Category 2. Questions about Education

11. How has your college experience prepared you for a business career?

12. What were your reasons for selecting your college or university?

13. Are you the type of student for whom conducting independent research has been a positive experience?

14. Do you think that your grades are an indication of your academic achievement?

15. What plans do you have for continued study? An advanced degree?

Category 3. Questions about the company and your prospective job

16. Tell me what you know about our company.

17. Why did you decide to seek a position in this company?

18. Would it be a problem for you to relocate?

19. Would you be willing to travel for the job?

20. Which is more important to you, the job itself or your salary?

21. What suggestions do you have for our organization?

Category 4. “Situation-Questions”

Aimed at discovering how good you are at:

• thinking

• solving problems

• dealing with people

• achieving positive results

Have you ever had difficulty with a supervisor or instructor? How did you resolve the conflict?

What kind of supervisor do you work best for? Provide examples.

Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.

By providing examples, convince me that you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations and environments.

Give me an example of an important goal which you had set in the past and tell me about your success in reaching it.

How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Give examples.

Give an example of when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with. Why was this person difficult? How did you handle that person?

What is the most significant contribution you made to the company during a past job?

And the last one question

30. Given the investment our company will make in hiring and training you, can you give us a reason to hire you?

Ex. 29. ROLEPLAY. Roleplay a job interview at a large oil and gas company. Work in a group of four. Try to use Action Verbs!

Student A – interviewer 1

Student B – interviewer 2

Student C – applicant

Student D – observer

Students A and B make a list of questions to ask the applicant, and Student D evaluates how successful the applicant is. Then, change the roles and repeat, so that every student gets the role of the applicant once. The observers then exchange opinions and decide, who was the most successful applicant.

Then, the group should give the final assessment of the applicants. The interviewers share their impressions with the whole class and say, why they have chosen a particular person for the job and what qualities he/she has demonstrated during the interview.

Use the following expressions:

• is a hard-working man / woman

• loyal to his / her colleagues

• able to take criticism

• have high professional qualifications

• have logical and creative mind

• have great experience in

• have publications related to …

• have patents …

• be a leader

• have new original ideas

• be honest

• be punctual

• be reliable

• never let people down

• keep one’s promises

• express enthusiasm

• be interested in the job

• be acquainted with one’s duties

• have a good reputation in the sphere of …

• be responsible for…

Ex. 30. SITUATION. Two of your friends applied for the same job. One of them was accepted, but the other was turned down. Why did it happen? Discuss in pairs.

Use the following expressions and add your own ideas.

dress appropriately arrive for the interview five minutes early have several copies of the CV have the names, addresses and phone numbers of three people to be used as references be polite not to smoke or chew gum listen attentively to the interviewer speak audibly not to mumble answer the questions clearly and competently wait to ask about benefits and vacations thank the interviewer write a thank you note

produce unfavourable impression be not properly dressed look untidy badly shaven dirty boots long hair wear too bright colours wrinkled trousers have no professional look seem light-minded and irresponsible be late for the interview keep the boss waiting not take one’s career seriously sound not confident enough hesitate in answering questions not have enough experience have poor professional skills

Grammar