This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 56, Three Ways to Impress the Interviewer in English with Mary Rosen.
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Hey Mary, welcome to All Ears English. How are you today?
I'm doing really well. Thanks for having me, Lindsay.
Good. Thank you for coming on the show today.
I know we're recording today on a Friday afternoon about 4 p.m.
So it's the end of the week for me. I'm sure it is for you as well.
So I appreciate your time today. And we're going to talk about interviews.
So Mary, you work with a lot of students over at italki on interviewing skills.
Why did you decide to create a class based on that?
Right. This is a thing that a lot of people really struggle with, especially for English learners.
It can be really, really nerve wracking to not only have all of the nerves that you would normally have in a job interview, but if you have to also be speaking a language that is not your native language, there's a lot of stress and anxiety that comes with that.
Yeah, there are kind of two levels of nervousness and anxiety there.
It's the language piece and just the fact that you're in an interview.
Exactly, Mary. So I guess your classes really help students to kind of break through that anxiety and actually get a good outcome, right?
I would hope so. I mean, do you feel like you get a lot of stories of students getting the job after your classes?
I love to hear success stories. Yes, it's always my number one goal to get people feeling confident first.
That's fantastic. Of course, I'm always hoping that they'll get the job too.
Yeah, awesome. So let's get very specific here on these interviewing skills.
What are three tips, Mary, that you could let our listeners know about that they could use in their next job interview?
Let's break it down. All right. So like I've mentioned a couple of times already, the number one most important thing to have in an interview is confidence, which is definitely easier said than done.
But that's really the thing that I stress the most in my lessons.
So the best way to become confident is to practice speaking, to familiarize yourself with common questions and And to really practice talking yourself up.
So this is where I come in is I give students a chance to practice the things that they want to say and to really encourage them to make themselves sound great, to make them really sound like the best candidate for the job.
Absolutely. Do you do anything regarding kind of nonverbal communication and confidence?
Like, do you give your students any tips on that at all?
Of course. Yeah. I always like to say there's kind of a famous expression about fake it till you make it.
And I think that's really true. It doesn't matter, actually, even if you are extremely nervous in an interview.
As long as the interviewer doesn't know that you're nervous, you're still going to have a great chance to get that job.
So making eye contact, smiling and presenting yourself like you're definitely going to get that job goes a long way in an interview.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think sometimes we assume that people can see our nervousness, but they can't always see it.
Right. So sometimes we're not as poorly off as we think we are.
Right. We're so nervous on the inside and everyone thinks we think that everyone knows.
But sometimes we come off just fine. And if we've gone through practice opportunities with teachers like you, then we're even more confident.
So for sure. I love that. I love that. So be confident is your first tip, Mary.
Definitely my first tip. Yeah, go ahead.
What would be your second tip for us? Yeah.
So, of course, I never know exactly what an interviewer is going to ask an interviewee.
And of course, I'm not familiar with every single business industry in the world.
Sure. there are some really common questions.
And so I start even with icebreakers, which a lot of interviews will start with kind of some small talk.
And even though these are supposed to make people feel comfortable, a lot of times they have the opposite effect, especially if English isn't your native language, it can be really nerve-wracking.
Yeah. I give people practice with icebreakers, but also some just really common questions like, where do you see yourself in five years?
Why are you leaving your current job or your last job?
And then the question that everybody loves to hate, what are your strengths?
And then what are your weaknesses? Right.
Those questions can be real traps sometimes, right?
I love it. And a lot of people really struggle with these, especially if you are not expecting these questions.
You can really struggle trying to think of a weakness that will be authentic but still make you sound like a good candidate for the job.
So I find that I'm often able to give a lot of advice with answering these kinds of questions.
Right. And there's another layer to this, too, that I always think about.
It's the cultural aspect, because I think it's so interesting that if we're from another part of the world, for example, maybe we're from Japan or China, we might think that the desired answer is different from what it is if we're interviewing for a company here in the U.S., like in Silicon Valley, right?
Right. There's that whole just one more layer of nervousness and pressure.
Yeah. Right. Absolutely. And so you were born in the US, right?
Mary, it sounds like you have a native accent from the States.
