Job Interview II

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And I’m Erica.

Marco: And today we’re gonna be bringing you the second part of our job interview series.

Erica: That’s right, so this is an advanced lesson and we’re gonna be talking about educational background and experience.

Marco: Right, so, in the first part we saw preparing for a job interview. Now we’re at the job interview and we’re just gonna be talking about your educational background and your job experience.

Erica: That’s right and the language we’re gonna learn is gonna focus mostly on these two areas.

Marco: Okay, perfect. So, let’s take a look at some of the difficult words before we listen to the dialogue in “vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

Erica: Alright, so, we’re gonna talk about a few common words that have to do with education. Now, the first word we… I think we… we might know this one but there’s a little trick to it, so the first one is major.

Marco: Major.

Erica: Major.

Marco: So, yeah, I guess everyone knows what a major is, right?

Erica: Yeah, it’s the… the main subject that you study in university.

Marco: Right, so you can study business as a major or…

Erica: History.

Marco: Exactly.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, but you can also use it as a verb, right?

Erica: That’s right, I majored in history.

Marco: Majored in.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: So, usually it’s followed by the proposition in.

Erica: Yes, always, in fact.

Marco: Okay.

Erica: When used as a verb. I majored in science.

Marco: I majored in business.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: Okay, so, you can say, my major is business administration or history or you can say I majored in business.

Erica: Yeah, and the same pattern applies to minor.

Marco: Okay, so minor, this is really interesting, because this is more common in English speaking countries, right?

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: So, what exactly is a minor?

Erica: Well, just like your major, but smaller.

Marco: Hehe. Okay, so…

Erica: So, if… if you major in History, maybe sixty percent (60%) of your classes are in History and you minor in French, maybe thirty or forty percent (30-40%) of your classes are in French.

Marco: So, basically, you can have two subjects in your degree, you can have a major in Business with a minor in, ah, Art.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: Okay…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: That’s interesting.

Erica: Uhu. Alright, and another two simple words… a bachelor’s degree.

Marco: Bachelor’s degree, okay.

Erica: A bachelor’s degree is what you get after s… going to university for four years.

Marco: Okay, so, a bachelor’s degree, after four years you get that.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: After that you get a master’s degree.

Erica: Right, so, that’s another two years after your bachelor’s degree.

Marco: Okay, and I guess a master’s is more focused on an area, right?

Erica: Yes, more specialized.

Marco: More specialized.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And then the highest degree you can get is a PhD.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Which is a Philosophy Doctor, right?

Erica: Aha.

Marco: But you’re not actually getting a degree in Philosophy.

Erica: No, it could be in, um, International Relations.

Marco: Okay, but this is really hard to get.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: You have to go to school for another five or six years, right.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: And it’s a lot of research and not many people have it.

Erica: Yeah. Anyway, some simple words, um, but you know what, it’s… it’s quite unique to the English speaking world, this system, so we bring it to you now.

Marco: Yeah, perfect. So now let’s listen to this guy who is at an interview and he’s gonna be talking about his education and work experience.

Interviewer: To start off, could you tell me a bit about your educational background?

面试官：首先，你能谈谈你的教育背景吗？

Applicant: Sure. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at State University, where I majored in Marketing with a minor in Communication. My primary course of study focused on market research and consumer behavior. Later, I pursued my Master’s degree in Management, opting for the Information Management track to gain more practical, marketable skills. Hence, I have a strong foundation in both business and technology.

求职者：好的。我在州立大学完成了工商管理学士学位，主修市场营销，辅修传播学。我的核心学习课程集中在市场调研和消费者行为学上。后来我攻读了管理学硕士学位，并选择了信息管理方向，以获取更多实用且具市场竞争力的技能。因此，我在商业和技术两方面都打下了坚实的基础。

Interviewer: Impressive. And how does your past work experience prepare you for this role?

