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BEP 343 – Interview English: Second Round Behavioral Interview

Advanced, Business English, Interview English / May 25, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on second round interviews in English.

You may know all about the basic English job interview questions. And you might be comfortable talking about your basic qualifications and experience. But most companies don’t stop the selection process after one round of interviews. They create a shortlist and invite a few outstanding candidates back for a second interview.

In many cases, that second interview is what we call a behavioral interview. Interviewers will ask questions about how you acted or reacted to challenges in past work, and how you dealt with or adapted to different situations. In this way, they can find out whether you have the right attitude, approach, and abilities for the job.

The behavioral interview is a special opportunity to demonstrate soft skills, such as leadership, or how you take a principled approach to problems. You might also want to show that you can remain calm in conflict. In many cases, the STAR approach can help shape your responses. This is when you describe four things: the situation, the task, the action, and the result. And in this kind of English interview, you have to be careful, because some interviewers will try to give you leading questions to get you to reveal mistakes or problems.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Kat, who is applying for a job with a private healthcare company. She is being interviewed by Denise. Denise is asking Kat some tough behavioral questions, and Kat is doing a good job of demonstrating some important soft skills.

Listening Questions

1. What example does Kat give of how she showed leadership and went above and beyond?
2. What situation does Kat describe in response to a question about an unpopular decision?
3. What attitude or attribute does Kat demonstrate when describing a situation of conflict?

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BEP 342 – Interview English: 2nd Round Technical Interview in English

Advanced, Business English, Interview English / May 14, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on succeeding in a technical interview in English.

While we have lots of lessons on job interviews in English, nearly all of them are about the first round of an interview, or the initial screening interview. If you succeed at that, you’ll get called back for a second interview. And it’s the English interview skills for these 2nd round interviews we want to look at now. Today, we’ll focus on the technical interview. And in the next lesson, we’ll look at the behavioral interview.

Just like any interview, preparation for a technical interview is key. And you can think beforehand about how you might show things like innovative experience or a learning attitude. You might also decide to highlight certain attributes that you think are beneficial, like being a team player.

But what about the problem-solving part of the technical job interview? Can you actually prepare for every possible problem? No, you can’t. But remember that the purpose is not to trick you, or make you feel stupid. The interviewers just want to see how you approach problems. So it’s important for you to start by clarifying the question, and then clearly explaining your solution.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a software developer named Kevin, who’s doing a technical interview for a new job. Kevin not only has to face questions about his experience, but he also has to explain a solution to a technical problem. He’s being interviewed by Mick. We’ll hear how Kevin navigates the interview.

Listening Questions

1. What kind of experience does Kevin demonstrate when he talks about an exciting project he worked on?
2. Besides having a happy client, why was the project so successful?
3. When Mick gives Kevin a technical problem, what is the first thing Kevin does?

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BEP 338 – Teleconference English: Participating in Online Meetings

Advanced, Business English, Meeting English, Popular Lessons, Teleconference English / March 12, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on participating in online meetings and teleconference calls in English.

It’s hard to overstate just how important the phone and laptop are to 21st century business. Can you imagine your work life without these tools? Probably not. If you’re like most people, the majority of your English work conversations happen with the help of technology. And this includes meetings. More often than not, people don’t get together in person, but virtually.

But when you can’t see the people in a meeting, it’s suddenly more difficult to get your voice heard. You can’t lean forward or raise your hand to show you want to speak. Instead, you need to find verbal ways of jumping into the conversation. In many cases, this also means identifying yourself so others know who is talking.

In an online meeting in English, you have to be very clear about what you’re talking about. That might mean skipping back to a comment from earlier in the conversation. And you have to be clear who you’re talking to, by directing a comment at a specific individual. And finally, because technology never seems to be perfectly reliable, you might find yourself apologizing for technical difficulties.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear a manager named Gabi leading a teleconference with salespeople from across the U.S. They’re having an online meeting to plan a sales conference. The participants will use different strategies to participate effectively.

Listening Questions

1. Why does Heather apologize during the meeting?
2. Why does Manuel say “Manuel here in KC” at the start of a comment?
3. When Heather rejoins the conversation, what earlier topic does she want to talk about again?

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BEP 337 – Teleconference English: Running Online Meetings

Advanced, Business English, Meeting English, Teleconference English / March 2, 2019

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on teleconferences and running online meetings and conference calls in English.

With today’s technology, people don’t have to be in the same room to have a meeting. We can connect with people around the world by phone or video chat apps like Skype. Amazing, isn’t it? Until it suddenly isn’t amazing, because people don’t know who’s saying what, others are having technical difficulties, and people are leaving and joining the meeting without anyone knowing.

A good conference call requires a good facilitator. Someone to make sure everyone knows who’s in the meeting and gives everyone the chance to speak. That means facilitating introductions at the start of the meeting and encouraging quiet people to share their ideas. After all, it’s pretty easy to hide or be ignored during an online meeting.

Sometimes there are technical problems that can get the meeting off track. At those times, it’s best to ask someone else to try to solve the problem so you can continue running the meeting. And just like any meeting, the facilitator should be encouraging input from everyone, including those who join late. It’s your job to integrate those latecomers into the meeting so they can participate too.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear an English teleconference led by Gabi. People from across the U.S. are joining the call to plan their company’s upcoming sales conference.

Listening Questions

1. What does Gabi ask people to include in their short self-introduction?
2. What problem does Gabi ask someone to help solve?
3. What does Gabi do when someone joins the meeting late?

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BEP 301 – External Meetings in English (Part 2)

Advanced, Business English, Meeting English / March 11, 2017

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on communicating effectively in an external meeting in English.

Everyone talks about the importance of good communication skills in business. And one situation that clearly demonstrates this importance is external meetings. An external meeting is one where you meet with people or groups outside your own company. That might mean another firm or organization that you’re collaborating with. Or it might mean the government or other regulatory agencies.

In external meetings, there’s a lot of push and pull. Everyone at the table might have a different agenda, or different goals. And these goals might be in competition. If I get more of what I want, it might mean you get less of what you want.

Being successful in external meetings might involve steering the topic of conversation. To do that, you need good ways of introducing new topics or issues. And when others steer the conversation, you might not like where it goes. For that reason, you might have to stall if you need more time to respond or if you don’t want to commit to something. You might also want to avoid answering a question altogether.

So if everyone’s trying to steer the conversation, how does anything get done in an external meeting? Well, in some cases you just have to be insistent. I mean, you have to say “listen, this is the way it has to be.” Coming to agreement might also require you to give in to pressure, since you can’t always get everything you want. So you might need some good ways to back off a position or opinion that you were arguing for.

In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin a conversation about the development of a new shopping mall. We’ll hear Nicky, the project manager, and Jennifer and Carlos, the architect and engineer who are working for the developer. They are meeting with Frank, who represents the local government. In this situation, there’s a lot of push and pull between the developer’s side and the city government side.

Listening Questions

1. What issue does Jennifer interject with before the group discusses timelines?
2. What does Frank say to avoid answering Jennifer’s question about parking spaces?
3. When Frank backs off his previous stance, what does he say to show hesitation or reluctance?

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