BEP 41c – Interview English: First-Round Job Interviews (2)
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Mar 30, 2025
Explore the essential skills needed for acing first-round job interviews. Discover strategies to confidently tackle tough questions, including how to discuss your strengths and weaknesses. Listen in as a candidate navigates challenging inquiries while showcasing problem-solving abilities through real-life examples. Delve into the importance of effective communication and analytical skills in overcoming workplace challenges. Practical exercises are also shared to enhance your interviewing prowess and prepare you for success.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
William's Loan Success
William, interviewing at a Hong Kong bank, discusses a past achievement of lowering the non-performing loan rate.
He reduced it from 5% to 0.3%, saving the bank an estimated $20 million over three years.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Weaknesses as Strengths
When discussing weaknesses, frame them as downsides of your strengths and explain how you've mitigated them.
For example, enjoying challenges can lead to overwork, but learning to pace yourself addresses this.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Show, Don't Just Tell
When discussing strengths, provide concrete examples and quantify your impact whenever possible.
Show how your strengths have helped you adapt to new environments and restructuring.
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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on the skills you need to succeed in a first-round job interview in English.
A job interview is a chance to highlight your achievements and talk about the amazing things you’ve done in your career. By talking about what you’ve achieved, you can show how your experience fits the position. And by showing how your strengths have helped you, you can convince the interviewer that you’re the right person to hire.
If only it were that easy, though! Interviewers aren’t going to ask you only about the good stuff. They’re going to ask about difficult things as well. That means they might ask you about problems in your current or past jobs. And they might also ask you that dreaded question: what are your weaknesses?
But don’t worry. You know these questions are coming, so you can get ready. Think of some difficult situations you’ve been in. Focus on the ones where you were able to solve a problem or deal with difficult people. And think about your weaknesses honestly, and how you’ve tried to improve on these things. In that way, you’ll be able to face the tough questions confidently.
In this lesson, we’ll rejoin William as he interviews for a position at a bank in Hong Kong. William is being interviewed by Mike, an HR manager at the bank. You will hear how William deals with difficult questions, and how he isn’t afraid to discuss problems and how he dealt with them.
Listening Questions
1. William talks about a problem with short-term loans. What does he say was the cause of this problem?
2. What does William say is one of his strengths?
3. What does William say is one of his weaknesses?
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