This is an All Ears English podcast, episode two, interviewing in the United States.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Hey.
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Find out about the most common interview question in American culture and how to answer it.
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That's allearsenglish.com slash letter B number two.
Hey, Michelle, how's it going today?
Hey, Lindsay.
I'm good.
I'm good.
How are you?
Oh, my gosh.
I'm so excited to be back here on this second episode of All Ears English.
I can't wait.
Lucky number two.
I don't know.
Number two, and I want to remind our listeners guys, this All Ears English podcast publishes four times a week.
We give you guys these amazing episodes four days a week.
So make sure you follow our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
Michelle, what are we talking about today?
Okay, well, today we're talking about something that is super, super important, right?
This is about interviewing, right?
Interviewing in the US.
Guys, if you do have a job interview coming up or you know that in the future you will want to interview, you want to be prepared with interview questions.
So we're going to talk about common ones today.
Yeah, interview questions and also just kind of some key.
We're going to start with two key, kind of more key vocabulary words that we have to know Michelle.
I mean, imagine if you walk into an interview and someone asks you to fill out a form and you don't know what that means.
You're dead right from the start, right?
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So to fill out, this is very important.
So yeah, this basically means to complete the application, right?
So like, for example, you could say please fill out this application if you're interested in the job.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Michelle, do you tend to get nervous when you have in-person interviews?
Um, I find I'm the like one person who finds them like kind of fun.
You said that once about public speaking, too.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's just I it's kind of I don't know.
I guess I look at it.
Not that it's a game or anything, but in a way it is.
It's like, you know, you're kind of putting on a show.
It's like, yeah.
I don't know.
It's a little bit theatrical.
It's your time to really show who you are.
Yes.
So I feel like if people try and look at it in that sense, rather than, oh my God, oh my God, right?
But think of it more as like a game or like, oh, what can I say?
Like, what are some of the things that I want to talk about?
I don't know.
I feel like you can kind of approach it in a different way.
Yeah.
Yeah, that is such good advice.
So make it a game, right?
Make it a game and make sure you go in having the words that you need.
That is so good, Michelle.
Interesting.
So yeah, I think that's a unique perspective.
I think a lot of our listeners might get kind of nervous, but we want to empower you guys to go in, make it a game, enjoy yourself and just build that relationship.
Right, Michelle?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So the key is to just feel comfortable.
So that's our next phrase, right?
To say something is the key.
Yes.
What does that mean, Lindsay?
Well, I mean, literally the way that a key unlocks a door.
Right.
So let's say, for example, education is the key to freedom.
And if I'm describing, if I'm sitting in this interview and I'm describing my work experience right, I could say you know, my master's degree was the key to my success in this area.
So you guys can articulate this word in a lot of ways to show how valuable you are to that employer.
Right, right, right.
That's so true.
That's so true.
Yeah, very good, useful expression here.
So yeah, Lindsay, let's get into a couple questions today.
This is this is what you know, we all want to be prepared.
No, some of the common ones.
Lindsay, what's the first one?
Oh my gosh.
This one is so common, guys, at least in American culture, American business culture, interviewing.
You are going to hear this.
It's just so common.
So here it is.
The phrase is, tell us about yourself or tell me about yourself, right?
Tell me about yourself.
Now, Michelle, how do you suggest high-level advice for our listeners?
How should we approach this question?
Well, like I said, make it a game.
No.
You don't always need to do that.
But, I mean...
I personally – what I've heard about this question is that you don't want to just simply recite your resume.
That's like one of the things that I've heard the most is you know you got an interview because you submitted your resume.
So you want to show a little bit of personality.
You don't want to just like sound monotonous and – just kind of like give like a repeated version of your resume.
You want to kind of basically tell the story of what brought you to this place today.
Yes.
I love that, Michelle.
It's so true because if I'm interviewing someone, I can look at your resume.
I can read your cover letter.
I have have all that information.
This is kind of more of an elevator pitch.
And maybe Michelle, in another episode we could actually do that would be a cool episode.
We could do an episode on the elevator pitch pitch.
Yes, you know, for entrepreneurs, but also for individual job applicants.
We all need an elevator pitch to say who we are, why we add value, and how we can help the company.
That's how I would structure my answer to this question.
So we're going to follow up in another episode.
Make sure you guys follow All Ears English podcast so you can get that episode another day.
Michelle, let's finish with one more question.
Okay, the next one is what do you do?
And guys, again, it's not what do you do, but you'll hear it pronounced, what do you do?
That's kind of how you might hear it.
And this means what do you do for work?
Right.
So this could, guys, this isn't necessarily on a job interview.
This might be and this is also super important for networking meeting people in casual conversations.
You might ask someone, what do you do?
So it's great to meet you.
What do you do?
What do you do?
And we want to emphasize how these words, guys, on this podcast, we talk a lot about pronunciation.
These words run together, like Michelle said, right?
Not what do you do?
What do you do?
What do you do?
What do you do?
So good.
This is really great.
Guys, we know that you are using English at your work.
You are a international professional and you want to increase your career with English.
The way to do it is with this show.
So again, Michelle, what should our listeners do before we finish up today?
Make sure you follow the All Ears English podcast so you never miss anything.
Yeah, we're so happy to be here, Michelle.
That's it for today.
I'll see you next time.
All right.
Bye, Lindsay.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English and if you believe in connection, not perfection, follow our show wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
