Post-Reading a Mark these sentences as t (true) or f (false) according to the

Information in the text.

1) Find out as much information as you can about the job and the

company.

2) Arrive early for the interview.

3) Make a list of reasons why you are suitable for the job.

4) Have something to eat before you go to the interview.

5) Go to the toilet before the interview.

6) Have a drink before the interview.

7) Take all your certificates and letters of recommendation with

you.

8) Admit your ignorance if you don’t know about the technical

aspects of the job.

9) Show your best side only.

10) Shake hands with the interviewer.

11) Tell the interviewer about your shortcomings.

12) Ask about the pay you’ll get if you’re successful.

B On the left are the words and phrases from the text. Study their meanings in the context and match them with their equivalents on the right.

1) scores of	a) nervousness
2) chasing	b) over-confident
3) count yourself	c) be found to be lying
4) the jitters	d) a large number of
5) side-track	e) making smth seem larger, better
6) issue	f) running after
7) jot down	g) consider yourself to be
8) concise	h) be too modest
9) exaggerating	i) talking for too long
10) get caught out	j) note down
11) sell yourself short	k) distract
12) giggling	l) giving much information in a few words
13) rambling on	m) argument
14) cocky	n) laughing in a silly way

C Discuss these questions:

1) Do you think it is worth getting ready for a job interview beforehand? Why? 2) In what way does your appearance count at the interview? 3) What papers may prove to be very helpful if you bring them to the interview? 4) What details in the text hint that good manners are welcome? 5) How do you understand the phrase ‘Sell yourself’? 6) What should the candidate convince the interviewer of, if he/she wants to get the job? 7) Which piece of advice do you find most useful and least useful? Why? 8) How important are job interviews in your country?

Text 5

Pre-Reading

Do people change during their working lives? If so, how?

Reading

A Skim the article below and find the answer to the question above.

How to Select the Best Candidates – and Avoid the Worst

Investing thousands of pounds in the recruitment and training of each new graduate recruit may be just the beginning. Choosing the wrong candidate may leave an organisation paying for years to come.

Few companies will have escaped all of the following failures: people who panic at the first sign of stress; those with long, impressive qualifications who seem incapable of learning; hypochondriacs whose absentee record becomes astonishing; and the unstable person later discovered to be a thief or worse.

Less dramatic, but just as much a problem, is the person who simply does not come up to expectations, who does not quite deliver; who never becomes a high-flyer or even a steady performer; the employee with a fine future behind them.

The first point to bear in mind at the recruitment stage is that people don’t change. Intelligence levels decline modestly, but change little over their working life. The same is true of abilities, such as learning languages and handling numbers.

Most people like to think that personality can change, particularly the more negative features such as anxiety, low esteem, impulsiveness or a lack of emotional warmth. But data collected over 50 years gives a clear message: still stable after all these years. Extroverts become slightly less extroverted; the acutely shy appear a little less so, but the fundamentals remain much the same. Personal crises can affect the way we cope with things: we might take up or drop drink, drugs, religion or relaxation techniques, which can have pretty dramatic effects. Skills can be improved, and new ones introduced, but at rather different rates. People can be groomed for a job. Just as politicians are carefully repackaged through dress, hairstyle and speech specialists, so people can be sent on training courses, diplomas or experimental weekends. But there is a cost to all this which may be more than the price of the course. Better to select for what you actually see rather than attempt to change it.

Adrian Furnham

From the Financial Times

B Read the article again and do the exercises that follow.