That's right. Yeah, I'm from California.
From California. Are you living in California right now?
I am. Great. Which part of California are you in?
I'm in Northern California. So I'm not too far from Silicon Valley.
Okay. Okay, so you really maybe know kind of the lingo in that industry, potentially, I suppose.
And it's really, yeah, it's a very specific way of speaking.
And that's important. I think culture is such a key piece when it comes to interviewing that we can't overlook.
Definitely. Yeah. Okay. So the second piece is just understand the common questions.
And I would imagine in your classes, when students work with you, you really do go through a lot of those common questions beyond just those four.
I'm sure that there's a lot of opportunities to practice.
And guys, you're going to find out how you can work with Mary at the end of this episode.
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Mary, do you have one third tip that you could offer our listeners at All Ears English here today?
I do. And this might be good advice for anybody learning English.
And that's no matter what happens, just breathe.
Yeah. And most importantly, remember to talk slowly.
Mm-hmm. No matter how great your answers are, if you're talking a mile a minute like this and you're really nervous, and if the interviewer either can't understand or is maybe just struggling to even keep pace, you're probably not going to get that job.
So no matter how nervous you are or how badly you think you're doing, try to relax.
And it's okay to pause. I always tell people pause. you'll feel more relaxed if you pause and your interviewer will be more likely to remember what you say if you take some breaks here and there.
Yeah, I think that's really important to be mindful, to breathe.
And for a lot of our listeners, I know they're so worried, right, that someone will not understand them.
And it's a really scary situation in an interview if you feel like the interviewer can't understand you.
And one quick way, one quick win there is just by slowing down.
It's so simple. Exactly. It's so simple.
I mean, we don't have to go off and perfect our pronunciation on every last sound in the English language.
We can just slow down and we can cut out 50% of those problems.
Yeah, exactly. And really, to take it back to the confidence thing that I'm stressing, you really do sound more confident if you take your time.
Like I'm very conscientiously speaking slowly right now.
And I feel like it gives me a little bit of power and control.
Yeah. Versus if I'm like talking like this and I don't know what I'm going to say next.
It makes me sound more anxious when I talk really fast.
Yeah. So there's something to the pitch, too, that when we speak fast, our pitch gets a bit higher.
And that does sound more anxious. That sounds more out of control.
Whereas when we speak slower... We're in a lower pitch.
So this is definitely something, Mary, that our listeners at their level, at the intermediate to advanced level, they're ready for this.
They're ready to work on that pitch, that slowing down, getting a sense of composure, the mindfulness, the breathing, and the vocabulary, of course.
So this is great, Mary. So do you have any spots in your schedule in the next few weeks to work with some of our students, some of our listeners?
I definitely do. And I'd be happy to help anybody prepare for an interview or any other questions that they might have about business English or anything else that they're struggling with.
Awesome. Well, that would be great. So guys, I want to invite you, if you have a big interview coming up, don't take the chance of not being prepared.
You really want to sit down with Mary for a handful of lessons and get ready for that interview because it's a big day and we want to get that job.
So guys, there's a two-step process to work with Mary.
Step one is to go to allearsenglish.com forward slash I-T-A-L-K-I.
When you register there, we'll send you $10 off your second lesson with Mary.
So that's how you get our special deal as an All Ears English listener.
Step two is to go to Mary's profile. So Mary, can you tell our listeners how to find your profile?
Definitely. So on italki.com, which is exactly what it sounds like, italki.com forward slash Mary Rosen, which is M-A-R-Y-R-O-S-E-N.
Okay, very good. So guys, we want to encourage you to go on over there and book a lesson right away.
I'm sure we're going to have quite a few listeners going over to Mary's profile.
So you want to do that as soon as you can to make sure that you get that session scheduled in because there's going to be a little competition for this.
I have a feeling. Very cool. Mary, thank you so much for coming on the show today to talk about interviews.
It's such a key topic in terms of our dreams, right?
And our visions for our lives. Definitely.
And thank you so much for having me, Lindsay.
Yeah, it's been great to meet you. Hope to have you on again soon.
Me too. Thanks. Take care. All right. Bye.
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