Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 408.
Calling someone you haven't met about a job.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 408.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com and download a learning guide for this episode.
The Learning Guide is an 8-10 page guide we produce for all of our current episodes.
That includes the complete transcript of everything we say on this episode, as well as vocabulary definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions and additional definitions that we don't discuss on the episode.
This episode is called Calling Someone You Haven't Met About a Job.
It's a telephone conversation between someone who is looking for a job and someone who works at the company where this person wants to work.
Let's get started.
Hello.
Hello.
May I speak to Candice Cho, please?
Speaking.
Oh, hello, Ms.
Cho.
My name is Mehdi, and I'm interested in applying for the job as assistant manager.
Your name was listed as the contact person.
Am I calling at a bad time?
No, not at all.
I'm the administrative assistant and I'm fielding calls for the person doing the hiring.
What can I do for you?
Well, I read the job description and I think I would be a good fit.
But I was wondering if there are any special qualifications not mentioned in the description.
Well, requirements are spelled out in the description, and I don't have much to add, really.
But I do know that the person doing the hiring is looking for someone to start immediately.
Can you do that?
Sure, that's no problem.
I'll be sure to mention that in my cover letter.
Thanks.
If you've had experience managing a large staff, be sure to emphasize that in your resume.
Any other questions?
No, no other questions.
Thank you very much for your time.
You've been very helpful.
Thanks.
I really appreciate the vote of confidence.
The telephone conversation begins with...
Candice picking up the phone and saying hello.
Mehdi says hello.
May I speak to Candice Cho, please?
The expression, may I speak to, is a polite way of asking someone on the telephone to speak to a specific person.
Hello.
Hello.
May I speak to the manager, please?
Candice responds, Speaking.
If you answer the phone and someone asks for you, but doesn't know that it is you who is talking on the phone, you say Speaking.
In other words, the person you are asking for is speaking.
I am that person.
That's another way of saying speaking.
Yes, this is me.
Mehdi says, oh, hello, Ms.
Cho.
Notice that in business, Ms. is the most common way of addressing a woman.
My name is Mehdi, and I'm interested in applying for the job as assistant manager.
Your name was listed as the contact person.
So, Mehdi is saying that he wants to apply for the job.
He wants to fill out an application and be interviewed.
Candace Cho was listed as the contact person.
Listed here just means her name appeared in the advertisement.
The contact person is the person who you call or write to if you want more information about something.
Mehdi says, am I calling at a bad time?
This is a polite phrase we use to make sure that the person that we are calling, who may not be expecting our call, who didn't know we were going to call, is not busy, that they don't have something else they need to do instead of talking to you on the telephone.
It also gives them an opportunity to say, well, yes, this is a busy time.
Can you call me back tomorrow at 10 o'clock, for example?
Candice says, no, not at all.
Meaning, no, this is not a bad time. which is another way of saying, yes, this is a good time.
I can talk now.
She says, I'm the administrative assistant and I'm fielding calls for the person doing the hiring.
An administrative assistant is another word or term for an, a secretary or someone who does work in an office to help other employees, such as answering phones and emails, writing letters, making photocopies and so forth.
We used to just call these people secretaries, but now we call them administrative assistants.
It sounds more important.
Candice says she's fielding calls.
To field, F-I-E-L-D, calls, means to answer phone calls for someone else, for another person.
Usually a more important person, someone that you are working for, who doesn't want to answer his or her own phone calls.
So to field calls also means to decide which phone calls are important enough to give to the person you work for.
This verb to field has a couple of interesting different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
You'll also find in our learning guide a discussion of phone etiquette, that is, common practices in talking on the telephone in the United States.
That's also in our learning guide.
Candice says that she's fielding calls or fielding phone calls for the person doing the hiring.
Someone who hires is someone who selects the person to work in a new job.
So you apply to a company for a job.
Someone in the company has to make the final decision to hire you, to employ you, to give you the job.
What can I do for you, Candice asks.
Mary says, well...
I read the job description and I think I would be a good fit.
The job description is usually a short written document that has specific information about the job, including what you will have to do and what the qualifications are.
That is what you need in terms of education and experience in order to get the job.
That's the job description.
The job description for my job as host of ESL podcast would be to be very good looking and to be a good singer.
Fortunately, I am very qualified for that.
Mehdi says he thinks he'll be a good fit for the job, meaning good that the job will be similar to his own experience and his own education.
He will be able to do everything the job needs him to do.
So it's a good match.
It's a good fit between the job and Medhi.
Mery says I was wondering if there are any special qualifications, things that he will need to be able to do, not mentioned in the job description.
Candice says, well, requirements are spelled out in the description.
Here, to spell out means to provide detailed information, to include all of the details.
The job description spells out all the things that you need to do in order to get paid.
To spell out means to give details.
It actually has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look once again at our learning guide for some additional explanations of this expression to spell out.
Candice says, I don't have much to add, meaning I don't have any additional information I can give you about this, but I do know that the person doing the hiring is looking for someone to start immediately.
In other words, they want someone who can begin work immediately, who doesn't need a week or two weeks before they can begin working.
Can you do that?
Candace asks.
And Mehdi says, sure, that's no problem.
I'll be sure to mention that in my cover letter.
I will talk about that in my cover letter.
A cover letter is a usually one-page letter that you send, along with perhaps, your resume or CV, the listing of all your jobs, experience and education.
It's something you send when you are applying for a job.
So it's a letter that gives a summary of your qualifications and It gives the person a chance to get to know you a little better.
That's a cover letter.
Candice said if you've had experience managing a large staff, be sure to emphasize that in your resume.
A staff is a group of employees.
To emphasize means to say or write something in a way that makes it seem important or more important.
Your resume or your CV or curriculum vitae is usually a one or two but could be much longer page document that describes all of your education, your work experience, your skills, perhaps any honors or awards that you've received.
All this would be part of your resume or CV.
Mindy says he doesn't have any other questions and thanks Candice for her time.
Candice says, your questions show a lot of initiative.
I'm sure you'll do fine.
Initiative is the willingness and ability to do something without someone else asking you to do it first.
So you see something that needs to be done at your job, you just go do it.
You don't wait until someone tells you or asks you to do something.
You do it on your own initiative.
So showing initiative is to demonstrate that you are willing to go and do something without being asked first.
Many thanks, Candice.
And says, I really appreciate the vote of confidence.
Here.
Vote of confidence means support the belief that you can do something, the belief that you are able to do something well.
Someone says to you, I'm sure that you will do this job very well.
They are giving you a vote of confidence.
They are saying, yes, I support you.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hello?
Hello, may I speak to Candice Cho, please?
Speaking.
Oh, hello, Ms.
Cho.
My name is Mehdi, and I'm interested in applying for the job as assistant manager.
Your name was listed as the contact person.
Am I calling at a bad time?
No, not at all.
I'm the administrative assistant, and I'm fielding calls for the person doing the hiring.
What can I do for you?
Well, I read the job description, and I think I would be a good fit.
But I was wondering if there are any special qualifications not mentioned in the description.
Well, requirements are spelled out in the description, and I don't have much to add, really.
But I do know that the person doing the hiring is looking for someone to start immediately.
Can you do that?
Sure, that's no problem.
I'll be sure to mention that in my cover letter.
Thanks.
If you've had experience managing a large staff, be sure to emphasize that in your resume.
Any other questions?
No, no other questions.
Thank you very much for your time.
You've been very helpful.
Your questions show a lot of initiative.
I'm sure you'll do fine.
Thanks.
I really appreciate the vote of confidence.
The script for this episode was written by someone with a lot of qualifications, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
