LJ 3 Opstromers- Job interview

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 3

Job interview

Lesson goals

• You can name your strengths and weaknesses.
• You can name the important elements of a job interview.
• You can hold a job interview and answer the questions.

Remember: presentation (aka your appearance is important)!

Job interview

During a job interview you will have to know what your job entails, and should be able to tell why you would be good at your job!

We are going to watch a clip in which people totally mess up their job interviews.

Pay attention! Write down three things the applicants are doing wrong for your exercise 1 (p.71 in your reader) in your worksheet.

So, what went wrong during their job interview?

Job interview

What went wrong during the job interview:

Inappropriate introduction: Don’t shout or wear the wrong clothing. Address the people in the right way.

Know the company: Know the name(s) of the person/people who invited you, and know what the company expects of you.

Hobbies: Make sure your hobbies are appropriate and fit the job. So if you're applying for a job which requires teamwork, don’t just put solo activities underneath hobbies.

Experience: Think about how your previous job / education fits the job you are applying for.

Skills: Make sure you can name skills that fit the position! Give an example which shows your skills. And don’t lie.

Job interview- Do it well

We just saw how you shouldn’t behave in a job interview. Now read a text to see how you can best approach a job interview.

• Go to exercise 2 on your worksheet.
  
• Read the texts about how to act during a job interview.
  
• Answer the questions from exercise 2.
  

Discussing the answers

1. Which candidate, according to the author, always ‘wins’ the job interview (paragraph 1)?

The candidate the interviewer liked the best, who demonstrated they would fit into the organizational culture.

2. Why does the author describe a job interview as a game? (paragraph 2)

It’s not that the person with the highest education or most experience always gets the job. Therefore, everyone has a shot at getting the job. The person with the best strategy or most positive attitude can ‘win’ the job and therefore job interviews can be seen as a game.

Discussing the answers

3. Why does the author visualize a job interview as a game with an uneven playing field? (paragraph 3)?

You don’t know who you are up against, so you cannot adapt your strategy to your opponents strengths or weaknesses. Therefore, the playing field is uneven.

4. Why does the author say that a positive attitude is the most important thing to succeed in a job interview?

This way people are more likely to take changes or turn a bad situation into a good one. Also, bosses like people who are positive and confident.

5. Why do you have nothing to lose with a job interview?

 You haven’t got the job, so you can’t loose it either. Also, by having more job interviews you get more time to practice and get better at them.

How to get a job: Weaknesses & strengths 

During job interviews, they often ask what your strengths are. Here are some examples:

Strengths: curious, flexible and focussed

Weakness: easily distracted, bad in team work and aggressive

• Go to the worksheet exercise 3. Fill in strengths and weaknesses.
  

Strengths

Ambitious

Compassionate

Confident

Creativity

Critical thinking

Curiosity

Dedicated

Disciplined

Energetic

Enthusiastic 

Flexible

Focused

Open minded

Organized

Outgoing

Patient

Practical

Respectful

Responsible

Self assured

Serious

Spontaneous

Team oriented

Thoughtful

Trustworthy

Weaknesses

Here are some examples of weaknesses:

• Very argumentative
  
• Insensitive
  
• Intolerant
  
• Can find it difficult to focus
  

When you talk about your weaknesses be honest, but also think about the qualities you need to do the job.

For example: ‘I am afraid of speaking in front a large group’, isn’t a bad weakness if you work in administration, but if you are a teacher this might lead to not getting hired.

Exercise 4

You can now name several strengths, but which strengths fit you?

• Go to exercise 4 on your worksheet
  
•  Name at least 5 strengths which fit you.
  
• Write down which experience, hobby, or skill proves that you have this strength.
  

For example:

Team player – I play soccer / built an orphanage with my class.

Energetic – Combined several jobs with my education

trustworthy – handled the registry at the supermarket

Exercise 4

When you have a job interview, you should explain why you possess a certain strength.

You will have to use conjunctions for this:

• Summing up (opsomming)
• Elucidation (toelichting)
• Opposition (tegenstelling)
• Cause, reason (oorzaak, reden, aanleiding)
• Purpose - mean (doel - middel)
• Examples (voorbeelden)
• Condition (voorwaarde)
• Conclusion (conclusie)

Examples

• I am team orientated. I know this because…. (I played soccer)

• I am well organized, since I am used to working and studying at the same time. Also, I already finished an extra internship which shows that I am dedicated.
  

• I am responsible which I find very important for an aicraft mechanic, due to the fact that I am responsible for many lives when it comes to clearing an airplane.
  

Exercise 5

We practiced with asking questions and talking about your job. We are going to combine those skills in a job interview!

• One of you will be the employer and the other the applicant.
  
• You will each get two cards with a role you could be playing. Choose the person you want to play.
  
• You will both play the role of the employer once and the role of the applicant.
  
• You don’t know each other’s information, just like in a real interview. Decide together at the end which applicant should get hired!