面试官：令人印象深刻。那你过去的工作经验是如何为你胜任这一职位做准备的呢？

Applicant: In my previous position as a team lead, I strived to expand my breadth of experience. I supervised and coordinated the customer support team while also implementing new operational strategies. For instance, I implemented a automated feedback system that lowered our customer churn rate to about five percent.

求职者：在我之前担任团队主管的职位上，我努力扩展自己的经验广度。我监督并协调客户支持团队，同时也推行了新的运营策略。例如，我实施了一个自动化反馈系统，将客户流失率降低到了大约 5%。

Interviewer: That sounds very effective. Well, thank you. Do you have any natural body functions you need to attend to before we continue?

面试官：听起来非常有效。嗯，谢谢你。在我们继续之前，你有任何生理需求需要去处理一下吗？

Applicant: Uh... excuse me? No, I'm fine, thank you.

求职者：额……你说什么？不用了，我很好，谢谢。

Erica: Well, those were some pretty good answers, ah, to those questions, but… I don’t know, Marco…

Marco: There was a little awkward moment, I don’t know if you guys heard it, ah… natural body… what’s…

Erica: Functions.

Marco: Functions. Hehe.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So…

Erica: Oh, dear…

Marco: Well, making the interview a little bit more interesting, right? It doesn’t have to be boring.

Erica: Exactly, but what is really interesting is some of the language he used to describe his educational background and work experience, so let’s look at that now in “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

Marco: Okay, so in language takeaway today we have seven words that we wanna focus on before we give you some tips about doing well on a job interview. So, let’s take a look at our first word, course of study.

Erica: Course of study.

Marco: Course of study.

Erica: A course of study.

Marco: So, what is a course of study exactly?

Erica: Basically, it’s like a plan of study.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: Or a path of study.

Marco: Okay, so, his course of study was…

Erica: Business Administration.

Marco: Exactly, so that is his course of study.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Now, let’s take a look at our second word, track.

Erica: Track.

Marco: Track.

Erica: Track.

Marco: So, he said he wanted to gain some practical marketable skills, that the information management track provided.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: So, what does he mean by this track?

Erica: Again, basically if the track of study is… is like the path of study.

Marco: Okay.

Erica: So, the direction of your study.

Marco: Okay, so I guess it would be like think of a train…

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And the train tracks, right?

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Where the train travels. So, that’s where it’s taking you, that’s the path that he followed or you should follow or you want to follow.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: Okay, that’s pretty interesting.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Now let’s take a look at our third word and it’s a really nice conjunction, hence.

Erica: Hence.

Marco: Hence.

Erica: H-E-N-C-E, hence.

Marco: Hence, so it sounds fancy, ah, but it’s..

Erica: Yeah, ah, not simple.

Marco: What does it mean?

Erica: So.

Marco: So.

Erica: Therefore, yeah.

Marco: Right. So you can use it as a conjunction between two ideas.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: So, he said… what would be an example of how you could use hence?

Erica: You could say "the economy is doing poorly, hence, people are losing their jobs".

Marco: Okay, hence, so, therefore, in consequence…

Erica: Right.

Marco: So.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: But it just sounds a lot more like professional.

Erica: And formal.

Marco: Formal.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Okay, so try and use this conjunction hence, right? Instead of saying so, therefore.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Use it. Okay, our fourth word.

Erica: Pursued.

Marco: Pursued.

Erica: He pursued a master’s.

Marco: Okay, so, to pursue.

Erica: To chase after something.

Marco: To chase after.

Erica: Auh!

Marco: Hehe. So you can pursue a master’s degree like he did.

Erica: Yes, you can pursue a promotion.

Marco: A dream.

Erica: Uhu, nice one.

Marco: Can you pursue a girl?

Erica: Yes, you can.

Marco: Alright, so, pursue, to chase.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: Okay. Now let’s look at our next word, strive.

Erica: Another great word you can use when talking about your experience. To strive is to try really hard.

Marco: To try really hard.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Okay, so, I know we have some examples for strive.

Erica: Yeah, let’s take a listen.

