You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin, and I'll be your host for today's lesson on conducting an interview.
How do you assess potential employees or contractors or business partners, or anyone for that matter?
Well, you can look at a person's resume or CV.
And for more information, you can Google someone.
But that's never enough to really get an idea about someone.
What we rely on are interviews, which can be very powerful tools.
Interviews give us a chance to meet someone face to face, to ask tough questions, to find out how they solve problems and to really get a sense of how they interact.
Asking someone questions face to face is not only important for job interviews.
There are a wide range of situations where interview techniques are useful.
Say you want to build a relationship with a new supplier.
You'll want to ask some questions and get to know the company.
Or maybe you want to contract a tech support company.
You'll want to do interviews to see who is the right fit.
Interviewing is a skill, just like being interviewed, and there are some excellent techniques that you can learn to become a better interviewer.
Today we'll look at how to make someone feel comfortable, how to ask open-ended questions and how to get someone to give recommendations and provide more detail.
In the dialogue, we'll hear Sandy and Lee interviewing Maria.
Sandy and Lee work for an international fast-moving consumer goods or FMCG company that is expanding into Asia.
They are looking for the right person to lead this expansion.
As you listen, try to answer the following questions.
1.
Maria talks about her experience at Brazil Foods.
What aspect of her work does Sandy want to hear more about?
2.
What does Sandy want Maria's thoughts about?
3.
Which idea does Lee want Maria to explain in more detail?
Well, Maria, from what we've seen so far, you certainly have a diverse resume.
Thank you.
I consider myself pretty fortunate in that respect.
Indeed.
And I have to say, it makes me want to get out and travel more.
I haven't been to Europe in years.
Now, why don't we talk a bit more about some of your work?
Certainly.
Right.
So you're with Brazil Foods for five years, yes?
What can you tell us about that?
Well, it was a really great company to work for.
Great people at every level of the organization, and a real commitment to quality.
As you probably know, they've been expanding pretty rapidly and I had the opportunity to help that happen in Europe.
I see.
So you were involved in their expansion?
In what capacity was that?
Well, I was the lead finance manager overseeing distribution in Europe, which was a completely new region for us at the time.
The company is strong on logistics, but rolling out our products at such a great distance was a real challenge, as I'm sure you can imagine.
We certainly can.
But despite the challenges, we were able to build some great relationships fairly quickly.
And overall, it turned out better than anyone imagined.
That's interesting.
Expanding into new markets is definitely no cakewalk.
And it's something we are investing a lot of resources in also.
As you know, coming to Asia is a huge step for us.
So, as someone who's been involved in this type of operation, do you have any thoughts about how we should approach this?
Yes, I do.
At Brazil Foods, we did it right, but I've seen it work out poorly as well.
From what I've seen, I really believe that doing it right hinges on several factors.
And the two most important are learning about your market and controlling inventory.
Okay, sure, I get the point about inventory.
That's kind of a given.
But what do you actually mean by learning about your market?
I'm glad you asked.
I think it starts with an understanding of the people.
And I don't just mean demographics, but culture, values, and tastes.
It also means understanding how business is done.
That includes everything from legalities to business etiquette.
Too many companies try to simply transplant their operations into foreign markets.
But it doesn't work, for obvious reasons.
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the techniques Sandy and Lee used in the interview.
Well, Maria, from what we've seen so far, you certainly have a diverse resume.
Thank you.
I consider myself pretty fortunate in that respect.
Indeed.
And I have to say, it makes me want to get out and travel more.
I haven't been to Europe in years.
We are joining the interview after everyone has already introduced themselves.
In this dialogue, Sandy begins by complimenting Maria on her diverse resume, which means that she has a great variety of work experience.
Maria accepts this compliment by saying that she feels she's fortunate or lucky for her experience.
At this point, Sandy wants to ask Maria some more specific questions.
But first, she wants to make her feel comfortable.
Interviews can be stressful.
To get good information and understand someone well, we often try to get them to relax first.
Sandy mentions traveling and going to Europe in order to make the interview seem more personal.
By expressing her own desires, Sandy creates a conversational feeling, which helps Maria relax.
