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BUSINESS ENGLISH · BUSINESS ISSUES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

ENDLESS JOB
INTERVIEWS

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1 Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. How many interviews have you had after applying for a job?
2. Which job interview was the best? What made it a good interview?
3. Which job interview was the worst? What made it a difficult interview?
4. How many interviews did you have to get your last job?
5. What were the interviews like? Were you nervous or not? Why/why not?

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2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.

1. stay put (idiom) a. a situation where two or more people, or groups of people, do
not agree with each other in a serious way
2. settle (v) b. at the most important level

3. conflict (n) c. find an answer to a problem

4. resolve (v) d. go into a new living or working situation without any problems
with other people
5. heated (adj) e. make a location your permanent home

6. ultimately (adv.) f. stay in a particular location and not move away

7. fit in (phr. v) g. the reason why something needs doing

8. aim (n) h. with strong feelings, often anger

Part B: Now put the vocabulary from Part A into the correct gaps in the following sentences.

1. One of the aspects about my job as a manager I don’t enjoy is when I have to
arguments within my team. I find it quite stressful.
2. I didn’t get the job, so it looks as though I’m going to have to for now.
3. The conference should be fun, but my main is to make useful contacts for the
future.
4. Both Maxine and Esther are highly-qualified for the job, but I would choose Esther as I think she
will with the rest of the team much better.
5. The online meeting didn’t go well at all. Two of the senior managers got into a really
argument over the costs of the new project.
6. I’m sorry for getting so angry, but as the manager of this department, the project is
your responsibility.
7. She speaks Italian beautifully anyway and she’s just moved to Italy for a new job and loves it. I
think she’s probably going to there.
8. When we started sharing desks in the office, it caused quite a lot of as people
liked to have their own space.

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Now in pairs, answer the following questions.

1. If you had to move to a different country or city, where do you think you could settle?
2. What situations in your job cause the most conflict between people?
3. Do you find it easy to fit in when you start a new job, or not? Why?
4. Have you been in a situation where you had to resolve a problem at work? What happened? What
did you do?
5. What are your aims in your work for the next five years?
6. Would you be happy doing a job that involved a lot of travel? Or do you like to stay put in one
location? Why?

3 Prepare for listening

You are going to listen to a job interview. First, match the questions to the answers.

1. Have you ever had to resolve a conflict in a professional situation?

2. Can I also ask what the next steps would be in the interview process?
3. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
4. Do you have any questions for me, Wesley?
5. How would you resolve conflict in a management role?
6. Is a management role something that would interest you in future?

a. Absolutely. I feel my strengths are project management and working with different people.
b. I admit that I’ve not had to in a management position at work.
c. If I were offered this job, I would hope to settle here.
d. If you’re successful at this stage, you’ll be asked to attend another interview in around 2 weeks
from now.
e. Ultimately, it’s important to listen.
f. Yes, can I ask what characteristics someone who is good at this role would have?

Now listen to the interview to check your answers.

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4 Listening comprehension

Now listen to the job interview again and decide if the following statements are True or False.

1. Wesley plans to move abroad within the next five years.

2. Wesley feels he is good at working with people.
3. Wesley doesn’t have any experience of dealing with disagreements in the workplace.
4. Wesley hasn’t had any real experience of dealing with disagreements at all.
5. Wesley believes the most important thing to do in a disagreement is to speak clearly about how
you feel.
6. The interviewer believes that someone who can look for new ways to solve problems would be a
good candidate for the job.
7. In the interviewer’s company, there are a lot of people from different places with different experiences.
8. The interviewer asks Wesley to come back for a second interview.

Now in pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What was your opinion about the answers that Wesley gave to the questions? Were they good
answers or not? Why?
2. What answers would you give in this situation? Look at the questions in the prepare for listening
section to help you.
3. At the end of the interview, the interviewer asks Wesley if attending more interviews would be a
problem. What would you say in that situation?

5 Skimming for details

Quickly read through the article on page 6 and match the numbers to what they mean.

1. The number of additional interviews Mike Conley was asked to attend. a. 2.6 million

2. The number of views Mike Conley’s post on LinkedIn got. b. 4,000

3. The number of public responses to Mike’s post. c. 66%

4. How certain Google decided it could be about a new candidate after 4 d. 6

interviews.
5. The percentage of people that lose interest in a job after not hearing back e. 77%
from the company after two weeks.
6. The percentage of people that lose interest in a job after not hearing back f. 86%
from the company after three weeks.

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6 Reading comprehension

Complete the following sentences with one, two, or three words from the article on page 6.