Example 1: At our company we’re always striving to improve our services.

Example 2: He really strived to get a new job and his work paid off.

Marco: Okay, great examples, well, strive, to fight, to try really hard.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Alright. Okay, now the next word I didn’t really know what it meant, so this is really interesting. Breadth.

Erica: Breadth.

Marco: So it’s kind of like saying bread but adding a “-th” at the end.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Breadth.

Erica: Breadth of experience.

Marco: Okay, so… so this basically means it’s wide.

Erica: Exactly, so when you have a great breadth of experience you have a wide variety of experience.

Marco: Okay, so maybe in different fields…

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Or at different jobs, so…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: You can have experience like in marketing and then a little bit in finance and a little bit in management.

Erica: Yes, a breadth of experience.

Marco: Alright. Alright, and now for the last word, it’s actually three-in-one.

Erica: A three-in-one deal.

Marco: A three-in-one deal, that actually they are very related.

Erica: Okay.

Marco: Right? So, when he talked about his work experience he was saying he… he supervised and coordinated the customer support team.

Erica: Okay so, he watched over, right?

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: And made things work together well.

Marco: To coordinate.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: So, these are really great verbs that you can use when you’re talking about your job responsibilities.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: "I supervised."

Erica: "I coordinated."

Marco: Uhu, and he used another really great one he said, to implement.

Erica: To implement, um, to make something happen, to put it in place.

Marco: Right, so, he implemented new strategies.

Erica: Implemented new policies.

Marco: Okay, to set in action.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Alright, so a lot of great vocabulary, a lot of great stuff and… well, you can use it for when you’re at a job interview.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: So, let’s listen to this dialogue again and when we’ll come back we’re gonna give you some tips, so you’ll do well in this part of the job interview.

Interviewer: To start off, could you tell me a bit about your educational background?

面试官：首先，你能谈谈你的教育背景吗？

Applicant: Sure. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at State University, where I majored in Marketing with a minor in Communication. My primary course of study focused on market research and consumer behavior. Later, I pursued my Master’s degree in Management, opting for the Information Management track to gain more practical, marketable skills. Hence, I have a strong foundation in both business and technology.

求职者：好的。我在州立大学完成了工商管理学士学位，主修市场营销，辅修传播学。我的核心学习课程集中在市场调研和消费者行为学上。后来我攻读了管理学硕士学位，并选择了信息管理方向，以获取更多实用且具市场竞争力的技能。因此，我在商业和技术两方面都打下了坚实的基础。

Interviewer: Impressive. And how does your past work experience prepare you for this role?

面试官：令人印象深刻。那你过去的工作经验是如何为你胜任这一职位做准备的呢？

Applicant: In my previous position as a team lead, I strived to expand my breadth of experience. I supervised and coordinated the customer support team while also implementing new operational strategies. For instance, I implemented a automated feedback system that lowered our customer churn rate to about five percent.

求职者：在我之前担任团队主管的职位上，我努力扩展自己的经验广度。我监督并协调客户支持团队，同时也推行了新的运营策略。例如，我实施了一个自动化反馈系统，将客户流失率降低到了大约 5%。

Interviewer: That sounds very effective. Well, thank you. Do you have any natural body functions you need to attend to before we continue?

面试官：听起来非常有效。嗯，谢谢你。在我们继续之前，你有任何生理需求需要去处理一下吗？

Applicant: Uh... excuse me? No, I'm fine, thank you.

求职者：额……你说什么？不用了，我很好，谢谢。

Erica: Alright, well, I wanna talk about two main things, um, and the first thing I wanna talk about is, ah, how you address this question about your educational background like wha… what is the interviewer looking to find out.

Marco: Okay, perfect, so when you’re talking about your educational background you shouldn’t only talk about your college degree, right?

Erica: Yep.

Marco: You should also talk about any type of training that you’ve had.

Erica: Yeah, I think it’s really important to let the interviewer know that you’re continually trying to update your skills and improve your… your knowledge, so any sort of courses or seminars that you might attend this is a great chance to highlight those.