Helping people relax and feel comfortable is a useful skill for all types of situations.
So let's practice some more ways we can do this.
Well, I'm really glad you can come in and talk with us today.
So, you're a runner.
Sounds like we have something in common.
It's certainly nice to see someone from the West Coast applying for the job.
Would you like some coffee or anything else?
Now Sandy can transition to talk about work.
Now, why don't we talk a bit more about some of your work?
Certainly.
Right.
So you're with Brazil Foods for five years, yes?
What can you tell us about that?
Using the word now shows that Sandy wants to switch topics.
She then says, why don't we talk about work?
Even though she's not asking a question, it's just an informal way of introducing a new topic.
This opens the door for Lee to ask about Maria's experience at Brazil Foods.
He starts with a statement.
You were with Brazil Foods for five years?
Followed by the tag question, yes?
Lee doesn't really need Maria to answer yes or no.
He's just setting up his next question.
What can you tell us about that?
This is an open-ended question.
Open-ended questions are quite useful when we first start discussing a topic, because it encourages the person to summarize an experience or an idea.
Open-ended questions let the interviewee decide what to emphasize.
Then the interviewer can draw out more detail later.
Here are some more examples of open-ended questions.
How was your time in Korea with IBM?
So tell us a bit about your experience in TV advertising.
You moved from London to Paris.
What was that like?
Can you tell me about your experience at Columbia?
So how does Maria respond to the open-ended question?
Well, it was a really great company to work for.
Great people at every level of the organization, and a real commitment to quality.
As you probably know, they've been expanding pretty rapidly and I had the opportunity to help that happen in Europe.
I see.
So you were involved in their expansion.
In what capacity was that?
Maria speaks very positively about Brazil Foods.
She mentions that it was a great company with great people and a commitment to quality.
More specifically, Maria mentions that the company has been expanding quickly and that she helped that expansion happen in Europe.
Maria's experience in the expansion of the company is something that Sandy and Lee want to know more about, because their own company is expanding too.
But to really evaluate Maria, they need more detail about her experience.
And detail is what Sandy tries to get.
She makes a statement in the form of a question.
You were involved in their expansion.
Sandy doesn't want a yes or no answer.
She wants more information.
Specifically, she wants to know in what capacity Maria was involved.
In other words, what exactly was Maria's role in the expansion?
Inviting more detail is an important technique in any questioning process.
In the following examples, notice how the first statement or question expresses interest.
And the second question invites more detail.
You had your own financial services business?
How long did you run that?
I'm curious to know more about that experience.
What did you learn from it?
Three years in Dubai.
What type of work did you do there?
So, you worked as a safety advisor.
What types of issues did you deal with?
Now, let's hear how Maria responds.
Well, I was the lead finance manager overseeing distribution in Europe, which was a completely new region for us at the time.
The company is strong on logistics, but rolling out our products at such a great distance was a real challenge.
Maria is talking about her experience in more detail, stating that she was the lead finance manager in Europe.
Then she explains the situation, saying the company was strong on logistics.
When a company is strong on something, it means the company does it well.
But Europe was a real challenge because of the distance at which they had to roll out or distribute their products.
Maria goes on to say that the company was successful despite the challenges.
And since Maria was lead finance manager, she is suggesting that she helped make that success happen.
Sandy and Lee have taken Maria's general explanation of her experience and encouraged her to go into more detail.
This can help them evaluate Maria for the position.
But Maria's experience needs to be connected to the needs of Sandy and Lee's company.
That's interesting.
Expanding into new markets is definitely no cakewalk.
And it's something we are investing a lot of resources in also.
As you know, coming to Asia is a huge step for us.
So, as someone who's been involved in this type of operation, do you have any thoughts about how we should approach this?
Maria talked about the challenges of expansion.
And Sandy agrees that it's no cakewalk.
A cakewalk is something easy or simple to do.
Sandy also talks about the cost and importance of their Asian expansion, in order to set up her next question, which is do you have any thoughts about how we should approach this?
Sandy wants recommendations.
She has learned about Maria's experience and now wants Maria to use that experience to make suggestions.
Asking for recommendations is a great way to assess someone's knowledge and ability.
