Dominique
Job interview tomorrow ! So tomorrow, I have a job interview in English, my second language, and it's a bit stressful! Do you guys have any advices or tips that could help me? It's gonna be a phone interview. I'm not very comfortable on the phone, even in French, my mother tongue. Promoting yourself is always challenging, I find. Is there a specific way to manage a job interview in English, culturally speaking?
Jul 27, 2015 7:36 PM
Corrections · 7
1

Job interview tomorrow !

So tomorrow, I have a job interview in English, my second language, and it's a bit stressful! Do you guys have any advices or tips that could help me? It's gonna/going to be a phone interview. I'm not very comfortable on the phone, even in French, my mother tongue. Promoting yourself is always challenging, I find. Is there a specific way to manage a job interview in English, culturally speaking?

 

Bonne chance ! (gonna is slang, and is best avoided in written or formal situations such as interviews,and is really used maybe with friends):)

Advice is uncountable:)

July 28, 2015
One thought - you might ask if it is possible for them to interview through Skype? You need to think a bit less about the translating if you can see their lips, and that means you have more energy to think about your answers! I don't think I ever had an interview where they didn't ask "What is your biggest weakness.". Which of course is a chance to modestly explain that your biggest weakness is, of course, a strength. "Sometimes I am too helpful.". You know. That sort of thing :-) Bonne chance!
July 28, 2015
Thanks a lot for your advices !
July 27, 2015
Probably, I am not the right person to give you advice because my English is not excellent. However, I have done a couple of them in English and I have a lot of experience having working conversations by phone. Sometimes it is difficult to understand what they say because the phone connection is not working properly, making the conversation more annoying than it should be. Apart from these kind of unpredictable circumstances, I strongly recommend you to review the job specifications, making sure you meet everything and being able to explain it briefly. Also, you should be able to sum up your background in short. They may ask you things like: How would you describe yourself by using 3 adjectives. Tell me 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses. Depending on how qualified is the position, they might ask you technical/conceptual questions. This one is very common: Why do you think you can fit in our company/department or why should we hire you? (Here you must give your best punch!!!). There are companies which like doing fancy questions like: which animal do you think you are like? Here you should pick an animal and explain the characteristics you got in common and matching with some point from the job specs. This is tricky and risky because you might loose your cool easily... :s Finally, here is my tip. Be yourself and smile as much as you can. Somehow they will feel it, although they cannot see you. Show them that you are happy to speak to them. Basically you will have to do it if you success, so go ahead. That works, believe me. Good luck!
July 27, 2015
If it is a phone interview it is at a very initial stage of the whole process. They are just going to cover the basics. Probably just done by HR. Try not to worry too much about it. It is practically impossible to mess it up unless you clearly do not fill the requirements. Review your CV and just be clear and articulate about your past experience and you should be fine. Good luck.
July 27, 2015
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