I started work when I was 16 years old and although I’ve had a couple of career changes and studied various qualifications since then, there’s one thing that’s always been consistent no matter what field I’ve been in: Interviews. You could be an accountant or a toilet attendant… You still have to survive the interview process. And sometimes they are as astounding for the interviewer as they are for the interviewee.

The Dreaded Job Interview In English

When I lived in Mexico, I once had to interview candidates for a teaching position. The interview process began with a telephone interview in English. If the candidate passed, we called them up for a face-to-face interview in English. One particular lady performed outstandingly over the telephone but then something went wrong. When she came to the school, she could hardly speak English. Of course, she didn’t get the job. The following weekend I went out with some friends and one of them said, “oh, listen to this. You know the bloke who has the school uniform shop down on Porfirio Díaz? He got his 16-year-old niece to do a telephone interview in English on behalf of his wife. Can you believe that? Apparently it went well but when his wife rolled up for the face-to-face interview, she obviously flunked it.”

You just can’t bluff your way through interviews in English.

The Interview Went Well But…

My friend’s flat mate (or roommate, as North Americans say) recently told me a very strange story. He’s Argentinean and while in Buenos Aires did an online interview in English for a job with a multinational company. It was conducted by somebody in the USA (so the interview was with a native English speaker) but the job was in here Panama City. He survived the first stage, answering all the standard interview questions in English. Then he made it through the second stage, which had more technical questions in English. He packed his suitcase, hopped on a Copa flight, and rolled up at Costa del Este raring to start work with his new English-speaking colleagues at an impressive multinational. However, by lunchtime on his first day, he started to feel slightly disappointed. The interview had painted a positive picture of the company, but upon arrival, he came to realize that nobody else in the office spoke an adequate level English so conversations with clients and colleagues in the USA were confusing. By day three, he had stopped feeling mildly disappointed and started felling plain frightened…

He had worked out that his floor was the busiest floor in the 40-story-plus building and consequently it was a squash to fit everybody in the elevator. He often had to let the lift go and wait for another one. Being sharp-minded, he figured that if he called the lift to overshoot his floor and take him to a less busy floor above, the lift would be less requested and consequently less squashed. He would then walk down the fire escape to his office. It was a cunning plan except… as he opened the fire escape to run down, he turned a corner, and the outside wall stopped. There was no outside wall. The building was half-finished. There were stairs but no railings, no netting… Just a strip of orange tape blowing in the wind.

Nail That Interview In English

I can’t promise what type of job you’ll get (whether you’ll have walls on your fire escape or not), but I can help you avoid falling into the trap of getting your niece to do the interview in English for you. With my CV and Interview Preparation course that begins in August, you’ll learn:

 How to write a CV in English (and you’ll even get two FREE proofreads),
 How to write a covering letter that will get your CV noticed (again, FREE proofreads included),
 How to answer standard interview questions that come up no matter what field you work in (role play with a native
speaker),
 How to write follow-up letters such as job acceptance letters offer and negotiating
your salary and conditions (again, FREE proofreads included).

The course will be every Wednesday 6:30pm to 8:00pm and every Saturday 1:00pm to 2.30pm, starting 7 th August. For just $200 ($180 if you are a university student) you get a total of fourteen hours of tuition (eight classes).
But hurry because there’s a maximum of six people. Sign up here now so you don’t miss out.