So let's run through some more examples.
Looking at our situation for a second, what do you think we should be focusing on?
In your opinion, how can we reach our target market?
Do you see any room for improvement in our current advertising?
What would you recommend if we're thinking about expansion?
So, what are Maria's recommendations?
Yes, I do.
At Brazil Foods, we did it right, but I've seen it work out poorly as well.
From what I've seen, I really believe that doing it right hinges on several factors.
And the two most important are learning about your market and controlling inventory.
Okay, sure, I get the point about inventory.
That's kind of a given.
But what do you actually mean by learning about your market?
Maria is careful to point out that she's seen both successes and failures during the expansion.
This helps show that she has a broad understanding of the issues.
Then Maria states that doing it right hinges on, or depends on, several factors.
And finally, she points out what she thinks are the two most important learning about your market and controlling inventory.
It's a good response, but it's quite general.
And Lee isn't satisfied.
He wants to push for more detail from Maria.
Lee says he gets or understands the idea of controlling inventory, but he wants to know more about the idea of learning about your market.
So he asks very directly.
Lee simply says, what do you actually mean?
In interview situations, whether it's for a job or anything else, we often get answers without much detail.
To get that detail, we need to push for it.
Let's hear some more ways we can do this.
You say you advise companies on change management.
What exactly is that?
Diverse experience could mean a lot of things.
What did you actually do?
What does enhance mean in this case?
How did you enhance onboarding?
So you assisted in strategic planning.
How?
What did that involve?
Now, let's hear Maria explain what learning about your market means.
I'm glad you asked.
I think it starts with an understanding of the people.
And I don't just mean demographics, but culture, values and tastes.
It also means understanding how business is done.
That includes everything from legalities to business etiquette.
Too many companies try to simply transplant their operations into foreign markets.
But it doesn't work, for obvious reasons.
That's definitely a more detailed answer than Maria gave at first, and Lee was smart to take the topic of learning about your market and push for more explanation.
According to Maria, it's important to understand people, which includes their values, or what they believe, and their tastes, or what they like and dislike.
Learning about the market also means understanding the business culture, including etiquette, which means manners, customs and politeness.
Maria is beginning to talk not just about her experience, but her ideas about business.
And in the next lesson, we'll hear Sandy and Lee ask Maria more about her business approach.
Now, let's practice some of the language we learned for inviting more detail.
You'll hear a statement by an interviewee, then you'll hear a prompt.
Use the words in the prompt to invite more detail about the ideas in the statement.
For example, if you hear, I worked for several years in Asia.
Exactly, kind, work, do.
You can say, exactly what kind of work did you do there?
We'll play an example answer after each question.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
I implemented some important policy changes at my last company.
Curious, hear, changes, made.
Answer.
I'm curious to hear more about these changes you made.
Within two years, we were in a position to buy out our major competitor.
Answer.
I'd like to know how the business achieved success so quickly.
There were some pretty major staffing problems.
Answer.
Could you explain more about the type of problems you had?
I've been involved in some pretty interesting tech startups.
Give examples companies worked.
Answer.
Can you give me some examples of companies you've worked with?
Now, let's practice useful vocabulary and idioms.
You'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, including the missing word.
For example, if you hear, We have a staff of people from around the world.
You can say, We have a diverse staff of people from around the world.
After each response, we'll play the correct answer.
Let's begin.
So, you were transferred to France to the new office there.
Answer.
So, you were transferred to France to oversee the new office there.
Moving into the retail business is a huge... for us.
Answer.
Moving into the retail business is a huge step for us.
We are hoping to roll... our fall line next month.
Answer.
We are hoping to roll out our fall line next month.
You say you have a strong... to quality and efficiency.
Answer.
You say you have a strong commitment to quality and efficiency.
We've reached the end of this lesson, the first in our two-part series about conducting a job interview.
We've learned how to make someone feel comfortable, invite or push for more detail, ask open-ended questions and ask for recommendations.
Be sure to tune in for the next episode, when we'll hear Sandy and Lee continue their interview with Maria.
They'll use some more useful techniques to figure out if Maria is the right person for the job.
Thanks for listening and see you again soon.
