Hi everyone my name is Amy and I'm from
realenglishconversations.com and i'm
here with Greg from onlinelanguage
academy.com and what are we going to
talk about today Greg? we're going to
talk about advice for doing interviews
in English yep and things that you
should not do in your interview if you
really really like to get a job which we
know many of you are studying English
for that reason to finally get a job at
an english-speaking company and really
use this skill that you've been working
really really hard on to try to improve
so the reason why I'm talking to Greg
about this is he has well why don't you
explain your website Greg what do you do?
so I run online language academy.
com it's a company that offers
one-to-one classes via Skype with native
English teachers so the teachers are all
around the world students are all around
the world and we help those students
reach a high level of spoken English and
yeah I often ask well always ask the
students at the beginning what is your
reason for learning English and almost
always it is for work for getting a
better job or you know for doing an
interview in English so it's it's really
important this first step in getting
an interview and doing an interview in
English it's a really really important
thing for many of our students it's the
whole goal and for you you're such a
great person to talk to about this
because you've hired so many different
teachers in the time or your website
to do these conversation lessons which
means you've done a lot of interviews
absolutely yeah when I was a kid I wish
I had the opportunity to interview so
many people because it really is the
best way to give you an idea of what you
should do in an interview and what you
absolutely should not do in the interview so
I have
lot of good and bad experiences from
these past seven years alright so why
don't we start with the first things
that you see before you even approach
the person to do an interview because of
course to get an interview is the first
step before you actually even have one
yeah so what are a few of the mistakes
that you see over and over and over
again that you think you can give some
advice to help some people to not do
yeah I mean I think when people when
many people apply for a job via email
they don't realize that the person
reading that is going to receive maybe a
hundred or more applications for the
same job okay and that they don't have
all week to read every single one so
every detail exactly as amazing is it
may be yeah yeah I'm sure you love your
CV but believe me the interviewer is not
going to be able to read every detail of
every CV before they decide who to give
an interview to so so you've got to
stand out okay you've got to stand out
you've got to be unique and if I'm
reading 10 CV's in a minute why am I
going to look at yours okay if it's a
simple word document which is just ugly
text I'm not going to really enjoy
reading it but if it's a an elegant
creative CV done with you know lots of
visuals I know some people use
illustrator which is fantastic they
the CV created with illustrator
stand out so so much and I guarantee you I
will read every detail on that CV so
that's really interesting because now
that we're in a digital era of time I
like I think of when I used to apply for
jobs it was a piece of paper and I
walked around to different businesses
but now you know you have an opportunity
to really impress or
take it up a step because of
Technology and like you said illustrator
makes it a little bit more interactive is
it interactive? I don't know about it it's
just a lot more visual so instead of
saying for example I speak English
English French Spanish and Italian they
would create like a almost like a graph
where English would be up here and it
would say native Spanish would be up
here bilingual French would be up here
you know advanced and Italian would be a
little bit down here and there would be the
colors of the flags of those countries
oh that's cool it's yeah it's just a lot
more visually pleasing to look at that
than to read the same old text in black
and white Spanish into advanced you
know this intermediate Blah Blah Blah
it just makes it a lot more interesting
and it also gives you the idea that hey
this is a creative person no matter what
they're doing they're creative and they care
about the job that they're applying for
so it's it's great and you can I think
you can add links to them and as you said
we're in a digital era now and the
person reading it is going to be
connected to the Internet and just with
one click on a certain part of your CV
if it's a PDF you know you can click to
the applicants website which could be just
a simple about dot me website which
could be you know a photo and some just you
know one page introduction to you but it
just makes you different and stand out