1. It’s usually when you are asked to go for a second or third interview as this shows
the company is really interested in you.
2. Mike Conley had more than one experience where a person was chosen for the
job after he had attended several interviews for it.
3. Mike received over more private messages than public messages about his LinkedIn
post.
4. A lot of other people also had stories of having a for jobs, especially in the tech,
finance and energy industries.
5. It can be a if a company hires someone who doesn’t perform well.
6. However, for job applicants, there is a significant financial investment too. Not just in terms of
taking time off from work if they are already working, but also the .
7. A interview process can give candidates a warning of how badly a company is
run.
8. A eventually hired Mike Conley and pays him more than he was hoping to make
from the jobs he was applying for previously.

7 Scanning for vocabulary

Quickly read the text on page 6 and find words which have the following definitions.

1. (para. 1) the feeling of being unhappy because something that you wanted to
happen did not happen

2. (para. 2) a job

3. (para. 4) make something less attractive or interesting

4. (para. 5) make a judgement about how good something is

5. (para. 5) the belief that you can trust something or know what will happen

6. (para. 6) possibly becoming something in the future

7. (para. 7) all the people who work for a company or organization

8. (para. 7) a person who professionally gives advice to companies or organisations

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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
ENDLESS JOB INTERVIEWS
Endless interviews
How many is too many?
1.
Interviewing for a new job can be a stressful process:
the applications, the waiting, the disappointment if
you don’t hear back. Usually though, a request for a
second or third interview is seen as a good sign. At
the very least, it shows that the company is seriously
interested and wants to learn more about you. But
what does it mean when they want to see you five or
six times before offering you a job?
2.
Mike Conley from Indiana in the United States
had several experiences where he went through
multiple interviews with different companies only
to be unsuccessful when the companies decided to
hire someone from within the company. With one
position, he was successful in three interviews and
then was asked to co-ordinate with the company to
arrange six more interviews. When he asked HR if
these six interviews were the final ones, they replied
that they didn’t know.
3.
At this point, Mike decided to withdraw from the
interview process. Worried, he wrote a post on
the business social media site, LinkedIn. It was read
over 2.6 million times. Mike said that there were
around 4,000 public messages of support, but he
received more than four times that number privately
from people who were worried their employer, or
potential employers, might be reading. Many of them
had similar stories and doubts about the lengthy
interview process companies, particularly those in
the energy, finance and technology sectors, are now
using.
4.
So why has this happened? Well, hiring the wrong
person can be a very costly mistake for a company,
so it’s easy to understand why they would go
to great lengths to avoid making it. However,
there is growing evidence that having a long series
of interviews discourages good candidates from
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applying. Candidates have to make time to attend the
multiple interviews, often taking time off from their
jobs and paying the cost of travel to the interview.
It’s simply not possible to do this for multiple job
applications.
5.
Recruitment companies generally see three to four
interviews as being the maximum. Below a senior
management position, it should be no more than two
or three. Google recently assessed its hiring practices
and decided that four interviews was enough to make
a choice of candidate with 86% confidence.
6.
It’s also important that the company stays in contact
with potential employees. In a survey, 66% of
candidates said they would lose interest in a job
if they didn’t hear back from a company that had
interviewed them within two weeks. This jumped to
77% after three weeks. In today’s world, negative
interview experiences can translate to negative
reviews on sites such as Glassdoor, which in turn can
prevent companies hiring the best people. There is
also the view that if the process of getting a job is
long and complex, then this says a lot about the way
a company is managed. It’s likely that the reality of
working there would be less than ideal.
7.
Mike Conley, however, had a positive ending to his
story. A company saw his post on LinkedIn and they
ended up hiring him. He now works for a start-
up which helps students enter the workforce, a job
which pays far more than the role that asked him to
prepare for nine interviews. He has also had work as
a consultant for companies who want to avoid giving
candidates the experience which he had. So whether
you’re a potential employer or employee, it’s worth
giving the interview process experience some serious
thought.
Sources: bbc.co.uk, theconversation.com
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8 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What do you think are the most useful questions for an employer to ask a candidate in an interview?
Write down at least five.
2. How would you answer those questions?
3. What questions do you think are useful for a candidate to ask an employer in an interview?
4. What qualities do you look for in a company when you are applying for a job?
5. If you were in charge of hiring a new candidate, what qualities would you look for in that candidate?

9 Extended activity/homework

Using the work from this class, write a dialogue between an interviewer and a candidate in an interview.
Write the questions that you think a good interviewer would ask and give the answers you think you
would give.

Start like this:

A: Good morning, thank you for coming to the interview.

B: Thank you for inviting me.
A: ...

You should:

• Write at least 200 words

• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation

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Transcripts

3. Prepare for listening

Interviewer: Can I ask, Wesley, where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

Wesley: Well, my daughter is two-years old, so I’m definitely looking to stay put and create a
life here for my family. If I were offered this job, I would hope to settle here. Although
hopefully by then, I can train and help new employees and be prepared for additional
responsibility.

