BEP 86 – Interviews in English: Talking about Accomplishments (1)

BEP 86 - business english interview

This is the first in a two-part Business English Podcast series on talking about your accomplishments. It is one of an ongoing sequence of podcasts that focus on the job interview process.

Along with your previous experience, your greatest accomplishment is one of the topics that is sure to come up in almost any job interview. This question appears in a variety of forms: What was your proudest achievement? What was your most significant accomplishment? What do you consider to be your greatest success?

No matter how it’s asked, you should be ready with a reply. Interviewers want to hear about something important that you handled. Pick an achievement that is significant to you and that is rich in detail. These two qualities will make it easy to provide examples, which is the main theme of this series.

In this lesson, we’ll be listening to a bad and good version of a recent graduate discussing his greatest accomplishment. We’ll focus on language for providing examples of the positive personal characteristics that our previous success demonstrates. Then, in Part 2 of this series, we’ll hear another good example of someone with more job experience, and we’ll examine a four-part structure for telling our success stories.

First, let’s quickly review the bad example. We’ll go back to Alexander’s interview with Michael in the electronics store. As you listen, consider the following questions. Then we’ll examine the answers in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. Does Alex put his success into an organized, articulate story?
2. Does he present his accomplishment in a way that provides examples of skills and qualities that will be useful at his new job?

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BEP 85 – English for Sales: Informal Product Presentation

In this Business English Podcast, we’re going to look at the language of presenting your products and services to potential clients in informal situations.

Following on from our episode on hosting a site visit, we return to our friends at the railway tunnel. Stanley Wang is a site agent for a railway construction project in western China. He has just taken Matt and Paul, sales engineers from a small American company, on a tour of the tunnel. Now, in the evening, Stanley and his boss Bill Zhang are hosting a dinner for Matt and Paula. The group is discussing possibilities for future cooperation.

In many countries and cultures around the world, informal occasions – such as a friendly meal or a game of a golf – are more important to the sales process than a formal presentation in the boardroom. And so in this episode, we’ll be studying language for presenting our products in such casual situations. In particular, we’ll see how you can sell your products in relation to your customers’ needs with a few soft-sell techniques.

Listening Questions

1) Were Matt and Paula able to go to the tunnel face, that is, the end of the tunnel?
2) What is the main point of interest that Matt and Paula pursue in the discussion?
3) What are the advantages that Matt and Paula’s device have over traditional surveying methods?

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BEP 84 – English for Sales: Site Visit

There are many different kinds of sites. We often speak of construction sites, a site where something is being built – such as buildings, roads, bridges, airports, and so on. But a site can also be a completed structure, like a factory or even sometimes an office. In a site visit, visitors come on site to have a look around. Someone in your company will usually play host and give them a tour. This is often part of the sales process: Sometimes it’s the visitors who are selling something to the host, and sometimes it’s other way around.

The language we’re going to study in this episode will be useful for anyone who needs to host visitors. No matter whether we are giving journalists a demonstration of a factory, or introducing potential customers to our work site, or giving government officials a tour of a construction project, we need to show people around and point out areas of interest.

In the listening, Stanley Wang works for China Western Railroad Construction Company. Stanley is the site agent – that is, the person in charge of a construction site – for a railway tunnel that is being built. Matt and Paula – who work for a small engineering company called TunnelTech – are visiting potential customers in China. As the dialog begins, Stanley is getting ready to take them into the tunnel for a look around.

Listening Questions:

1) What does Stanley point out in the tunnel? What language does he use to draw everyone’s attention to it?
2) What are the advantages of the machine that Stanley describes?
3) Stanley mentions two safety hazards. What are they?
4) What is the question that Paula asks Stanley about the hazards?

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BEP 83 – English Job Interviews: Previous Experience (2)

BEP 83 - english job interview

This is the second in a two-part Business English Podcast series on discussing previous experience in workplace English job interviews. It is one of an ongoing sequence of ESL podcasts that covers the whole interview process.

In the first part of this series, we examined a bad example of everything that can go wrong when we talk about our previous experience. We used the theme “Don’t let your guard down!” to highlight the importance of maintaining an appropriate level of formality and professionalism, even when the interviewer is attempting to strike a casual tone.

In part-two, we listen to a better interview performance by someone who has prepared to talk about their previous experience more effectively. In this good example, Sherry Shen, from Hong Kong, is interviewing with a multinational accounting company for her first job after graduating with a Master’s in finance.

It’s her first round of interviews, and she is being asked all the standard questions by an HR officer. Although Sherry is an all-around good candidate, her resume has some problems. Her grades aren’t great, and there is a gap with no employment between her college and graduate school careers. As you listen, focus on the following questions.

Listening Questions:

1. Does Sherry let her guard down, or does she answer briefly and to-the-point with an appropriate level of formality?
2. Does Sherry seem well-prepared to talk about her experience?
3. How does Sherry account for the gap in her resume?

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BEP 82 – English for Job Interviews: Previous Experience (1)

BEP 82 - Interview in English

This is the first in a two-part Business English Podcast series on talking about your previous experience. It is one of a longer sequence of podcasts that will focus on the complete English job interview process.

When you sit down to start a job interview, more than likely you will be a little nervous. Interviewers have a variety of techniques to get you to relax and to feel at ease. Usually, they will make some small talk and generally try to lighten the atmosphere. One of the biggest mistakes you can make, however, is to interpret this friendliness as an invitation to be informal.

Another reason interviewers try to get you to relax is to make you drop your defenses so they can see “the real you.” That’s why successful job hunters will tell you, “Don’t let your guard down!” – that is, don’t lower all your defenses. That is the main message of this lesson – the first of eight themes we’ll be exploring during this and future episodes on the topic of job interviews.

In this lesson, we’ll be examining a bad example of what not to do. Since previous experience usually comes up at the beginning of an interview in English, we’ll look at the casual discussion that takes place when an interview starts. Then, in the next episode, we’ll hear a good example, and we’ll focus more closely on further language for highlighting your experience.

Let’s turn to the listening. In this bad example, Alexander, who has recently graduated with a Master’s degree in philosophy, is being interviewed by Michael for a job as assistant manager in an electronics store.

Listening Questions:

1. Is everything Alex says to the point?
2. Does he seem overly friendly or informal at times?
3. How does Alex account for the gap in his resume?

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