that's right and have you had anybody
that's been attaching a video as part of
their application? or how common is that
now? since this academic year I
actually demand that all applicants send
a video, yeah? wow! yeah this does basically I
mean I used to get a hundred sometimes
even two hundred applications
for one job posting that I put oh okay and
what this does I put on my applications
now I put if you don't send a video
your application will not be considered
and yeah really really really harsh but
what it does is it makes sure that
everybody who applies is really really
serious about the job they they've
made the effort to make a video they
know how to use a computer which is
important if you're giving classes via
Skype and and it gives a great first
impression of me I mean I have to have
native English speakers but when I used
to get two hundred applications a lot of them
would be people whose whose English was
very good but it was not their their
mother tongue so oh geez so you can't tell from
the resume or the CV but in a video
it's very evident whether or not it's
their native language absolutely my
my surname is Italian so I know hey if
I'm writing to somebody maybe they think
I'm Italian you know I know that a lot
of a lot of teachers have you can't tell
you can't tell just by looking at their
name if there are native teacher or not
that's right and you might get an application
from Alfredo Blanco and he'll call himself
Fred White and you don't know until the
interview that is actually Spanish
a different yeah he's a Spanish speaker
and definitely not a native speaker
which you would be looking for
especially for your English lessons that
you do absolutely yeah and I think it also really
helps where the person they can show
their personality they're just able
to express themselves a little bit more
and give you a few seconds to just make
that impression that first impression
and and you know I really personally
if I'm watching a video when I'm trying
to hire someone because I hire some
freelancers sometimes I really notice
but if a person is just hello my name
is so-and-so and this is what
I do yeah okay thank you bye it's not
very exciting for them and it's not
exciting for us so it's no probably
going to be a next absolutely and it's
you know we're talking about a job for
a teacher of it doesn't have to be a well I mean
the my case I'm looking for teachers but
if you're dealing with the public or if
you're dealing with other people you
want to see that this person is going to
connect is going to be have a nice
personality be be friendly be a you know
you want to see their personality in
that video and you don't want them to just
read a script read some notes they've made
saying everything you want to hear no you
want to know who is this person who are
they are they going to be a good fit
with me can I connect with them in this
short introduction and it's more than
you can really do with a piece of paper
or a presentation it's it puts more than
words on paper to actually see someone
speaking and I mean just taking the time
to make a video that really shows a lot
about how serious they are about the
job so yeah a lot of people don't like
making a video or you know don't
like putting it even on YouTube I mean
you can put it on youtube and put a
private link that you can attach to the
CV but some people just don't want to do
that and they're they're not willing to
do that for a job then we're talking
about a job you've got to make the
effort to get a job you're not just
going to get it on a plate and if you're
not willing to make the extra effort for
the application then you're probably not
going to be willing to make the extra
effort or you go the extra mile in your
actual job so it's a great first test
really and I think that goes also to
when you're creating your resume it's
really important to add a little bit of
personalization to take the time to say
what company you're applying to why you
want to work for them I mean whether
it's a cover letter or just a little note
at the top of the page that
personalization really helps separate
them yes absolutely I've got CV's
or applications by email with no text
whatsoever to I can see they sent it to
my Academy to about twenty other academies I
oh no I just think bulksending
absolutely uninterested in working for
my yes you're just interested in you and
you expecting people to make the effort
to get in touch with you so straight in
the bin no yeah and it really I mean as
an employer that's hiring people this is
your livelihood it's your business and you
care about who is representing your
business and your brand so for us it's
really important that we hire the right
people and obviously someone who can't
take a minute to look at our company
really take the time to personalize it I
don't know that it's going to be a good
