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Listening QuestionsBEP 204, 205. You’ve racked up a lot of work experience and you’re proud of your special accomplishments. And you know enough to have clear opinions about how things should be done. But it’s time for a bit of a change. Maybe you’re switching careers altogether, or maybe you’re just looking to change roles. Regardless, you’re going to have to explain your accomplishments and express your opinions carefully in order to a make a good impression. In an interview, it’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you say it. You will be asked some difficult questions, and you may only have one shot at it. The stakes are high, and the competition may be great. You need to sell yourself and demonstrate why you are the right choice for the position. In this lesson, we’ll hear Nina and Frank interviewing Patrick. Patrick is a seasoned accountant looking for a career shift. He’s applying for a job with one of the major accounting advisory firms. Patrick is going to highlight his unique experience, politely criticize his former employer, admit challenges, and talk about past conflict. These are all tough things to do well, but Patrick handles them wisely. Listening Questions 1. Why is Patrick talking about changes to a company’s internal controls? 2. How does Patrick describe financial meetings with executives? 3. How does Patrick say he dealt with the executives? Useful words and expressions: Good point! To be involved in realigning (reorganizing) the internal controls. That’s right! In fact, … To spearhead (lead) smth (BE) A complete overhaul (complete change) of the company’s internal controls. To share specifics Certainly! (BE) To grow quickly To undertake (decide to make) acquisitions (buy several other companies) Conceivable inconsistencies in proceduresfor record keeping and segregations of duties Rather untamable To suffer from inconsistencies To be standardized across every department or subsidiary Senior management To sit down and discuss financials To help explain To lead Confusing (meetings, situations) As you can well imagine, … To serve in some role To work (quite) closely with smb To be honest To struggle To confirm smth My honesty met with scorn To have a troubled relationship with smb To characterize it as … To earn respect by … Acknowledgement Make better decisions To do the dirty work To do smth with tact To shift gears (to move to a different topic or activity) For a while Effective or impressive terms To implement smth To play an integral role in company’s expansion Under smb’s direction To cut costs BY …% To manage to increase revenues BY …% in just one year The background TO smb’s accomplishments Branch manager To be fairly traditional in one’s approach TO one’s management Drawback TO this approach Decisions might have been made too quickly in some cases Not to put a lot of thought into the plan The staff didn’t always provide the best customer service For one, … Opinions always need to be backed up BY supportive evidence Improving our market share showed we were succeeding People weren’t happy To manage to negotiate smth The role is that of explaining smth To perform some type of activity To work IN some position (here) To introduce an idea To confess to having a weakness or difficulty To bring writing skills up to a higher level To get caught up in the details of a project To feel uncomfortable in situations of conflict Communicating with younger staff is smth I could probably improve Relationships can be troubled, or generally poor To offend (get offended) To agree (in general) Relatively minor conflict in the larger scheme of things To eventually work things out To have lingering issues To make contribution to one’s employer To be proud of one’s achievements To oversee (supervise) the opening of … To implement a new sales program To develop smth Example of a recent success Time for layoffs
This is the second of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or switching careers. You can’t do the same thing for your entire life. That’s why you’ve chosen to make a change, to take your skills and experience and apply them to something new. But this comes with a challenge. How can you convince an interviewer that you’ve got what it takes to make the switch? This is especially true for those of us who are more “mature.” There’s an old saying: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, your task in the interview is to show why this saying is wrong. And you need to demonstrate why an “old dog” brings a lot more to the table than a younger dog. In today’s lesson, we’ll rejoin Patrick, an accountant who’s interviewing for a position with an advisory firm. Frank and Nina are conducting the interview. We’ll hear Patrick demonstrate some key interview skills; he’s going to answer hypothetical questions, highlight transferable skills, and demonstrate research. He’s also going to make polite suggestions and ask good questions. Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1101
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