everyone knows about training before a big game is practice makes perfect.  If you want to improve any skill, you should practice it and interview skills are no different.  The question is do you want to practice by having a hundred interviews in the next few weeks or by simulating interview conditions so that you can get the job in the first few interviews that you do?

Role play interview: practice before the game

To help you in your training for your next match,  think about how you would answer the interview questions below.  Practice them with your family or friends in as realistic a situation as possible.  Sit on opposite sides at a table but remember to have fun.  When you are finished, ask your interviewer the following questions:

  1. What did you like about me during that interview.
  2. What answers do you remember the most?
  3. Did I do anything you didn’t like?
  4. Did I say anything negative?
  5. How was my handshake?
  6. How was my body language?
  7. Did I smile enough?

See my tips for suceeding in interviews

Job Interview Questions to role play

About your previous jobs

  1. What were your responsibilities?
  2. Why did you choose this job?
  3. What did you enjoy most about this job?
  4. What was your greatest challenge in this job?
  5. What did you learn from this job?
  6. Tell me about a time that you went beyond the call of duty.
  7. What was it like working for your supervisor?
  8. Why did you leave?

About you and the position

  1. How would your last employer describe you?
  2. What are your strengths?
  3. What are your weaknesses?
  4. Describe your work style.
  5. What motivates you?
  6. How do you handle stress?
  7. What is the number one criticism about you?
  8. How would you help this company to succeed?
  9. Do you prefer to work individually or in a team?

 

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