fit for me no absolutely no
you need no you got to go you've got to
always go the extra mile because there
are a hundred people applying for the
same job as you so you've got to stand
out you've got to be the best not just
good but you've got to be the best so
let's pretend now that this person gets
a job they have personalized their email
they've made an attractive resume to
attach to the email you see all of their
skills you think they're a good fit you
call them up and you have an interview
now what are some of the characteristics
that maybe would separate them
positively versus negatively during that
interview yeah well negatively I
have many stories I mean because all my
classes are all my interviews are via
Skype I mean the teachers are all over
the world so it's incredible
how many people just don't know how to
act in an interview
okay yeah it's via skype but it's still a
real interview so that I mean I've given
an interview to a guy who was lying on
his bed once I've given an interview to a
guy who had his cat with him he was
stroking his cat during an interview
that's distracting and awkward I just
thought would you take your cat to a
real interview no so don't bring your
cat to a Skype interview what else
yeah people just not preparing the
interview well and by that I mean yeah
if you're going to a physical interview
you would you would realize where the
place is you would make sure your car has
petrol to get there it's the same on
Skype make sure your laptop is plugged
in to the make sure you're in a part of
the house where it looks professional in
the background where you are not going
to be disturbed by family members or
pets during the interview and your
laptop isn't going to die right in the
middle of the interview because you know
yeah yeah just take the time plug it in
make sure I mean if the internet
disconnects or something that's beyond
your control yeah that's fine you know do everything
you can to try to make it be prepared
and I mean I would say even like I have
a cat and if if she came up into the
interview oh no the cat jumped up in
front of me it would be excuse me one
second my cat has decided to join me and
she's not part of this yeah yeah don't start
stroking exactly apologize I mean it's
it's all about preparation how serious
are you about the job and if you're
serious then you're prepared you've made
sure everything is perfect conditions
for the interview so that's right so you
can focus yeah are there I know for
me when I used to hire delivery drivers
for my delivery company I always had a
few questions that I asked that really
made the person think or I would ask
them the questions so that they could I
don't know it's almost like the answer
reveals
more than it seems do you have any
questions that you like to ask like this
in your interview? I do yeah I in fact
they're the first and the last question
I ask actually for me are the most
important and and I think as the
interviewee you should also treat the
always the first and the last question
as the most important because it's
the first impression and the last
impression it's you know the first
impressions are so important and the
last impression is what the interviewer
is going to remember more than anything
so it's very good to prepare the two
questions very well but my first
question is always what do you know
about me and online language academy? oh
good question so this is again it's a
bit of a test it's a bit of me seeing is
this person wasting my time or are they
serious about their application because
you know I'm basically asking have you
researched the company? do you know who I
am? you know do you know about what type
of classes we offer? have you been on the
website? have you do you care enough to
have spend half an hour navigating
around social media? and like are you
genuinely interested in working for us?
yeah because if you haven't been to the
website yet and you don't really know
what we do I don't know and you want to know
that they want to work for you for your
business not just for anybody but they
really want to work for your company and
if they do they've researched it so yeah that's
key that's really really good advice and I
mean I'm sure it's out there but really
when it's your business like if it's my
business and somebody you can tell
they've went through the website they've
looked at the pages they're talking
about some of the things some of the
finer details even where you're like wow
you know that's impressive especially to
the owner yeah oh my my I mean the
best the best answer I've had was one
one girl recently she was
she knew everything about the most
recent blog post we've done about blog
post I barely remembered I mean from
ages ago she really did extensive
research the worst also very recently I
said what do you know about the company?