Interviewer: Is a management role something that would interest you in future?

Wesley: Absolutely. I feel my strengths are project management and working with different
people. I’m good at dealing with different personalities and feel I can get the most out
of all of my professional relationships.

Interviewer: Have you ever had to resolve a conflict in a professional situation?

Wesley: I admit that I’ve not had to in a management position at work. However, I have been
coaching a football team for the last three years. I have a lot of experience in resolving
conflict with teenagers. Things can get quite... heated.

Interviewer: I’m sure they can! What has your experience with the football team taught you? How
would you resolve conflict in a management role?

Wesley: Ultimately, it’s important to listen. When people are disagreeing, it’s often because
they’re not listening to each other. You have to give each side an opportunity to state
their point of view.

Interviewer: Do you have any questions for me, Wesley?

Wesley: Yes, can I ask what characteristics someone who is good at this role would have?

Interviewer: Good question. They would need to be able to think independently most importantly.
We need people who are able to look for new solutions and not just keep doing things
in the same way. Someone who is highly organised would also be important. Being able
to mix with a wide range of personalities would also be of great value. We have a lot
of people from a variety of different backgrounds here.

Wesley: It does sound like a place where I’d fit in really well. Can I also ask what the next steps
would be in the interview process?

Interviewer: If you’re successful at this stage, you’ll be asked to attend another interview in around
2 weeks from now. The main aim of that interview is finding our final candidates. They
will then be asked to attend a further five rounds of interviews to decide which one is
the best for the position.

Wesley: So, possibly 6 more interviews?

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Interviewer: Should you be successful, yes. Will this be a problem at all Wesley?

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Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
This gives students an opportunity to think about job interviews they have had in the past and also what is a good
and a bad interview. They will be discussing job interviews in greater detail later, so keep the discussion general
at this stage.

2. Focus on vocabulary

Part A
5 mins.
Ensure students can correctly pronounce the target vocabulary. Ask them to do the task unaided to begin with.
But allow them to check using a reference later if needed.

1. f 2. e 3. a 4. c 5. h 6. b 7. d 8. g
Part B
10 mins.
Ask students to decide which parts of speech can complete the gaps before completing the exercise. When they
have finished this, ask them to discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. Circulate and help as needed.

1. resolve 2. stay put 3. aim 4. fit in

5. heated 6. ultimately 7. settle 8. conflict

3. Prepare for listening

5 mins.
This gives students a chance to look at the structure of the script before listening. It gives them a chance to
consider questions and appropriate answers. At the end of the Listening Comprehension, they will be given an
opportunity to answer these questions.

1. b 2. d 3. c 4. f 5. e 6. a

4. Listening comprehension

10 mins.
Give students the chance to predict the answers after the first listening, and then check them on the second
listening. When they have completed this, ask them to discuss the questions or you may want to discuss them as
a class if your class is small.

1. False. Well, my daughter is two-years old, so I’m definitely looking to stay put and create a life here for my
family.
2. True. I feel my strengths are project management and working with different people.
3. True. I admit that I’ve not had to (resolve a conflict in a professional situation) in a management position at
work.
4. False. I have a lot of experience in resolving conflict with teenagers.
5. False. Ultimately, it’s important to listen.

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6. True. We need people who are able to look for new solutions and not just keep doing things in the same way.
7. True. We have a lot of people from a variety of different backgrounds here.
8. False. If you’re successful at this stage, you’ll be asked to attend another interview in around 2 weeks from
now. (conditional)

5. Skimming for details

5 mins.
Ask students to skim through the article and match the numbers to what they represent. Note the first one is
written as a word. This is common in this type of exercise as numbers 1-10 are typically written as words in most
articles.

1. d 2. a 3. b 4. f 5. c 6. e

6. Reading comprehension

10 mins.
Ask the students to read in more detail and fill the gaps with one, two, or three words from the text.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210727-the-rise-of-never-ending-job-interviews

1. a good sign 2. within the company 3. four times

4. lengthy interview process 5. costly mistake 6. cost of travel
7. long and complex 8. start-up

7. Scanning for vocabulary

5 mins.
Ask students to scan the text for the vocabulary. You may want to set a strict time limit to encourage scanning
rather than reading in detail.

1. disappointment 2. position
3. discourage 4. assess
5. confidence 6. potential
7. workforce 8. consultant

8. Talking point

10 mins.
Ask the students to discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. Circulate and help as needed.

9. Extended activity/homework

40 mins +
This gives the students a chance to consider their answers to potential questions in an interview and think carefully
about the grammar of their replies. You may want to do this in class and ask students to complete it in groups,
giving higher-level and lower-level students a chance to work side-by-side. Alternatively, you may want students
to complete it individually.

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