In this Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at how to conduct a job interview in English.
The interview is a crucial step in the hiring process. You have the opportunity to sit down with a candidate and get as much useful information as possible. And to get good information, you need to set the right tone and ask good questions. You also need techniques for getting people to explain and elaborate on ideas. The more details you can get from someone, the better. And hopefully you can figure out if the person is right for the job and for your company.
Good techniques for conducting interviews can help you in many other situations. Any time you need to evaluate a person, or a person’s company, you will use the same techniques. Imagine you need to contract an Internet marketing company. You will probably sit down with someone to ask them questions. Or imagine you have a paper salesman in your office. Again, you will need to ask him some good questions to evaluate his company.
Today, we’ll learn some great interviewing techniques, including how to ask stress questions and hypothetical questions. We’ll also learn about echoing someone to encourage them to speak more and calling someone on an evasive answer. And finally we’ll learn about giving the candidate a chance to ask questions of their own.
In today’s dialog, we’ll rejoin Sandy and Lee, who are interviewing Maria. Sandy and Lee are looking for someone to lead their company’s expansion into Asia.
Listening Questions
1. What does Maria say she does that Sandy repeats in order to encourage more detail?
2. What type of situation does Sandy ask Maria to imagine?
3. What does Sandy give Maria the chance to do at the end of the interview?
Download: Podcast MP3
