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Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we have a very special lesson for you. This is actually the first in a series of lessons about interview skills.

That’s right. For 10 lessons so that you will hear once a week for the next 10 weeks, we are going to take a look at an interview, a job interview. And we’re going to take you step-by-step throughout the whole interview process as well as teaching you some useful words and phrases that you can use next time you’re at a job interview in English.

Exactly. So, pay attention. Today is the first day we’re going to be entering the office and we’re gonna learn some things that are important for talking to your future employer or meeting people in an interview.

Okay.

Come in.

Mr Parsons ? Mr. Parsons: Ah, you must be Rebecca.

Please do come in.

Thank you for making some time to see me Mr Parsons.

It’s a pleasure to meet you finally.

The pleasure’s all mine Rebecca. Have a seat please . Now would you like any refreshments? Tea or coffee?

A coffee would be lovely thank you. Black, no sugar.

No problem. Sally can we have two coffees please

One, no milk or sugar?

Certainly Mr Parsons .

So Rebecca, I understand you had a first interview with Miss Childs last week.

Yes that’s correct. She filled me in on the details of the job on the telephone.

Great. Well, I’m glad to say she recommended you for a 2nd interview, and here we are. Perhaps we can start by discussing your background and resume details a little?

Yes , of course.

All right, we’re back. So now, let’s take a look at language take away.

Language take away

So, one of the first things that you’re offered when you go to interview at a company is refreshments.

Right. Would you like any refreshments? This sounds complicated, but it’s actually a very simple word for beverages or drinks.

Right. So, that’s why he offered her tea or coffee.

Right. So, refreshments are cola, coffee, tea. But how you answer this? If I say, would you like any refreshments, Marco?

You can say, yes, water would be fine, thank you.

Okay, water would be fine. Or I’d like a Coke.

Or I’d like a cup of coffee.

cup of coffee. Great, refreshments, our drinks. And after that the characters are talking about the details of the job. So, what are these details? How are they different from the job itself?

Well, the details of the job are the specific points about the job. So, for example if she applied for a job as a receptionist, the details of the job would be, answering the phones, taking messages, receiving people at the office. Those are the base or the main details of the job.

Also, we need someone who works from 9 AM to 5 PM. Someone who is going to come five days a week. So, the details are basically more information about something.

Right, the specific information about a general topic. And it’s not only related to work. The details can be of many many things.

Right. So, if I ask you about your details Marco, you could maybe tell me your phone number, your address

My full name

full name or birthday. So, these are the details.

Okay. And well, after they talked about the details of the job, after she explained that she received the details of the job by phone, Mr. Parsons said that she was recommended for a second interview.

So, Rebecca is coming to the office for a second time. She already had one interview and the woman she talked to the first time recommended her for a second interview. So, the verb here is to recommend.

Right. And you can recommend a person, an object, a movie. And that’s basically, you are saying that this is good and that it’s worth seeing. It’s worth buying. It’s worth interviewing.

For example, I really like the movie avatar. Marco, I recommend you see it.

Okay. Or I can say Catherine recommended the movie avatar.

Okay, so Catherine liked it, Catherine decided, Catherine suggested, or told Marco will be good.

That’s right. So, to recommend. And then Mr. Parsons said that they’re going to start discussing her background.

Well, background. Think of the word back that means behind. This usually means a person’s history at a job or at many jobs. Or even their educational background, information about where they studied.

That’s right. So, the background may be a person’s background is as you said all their history, work, study, many many different things. Even maybe seminars or courses that they assisted.

Or even just their personal history. For example, Marco you speak English like an American. What’s your background? Because I know you’re not American.

Right, I’m from Ecuador.

Okay, background. So, that means someone’s personal history.

That’s right. And hand-in-hand with background. We have a piece of paper that usually you send into an employer to apply for a job. This is the famous resume.

Resume, so you’re right Marco resume is a document. In this case, it is a document that lists your work history, your working background. And it’s a very important part of applying for a job. And usually, you send your resume before you go for the interview so that the employer can look and see is this person qualified, how old are they, what’s their work history.

And well, very similar to a resume, you may have heard a CV.

That’s right. A CV is a lot like a resume. It stands for curriculum C, vite V, CV. And it’s more detailed, that has more details about a person’s academic or study history.

Exactly. So, a resume, I guess it’s very similar to a summary of your work background. Whereas a CV will have more details about your education, may be more details about your work background. What did you do, objectives etc.

Great. So, maybe we should listen to today’s dialogue one more time and when we come back, we’ll be talking about some of the interesting phrases we heard in today’s dialogue.

Come in.

Mr Parsons ? Mr. Parsons: Ah, you must be Rebecca.

Please do come in.

Thank you for making some time to see me Mr Parsons.

It’s a pleasure to meet you finally.

The pleasure’s all mine Rebecca. Have a seat please. Now would you like any refreshments? Tea or coffee?

A coffee would be lovely thank you. Black, no sugar.

No problem. Sally can we have two coffees please

One, no milk or sugar?

Certainly Mr Parsons .

So Rebecca, I understand you had a first interview with Miss Childs last week.

Yes that’s correct. She filled me in on the details of the job on the telephone.

Great. Well, I’m glad to say she recommended you for a 2nd interview, and here we are. Perhaps we can start by discussing your background and resume details a little?

Yes, of course.

All right, we’re back. So now, we have three phrases that we’re going to take a look at on fluency builder.

Fluency builder

All right. So, when Rebecca arrived, Mr. Parsons said, you must be Rebecca. Please do come in.

Okay. So, you could say please come in. This means please come into my office or come on in.

right

but here, the interesting thing about this is the word do.

Right. He’s using the verb do and it may sound wrong. It may sound like it’s unnecessary because you do have a phrasal verb there already, come in. so, you can just say please come in. But when he says please do come in, he is emphasizing on her to come in.

