Prepare
for your English language job interview just as you would for any other
interview. This may include researching the organisation's history and mission,
determining the travel time needed to promptly arrive at your interview
location, organising your materials and choosing an outfit.
Job interviews are usually
stressful, and a job interview in English can be doubly so. It’s worth taking
the time to prepare for your job interview in English more thoroughly than you
might prepare for a regular job interview (although you should be prepared for
those too!), just so that you can feel more comfortable on the big day.
There are three main aspects to
preparing for a job interview in English. First, there’s the standard
preparation you would do for an interview in any language. This includes things
like reading up on the company and planning out how you’ll present yourself,
your education, and your work experience. You can get a lot of good advice in
preparing for any interview by searching for things like “prepare for a job
interview”. Read several articles and apply their advice in your preparations.
The second aspect of preparing for
a job interview in English is reading up on common interview questions in
English and thinking through your answers in advance. Here are some of the most
common job interview questions in English:
- How would you describe yourself?
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- Why did you leave your last job?
- What do you do in your current role?
- Why would you like to work here?
- When could you start?
- Why kind of salary are you expecting?
- Do you have any questions for me?
Again, there are many articles and
websites where you can find detailed advice about how to answer these
questions. In planning your answers to commonly asked interview questions,
consider you’re your use of the English language (correct usage of tenses,
precise vocabulary, speaking clearly) and your ability to meet the cultural
expectations of your interviewer.
In researching how to answer
commonly-asked questions, stick to culturally appropriate sites for your
particular situation. If you’re interviewing in the USA, read job articles on
American websites, the same for the UK, Australia, or any other
English-speaking country. If you’ll be having an interview in English in your
own country, try to find out what nationality your interviewer is and refer to
articles from that country. The more you’re able to meet your interviewer’s
cultural expectations, the more comfortable he will feel with you, and the more
likely he’ll be to offer you the job.
You should also look into whether
or not you’ll be asked to take an English test during the interview. If you
will be, get ready for that by taking the EF SET Certificate™, a free
standardized English test that’s at least as challenging as what you’ll be
asked to take in a job interview. As a bonus: when completing the EF SET
English Certificate™, you will get your own dedicated Certificate URL, which
you can easily add to your LinkedIn profile or your CV to professionally prove
your English level.
The third aspect of preparing for
a job interview in English is practice. Because English isn’t your
native language, you need to practice responding out loud to common interview
questions in English. If you have someone to practice with, great! Give the
person a list of questions, have him read them out, and practice answering
aloud.
If you don’t have someone to
practice with, use the recording software on your phone or computer to practice
reading out the question and then answering it. Play back your recording when
you’re done. Listen to see if you can understand every word, and consider how
you can improve, for example by speaking more clearly or using more precise
vocabulary. Look up the words you need and don’t hesitate to try the same
question several times. Your goal is to be able to answer the most common
interview questions without hesitation. That will give you more wiggle room
when it comes to answering the unexpected questions that always come up in an
interview.
While research and self-recording
can feel silly, they’re enormously useful tools for building confidence
answering the questions that you are likely to be asked. Preparing for a job
interview in English is worth a little embarrassment. After all, it may just
get you the job of your dreams!