and he said well I know that you teach
classes via Skype I think and I know and
I know that you pay x amount of euros
per class so basically yeah that the
pay he knew what the money was.. you read the add? yeah that's
definitely so something you should
definitely not do is walk into an
interview or have a Skype interview
without knowing anything about the
company that you're applying for a job
yeah okay and what's the last question
that you like to ask? okay so the last
one is have you got any questions? alright
which is a simple question and I
think every interviewer asks this but
what I'm actually asking is not have you
got any questions? I'm asking them well
I'm giving them basically an opportunity
to tell me how awesome they are alright
and how that everything we've
talked about in the interview that's
great but I'm giving them then an
opportunity to tell me more information
you know what extra can you do yes we've
talked about the fact that we for
example we teach business English
interview preparation conversation
classes but maybe in this in this part
they could say hey do me do you help
students prepare for IELTS and TOEFL
because I have extra experience doing
that and I've been here there I've
traveled to this country teaching this
teaching that it's a great way for them
to to give give more information about
how great they are that's right and it's
just opening up that dialogue or if they
do have a question or they want to know
more about the classes it might give
them an opportunity to
really talk about their specialty like
they could ask a question that would
really allow them to start explaining
how they can be an asset and how the way
they teach is unique or tell another
story or something that they didn't have
an opportunity to share during the job
interview yeah and let me tell you the
the best answer I got to this when I
said today it was really recently I said
have you got any questions and she said
to me what type of interviewer what type
of person are you hoping to hire? yeah
what is the what is the winning
applicant going to be like? and I said
woah okay I was not expecting so I said
okay so well obviously a great teacher
but apart from that I want this person
to to be professional I want them to
give a great image of online language
academy you're an ambassador for the
Academy as well as a teacher and I want
you to go the extra mile and that means
yes you're teaching classes via Skype
but not just that I want you to you know
go the extra mile give the students what
they need what they want and more and
and and she said wow that that's me that
you ah nice! that's good that's a really really good trick
because I I think when you're an
interviewee and you're in that situation
and sometimes the person on the other
side of the interview the interviewer
and they're a little bit you can you
don't know what they're thinking they
have their poker face on yeah and you
give them an answer and they write down
some notes and they make you kind of
nervous and you're like okay was that a
good note so you might be able to say
you know by throwing that answer back
can you tell me what your ideal
candidate looks like it again gives you
that opportunity to really sell yourself
and
promote the skills that you have and how
you are that person that they're looking
for yeah it was an absolutely winning
interview I came out of that interview
with a big big smile on my face I
remember yeah speaking to my wife
afterwards and I said to my wife I said
there's just one more thing that she needs
to do in order to be the perfect
candidate nice and that was and what was that? and that was
top tip after the interview I always
recommend just writing a simple quick
email to the person who interviewed you
just saying okay thank you for your time
if you've got any questions just let me
know and I appreciate the opportunity
that you're giving me you know just just
a short email but it just proves that
I've talked about going the extra mile
and it's a great example of that you
know yes I expect you to come to the
interview and and give a good interview
but an extra is the nice little
email afterwards and it just shows it was really
nice to meet you thank you for the
opportunity I'm looking forward to
hearing from you or something like that
exactly yeah and it just shows they're
really nice person good manners
professional they care about the job and
that they will go the extra mile to get
the job and that is a winning
thing for me it really is well so yeah I
think these are some really really great
tips for people for how to
handle a job interview and really get
through the first part have success
during the interview and for me I tend
to get nervous well I used to get
nervous during job interviews do you
have any advice for for people to deal
with their nerves? because this isn't
their first language likely and it can
be pretty intimidating trying to do a
difficult interview in English when it's
not your first language yeah I mean
interviews are
nerve-racking they make you nervous in
your language yeah but in a foreign
language it's it's even worse it's like yeah woah
so two main things you should the
first question is always usually the
same hi how are you? tell me a little bit
about yourself yeah so just visualize
this moment visualize yourself going to
the interview visualize yourself shaking
their hand sitting down do it in your mind
time and again and answer that first
question a million times in your mind
because if you if you've done it so many
times in your mind then when you do it
in reality it's easy you've been there
you've done it you know what you're
going to say you know what you want to say
you know how you're going to act so it
really helps calm the nerves at the
beginning of the interview just to get
you through the first few seconds where
you just walk in and you're like oh my
god my palms sweaty I just wiped it
off shake their hand sit down how are
you doing? I'm good and by the time
you're there your anxiety is already
going down and you can start focusing on
the new questions that you're not sure
yeah what you're going to have to answer
yeah that first question is just getting
getting rid of the nerves really and and
then and then the yeah the following
questions great prepare them I mean
you know the typical questions that
they're going to give you in an
interview and you can practice those
with a native English teacher you know
practice them with that's we help many
students prepare interviews and we go
through all the typical questions that
they ask we go through their CV as
well make sure you're able to expand on
everything that is written on your CV
because the interviewer will ask you
about about that and how they can
connect that back to the job that
they're applying for yeah you know even
if it's a completely unrelated job if
you can prepare the answer
in your head in English obviously about
the experience that's on your resume it
can help it come out a little bit easier
and you've already thought about how
past experience could possibly relate to
this job everything we do we learn from
even if it's not the same industry
right? yeah and that relating to this job
is a positive and you always want to
finish every answer on a positive note
you want to talk about your experiences
which is a great way to speak more
fluently by the way if you're speaking
about past experiences you're speaking
from you're speaking from the heart that's right and
not too much from you're not too the grammar brain
yeah the grammar brain yeah yeah so it really
helps you speak fluently and yeah and
then use that example to relate to how
you can help the company based on your
past experience that's a great tip yeah do you have
do you have any other advice for helping
people with their nerves in interviews?