That’s right. So, this is a very polite way to invite someone inside. You can also say, please do have a seat.

All right. So, again you are emphasizing in a very polite way to please sit down.

That’s right. Please do come in.

So, there are many other ways that you can use it. So for example, if you really want your friend to call you sometime next time you’re in town say, please do call me next time you’re in town.

please do. You could even say it afterwards. Simply please do for emphasis.

Right. So, if I say, hey Catherine, when I call you next time I’m in Shanghai.

Please do.

There you go. So, that means please do call.

All right. So, please do come in, please do call. All right

after that Rebecca says, thank you for making some time to see me, Mr. Parsons. So, she is happy that Mr. Parsons is available and wants to talk to her. This is a very common phrase that means thank you so much for interviewing me.

Right. So, I guess it’s kind of a way of saying, look I know that you are a busy person and that you don’t have very much time. So, thank you for making some time to see me.

Right. So, this isn’t just about interviews. You could say this phrase for meeting with a client or meeting with even a friend. You could say, hey Marco I know you were really busy last week, but thank you so much for making some time to see me.

Right. So, it is basically saying I understand that you’re very busy but I appreciate that you made some time to see me. All right and well, she said you know what, it’s a pleasure to meet you but Mr. Parsons replied by saying, the pleasure’s all mine.

Another very very polite phrase that you hear a lot. Maybe some of you’ve heard the phrase, it’s a pleasure to meet you before. But the response, the answer is very interesting, the pleasure is all mine.

Right

So, this stands for the pleasure is all mine.

Right. And I guess it’s the most appropriate response if somebody says that it’s a pleasure to meet you. Because if you don’t say this, I think you may sound a little bit arrogant.

Well, you could say it’s a pleasure to meet you, too.

right

but this is another way to answer the person because you don’t always want to say, it’s a pleasure to meet you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.

Right.

This is a way to say something different and to say well, the pleasure’s all mine.

Right. But it’s very important to answer something, right? Because if I say, it’s a pleasure to meet you and you say you, thank you. It’s like—

No, that is a little bit arrogant. You have to say something

right

and we recommend that you say this or you to say the same thing back. So, it’s nice to meet you. It’s nice to meet you, too.

Right. Okay and our last phrase is actually when they were talking about, again the details of the job and she said that Ms. Childs filled her in on the details. She said she filled me in on the details of the job on the telephone.

Okay. So, this is an interesting verb to fill in or in this case, to fill someone in, to fill me in, to fill you in. This basically means to tell someone about something

right

or if I know a little bit of information but not a lot of information about something, this way you’re telling me more so I understand that better.

Right. I’m giving you all the information. So, maybe there is, somebody is talking about a rumor in the office and you go and you say hey, fill me in on the gossip.

All right. So, you want to know all about it.

right

or for example, Marco we’re having a party next Sunday, but I’ll have to fill you in on the details around Friday.

Okay, because you don’t have all the information right now.

Yeah, I don’t know yet what time or where.

Okay. So, to fill someone in is to give them all the information or to you give them more information.

fill me in

fill me in. All right, why don’t we take a look at our dialogue for the last time and we’ll be back in a little bit.

Come in.

Mr Parsons ? Mr. Parsons: Ah, you must be Rebecca.

Please do come in.

Thank you for making some time to see me Mr Parsons.

It’s a pleasure to meet you finally.

The pleasure’s all mine Rebecca. Have a seat please . Now would you like any refreshments? Tea or coffee?

A coffee would be lovely thank you. Black, no sugar.

No problem. Sally can we have two coffees please

One, no milk or sugar?

Certainly Mr Parsons .

So Rebecca, I understand you had a first interview with Miss Childs last week.

Yes that’s correct. She filled me in on the details of the job on the telephone.

Great. Well, I’m glad to say she recommended you for a 2nd interview, and here we are. Perhaps we can start by discussing your background and resume details a little?

Yes, of course.

All right. So, as we mentioned, this is the first part of a 10 part series of the interview series. And this is going to be very very helpful. As you saw, in this first part we’re just taking a look at some basic vocab and phrases that you can use when you’re just introducing yourself. You’re just getting started in the interview.

So, what we’re going to be looking at later on is talking about yourself, answering questions. But many people don’t realize that one of the most important parts of the interview is the very very beginning. Because some psychologists say that we make a decision about a person or how we like a person within the first, I think what, 30 seconds of talking to them.

Yeah

So, it’s important that you speak confidently and that you speak, say some of these English phrases comfortably. You know, it’s a pleasure to meet you. The pleasure is mine. These little things will really help you.

That’s right. And I think, talking about introductions and how this woman arrived to the office, I think one of the key things that we would recommend is to look that person in the eye and give a firm handshake, right? I don’t know how many people actually realize how important this is. It’s very very important because as an interviewer, the person or the manager who’s interviewing you, I think you can tell a lot for a person if somebody gives you a very flimsy handshake or doesn’t look you in the eye.

That’s right. Well, I think in many ways people think this person is not confident or this person is uncomfortable or this person is hiding something

Yeah

and so, it’s important really to be yourself, to smile, to look at a person in the eyes, especially in a lot of like American companies or Canadian companies. I know in other parts of the world smiling with a stranger is unusual or maybe unacceptable, but in America it means, I’m confident, here I am, here’s my name, nice to meet you. It’s a very important part of an introduction.

Yes, very true. So, we actually want to hear what you think. How important for you is a handshake, a firm handshake, looking someone in the eye or how do interviews work in your country?

Let us know and we hope that this is helpful for you in the future if you’re looking for jobs or you just want to practice your English.

That’s right. So, if you have any other questions or doubts, we’re at Englishpod.com. We’ll see everyone there. Bye.