Marco: And that’s what the interviewer’s looking for, right?

Erica: Uhu. Also any… any trade publications, any magazines that you read related to your job is… is a great way to sort of highlight your desire to keep learning.

Marco: Oh, I think it’s really important because it’s good that you went to a good university, you got this degree and everything, but continuously training yourself and maybe just by listening to business podcasts or… or reading specific, ah, magazines or stuff like that at… that is demonstrating that you care about what you’re doing, that you’re continuously learning, right?

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Okay, so, those are the main things to talk about in your educational background. Now, when this work experience question pops up, what should you really say?

Erica: When you’re answering this question I think there’s something really important to keep in mind.

Marco: What’s that?

Erica: You wanna make sure that you’re being as specific as possible, right?

Marco: Right, so… giving examples of what you’ve done.

Erica: Like really specifically what you did, all of the sort of… the main achievements you have.

Marco: Okay, so like, for example, we saw in our dialogue that he talked about specific strategies that he implemented to improve customer support in that company.

Erica: Right and he… then he gave some numbers.

Marco: Right, he said… yeah, he lowered the churn rate to about five percent.

Erica: So, it’s so important whenever you can attach a number to… to your success or your achievement, to be able to do that in the interview, um, really… really demonstrates your achievement.

Marco: Uhu, yeah, I think that’s really important and another thing when you’re talking about previous jobs is make sure you keep it on a positive note, right?

Erica: Yeah, yeah.

Marco: Even if your experience was not very good or you didn’t like the company or, you know, you had problems, you should avoid talking about that and always keep it on a positive note.

Erica: Right, so if the interviewer asks you why you… why you wanna join this company, why you’re looking to leave your… your current job, you… you wanna give these positive reasons.

Marco: Right, you don’t wanna say "Well, because my boss was a jerk", or…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Or "I didn’t like the company anymore".

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: You know, you should answer it with something positive like "Well, I think I need a change" or "This job opportunity is more aligned with what I wanna do in the future", etcetera. Yeah, so positive always on your interviews and just, again, prepare for these questions, that are always gonna be there.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: So, Erica, I know that you’ve done a lot of interviews.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And I understand that you’ve had a really weird question.

Erica: Yes. In an… in an interview I once got this question: "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"

Marco: Really?

Erica: Yeah, I’m not kidding, I really was asked that question.

Marco: What did you answer?

Erica: Um, I think I said that I would wanna be a willow tree, because they’re really beautiful.

Marco: Hehe. Was that the right answer?

Erica: I… I don’t know like what are you supposed to answer to that question? I really don’t know what the right answer was.

Marco: Well, some people, yeah… they’ll ask you just… I don’t know, random questions…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Just to see what your response is. I think also maybe is just how you deal with… with, ah… with the pressure or…

Erica: Or with the unexpected questions.

Marco: Right, so it was like…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: That is pretty unexpected, though.

Erica: Hehe.

Marco: But I guess you handled it pretty well.

Erica: Okay, well, I mean I got the job, so…

Marco: Oh, nice, alright.

Erica: Alright, um, I wanna know from our listeners if they were a tree, what kind of tree they would be.

Marco: Yeah. Hehe.

Erica: Hehe.

Marco: And also tell us about, well, your job experience or your educational background, ah…

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Well, I know, for example, that I’ve had a lot of different types of job, so I’ve even been that person that gets on the bus and charges people the money.

Erica: I know, like…

Marco: It’s… random jobs.

Erica: You’ve had every job under the sun.

Marco: Hehe. So, but it’s great, so tell us what have… what’s the weirdest job you’ve had, what the craziest or the best job.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Or any experiences.

Erica: Yes, so visit our website englishpod.com, leave your questions and comments there on the website.

Marco: And we’ll definitely be there to answer them and we hope to see you there.

Erica: Thanks for listening and… Good bye!

Marco: Bye!