is there anything else they can do? yeah I
think and I talked about the visualize
in it before but I think the best thing
you can do is practice the
interview beforehand and practice it
with somebody who you are really really
really uncomfortable oh no doing it with yeah so
that makes me nervous just thinking about
it oh my the way I used to do it with my
dad like I used to practice interviews
with my dad for work interviews
at university I studied French and
Spanish and Italian actually so I had
lots and lots of oral exams and I always
used to practice the oral exam with a
friend a classmate okay and it was just
the worst so so embarrassing and awkward
you feel terrible but yeah you can do it
with them then when we interview comes
it's easy it's easy because you don't
know this person and you've been through
you've broken that that barrier of fear
and embarrassment and anxiety that you
feel you've already been through it you
didn't want to talk to this person
you've been through that experience and
now you're like okay this is just
someone I don't know it's okay yeah it's a
great great tip so yeah do it with yeah
your friend your neighbor your
mom whoever whoever you feel the worst
doing it with do it with that person
yeah and it'll be a breeze it'll be easy
when the big interview comes
yeah maybe it could be I mean if they're
already a student with you and
they're doing the preparation for their
job interview maybe it would be better
to have it with a new teacher that
they've never worked with or something
just to create that circumstance where
okay this is someone I don't know i'm
going to practice with this person I yeah that's a great idea it really
is and yeah we've had that sometimes I had a
had a student last week actually write
to me saying I want I've got my
interview on Friday I want an interview
practice with a different teacher every
day of the week so I can you know do
that so I can feel like I'm speaking to
somebody new I'm not familiar with their
accent and they had different accents
every week every day until the interview
Wow well that's that's a good
challenging preparation but it's true
you don't know who the person doing the
interview you don't know how they're
going to speak or what their
personalities like so by exposing
yourself to different situations like
that it really prepares you to be able
to interact with anybody and be more
versatile that's great I really like
this conversation this some great advice
whether you're learning english or just
applying for a job in general so I think
there's a lot to learn here I guess
i just want to make sure that we remind
everybody please give us a thumbs up on
this video we really want to get a like
and leave a comment if you have made any
of these mistakes or maybe other tips
that you have that people
should never do in a job interview yes
please please share it with everybody
you know because it's it's it's
incredible it really is incredible how many
people need a job and how many bad
applications I get and I'm sure all
other employers get hundreds of bad
applications so that's right share it with your
friends and let's help your friends get a job yeah
you know anybody who's applying
for a job that speaks English or is
learning English preparing to try to get
a job in an english-speaking country
this would be a very valuable video so
good point and send them the link share
it with them spread the word and yeah
subscribe to our channels of course and
I think that that's it it was really
nice talking to you Greg thank you so
much for the advice yeah thanks for
having us Amy we'll speak soon I
hope okay alright we'll see yeah
see yeah bye for now ciao!
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