Prepare for a simple interview
Students learn useful phrases for introductions, skills, experience, availability and polite interview questions.
Lesson overview
Students practise simple language for job interviews and short professional answers.
Lesson aims
- Introduce yourself in a job interview.
- Talk about skills and work experience.
- Use simple past and can for abilities.
- Ask polite questions at the end of an interview.
Warm-up questions
- Have you ever had an interview?
- What questions do interviewers usually ask?
- What makes a good first impression?
Key idea
A job interview is a formal conversation where an employer asks questions to learn about a candidate.
Before a job interview
Read the text and answer the questions.
Before a job interview, it is important to prepare. First, read the job advert carefully. Think about the skills the company needs and prepare examples from your work, school or volunteer experience.
At the start of the interview, greet the interviewer politely and introduce yourself. Speak clearly and do not answer too quickly. Short, clear answers are better than very long answers.
Interviewers often ask about your experience, skills and availability. You can say what you can do well, what you did in the past and why you want the job.
At the end, you can ask one or two polite questions, for example about the working hours, the team or the next step in the process.
Choose the correct answer
Interview words
10 minutes · Drag and drop the correct words into the sentences.
A short interview
Read and practise the dialogue.
Interviewer: Good morning. Please have a seat.
Candidate: Good morning. Thank you.
Interviewer: Can you tell me a little about yourself?
Candidate: Yes. My name is Leo. I am organised and friendly. I worked in a small shop last summer.
Interviewer: What skills do you have?
Candidate: I can speak English and Italian. I can use Excel, and I am good with customers.
Interviewer: When are you available to start?
Candidate: I am available from next Monday.
Interviewer: Do you have any questions?
Candidate: Yes. What are the working hours?
Comprehension
Job interview: Alex
Listen to both parts of Alex's interview and answer the questions. Use short but complete answers.
Part 1: Interview introduction and background
Part 2: Experience, stress and next steps
Listening answers
- The interviewer / hiring manager is interviewing Alex.
- Alex is in his twenties.
- He graduated from university recently / a few years ago.
- He has a degree related to marketing or business.
- He currently works as a marketing assistant.
- He is interested because he wants to develop his career and use his marketing skills.
- Possible answers: he is organised, hard-working, creative, good at communication, and good at teamwork.
- He says he can sometimes focus too much on small details / be too much of a perfectionist.
- Possible answers: creating social media posts, writing emails, helping with campaigns, preparing reports, and working with customers or colleagues.
- He creates social media posts regularly / every week.
- He describes a marketing project or campaign he worked on.
- He handles stress by staying organised, planning his tasks and asking for help when necessary.
- He sees himself with more responsibility, developing his skills and growing in the company.
- He asks about professional development / training opportunities at the company.
- The position will start soon / next month.
- The company will contact Alex soon / next week.
Teacher note: Some answers can be accepted if students capture the same meaning from the audio.
can for skills + past simple for experience
Use can to talk about skills and past simple to talk about experience.
Skills: I can use Excel. / I can speak English. / I can work in a team.
Experience: I worked in a shop. / I helped customers. / I studied business at school.
Project English grammar drill
Interview questions and useful phrases
Review common interview questions, then complete the drag-and-drop gap-fill practice.
Personal questions
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why are you interested in this position?
- Why do you want to work for our company?
- What are your greatest strengths?
- What is your biggest weakness?
Experience questions
- Can you describe your current job responsibilities?
- Tell me about a difficult project you worked on.
- How do you handle stress at work?
- Can you give an example of when you worked in a team?
Future questions
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- What are your career goals?
- Why are you leaving your current job?
Your questions
- What are the opportunities for professional development?
- What does a typical day look like in this position?
- When would the position start?
- What are the next steps in the hiring process?
Useful interview phrases
| Function | Useful phrases |
|---|---|
| Greeting and introduction | Thank you for inviting me. / It's nice to meet you. / I'm pleased to be here. |
| Answering questions | Of course! / Sure! / That's a good question. / Let me think about that. / For example... |
| Talking about strengths | I'm good at... / I'm very organised, hard-working and creative. / One of my strengths is... / I have experience in... |
| Talking about weaknesses | Sometimes I'm a bit too... / I'm working on improving... / I'm learning to be more... |
| Asking questions | I have a question about... / Could you tell me more about...? / What are the opportunities for...? / When would...? |
| Closing | Thank you for your time. / I look forward to hearing from you. / I'm very interested in this opportunity. |
Drag-and-drop gap-fill practice
Drag the correct answer into each interview question or phrase. The options are mixed up.
Interview role cards
Work in pairs. One student is the interviewer. One student is the candidate.
You are applying for a weekend job in a clothes shop.
Skills: friendly, organised, good with customers.
You are applying for a part-time job in a café.
Skills: polite, fast, good in a team.
You are applying for a summer office job.
Skills: can use Excel, can write emails, organised.
You are applying to help at a business event.
Skills: can speak English, friendly, punctual.
Interview checklist
- Greet the interviewer politely.
- Say your name and one positive adjective.
- Talk about one skill using can.
- Talk about one past experience.
- Ask one question at the end.
Interview questions
- Can you tell me a little about yourself?
- Why do you want this job?
- What skills do you have?
- What experience do you have?
- When are you available to start?
Final review
Check the key language from the lesson.