You have recently been contacted by the HR department of a company offering a job position you’ve applied for. Your interview is scheduled for the next day and you suddenly realize you are not ready at all to answer the questions you will be asked. To make matters worse, the interview will be entirely carried out in English, which is not your native language. What can you do?
Here’s a guide to help you get prepared!
CANDIDATE: Hello! How are you? I was so excited when I saw this position was open! Thank you for taking the time to meet me today. I really appreciate being considered for this role.
(PERSONALITY)
I consider myself a very diligent person when it comes to work, so I do my best to manage time efficiently, keeping focused on daily tasks and making room for both consistent responsibilities and creativity. I am usually enthusiastic about delivering new projects and I love being able to set my own schedule. I am also quite detail-oriented and I can’t help reading through my assignments a million times before handing them in.
(PERSONAL INTERESTS)
When I’m not working I like to walk my dog in the city park, where I can meet other people and unwind. I’m also into reading fiction books and watching sitcoms.
(EDUCATION, MOTIVATION)
I went to a private medium-sized school in my hometown and, later on, to College, where I majored in Law. However, I had never been passionate about it and, by the time I finished the course, I had already been teaching English in a language institute for a couple of years. After some time working as an English teacher, I decided it was time to pursue a degree in English Language and Literature. So I moved to Rio de Janeiro, where I attended University again for another undergraduate course. Since then, I’ve taken a few other extracurricular programs on related areas such as translation, localisation and content writing.
I would say that it’s my communication skill by far. I’m good at working with people and getting my ideas across. I believe that teaching young children has given me plenty of emotional intelligence and open-mindedness, because I value new experiences and different points of view. For instance, at work, when I am faced with a colleague or a student’s rude behaviour, I am slow to take offense. And that’s because I try to see the big picture, instead of taking it personally. To my mind, the quality of a person’s work depends pretty much on how they choose to deal with the unexpected.
This particular skill has also shaped my career as a content writer. Understanding what my persona’s expectations are and providing customized information that will serve their specific purpose comes naturally to me. For instance, once I’ve realized that my target audience is more likely to watch recommendation videos about cooking than read texts on study tips, I decided to shift my approach on social media so that I would reach out to more people.
Humour hasn’t always been my strongest point. I appreciate being around funny and entertaining people, however, I don’t consider myself one, despite all the efforts to the contrary. I am most often serious during the day and I sometimes find my shoulders tightening up at 9 a.m. at the thought of my to-do list. For this reason, I’ve been going on morning walks and enjoying every spare minute of my time off-screen. This minor change has given me itchy feet and now I’m constantly planning my next day out in nature.
As a consequence, I’ve also opened myself up to new ideas at work. For instance, I had always worked on one project at a time, believing the best result would come out of it. Only recently, though, I’ve learned that working on many projects at the same time allows me to be more creative and effective in each one of them.
I have 14 years of experience as an English language teacher and 3 years of experience as a translator. I’ve worked for specialized institutes of English and well-known bilingual schools in Brazil and Portugal, teaching from pre-schoolers to adults, all levels, from elementary to advanced. Currently, my main projects include writing relevant content for my own blog, morningsunshine.club, and giving B2 First preparation courses.
I have experience using Trados, Subtitle Workshop, Google docs, sheets and forms. To optimize my content creation, I usually use Hubspot, Keep/Evernote, Canva, Grammarly and Tomato Timer.
I’m always looking to develop my skills, so I’ve recently taken some courses on Copy and UX Writing, which I think have really sharpened my edge in the content writing field.
In my most recent position, I’ve been responsible for giving classes, creating lesson plans, monitoring the school’s monthly objectives and moderating our Facebook group. This requires giving Encounters, Complementary Classes, Social Clubs and B2 preparation courses, as well as keeping track of our first and second level students and posting information on social media about upcoming events. It’s also my responsibility to call active students, to talk about their performance, and inactive ones, to tell them how important it is to keep up with their study plans.
There, I’ve learned to deal with different types of complaints: learners who can’t use the school’s platform, busy students who struggle to match their schedules with the school’s, parents who don’t have much control of their children’s progress, and the list goes on.
On more than one occasion I’ve received praise from the service manager for my ability to deliver dynamic and engaging lessons.
I’m looking to further my skills as a content writer and I see this job position as an opportunity to get expertise in the niche. I have followed your company’s blog for some time now and I find the tone and brand voice of your organization consistent and relevant.
I understand you are a successful company offering opportunities for career development. I have reviewed the job description several times and it aligns well with my experience, qualifications, interests and long-term goals.
I am a highly motivated candidate and I would be thrilled to work with you.
I am confident that I would make a great contribution to your company because, to begin with, I’m passionate about written communication. At work, I’m reliable and proactive, always willing to go the extra mile. I find my voice in writing and I am constantly aiming to develop it in order to reach out to and connect with target audiences. I will add value to your company because I can also contribute with my translation, localisation and SEO skills.
I would love to bring my passion for (circular business models) to this position. In addition, I have had experience with many of the services your company provides and I believe that my familiarity with the industry would make me a good fit for this position.
My salary requirements are flexible, but I do have significant experience in the field. With my experience, skills and certifications, I would expect to receive something in the range of X to Y. But I am sure we can come to an agreement on it.
For the next 5 years, I’ve set a few goals with the aim of leading my career as a content writer from a junior level position to a mid-level one.
As well as developing my understanding of SEO keywords and social media, I intend to acquire content marketing skills to be able to monitor the effectiveness of the strategies I apply and increase reader engagement and retention.
I’d like to build my career in your company and I expect to contribute to your team’s success for many years, adding value to your brand and boosting your sales. I see my 5-year-older self as a multi-talented professional with a strong track record in marketing and a long-lasting drive for change.
Yes. Thank you for asking. In case I’m hired, I suppose I’ll get some training. How will that happen?
I’d like to know what the next steps are in the interview process. When can I expect to hear from you again?
I’ve heard that you’ve launched a campaign to (help Ukraine war victims). Could you tell me more about it?
Thank you for your time, it was a pleasure to talk about the role! It does seem exactly like what I’m looking for. Please let me know if you need anything else from me.
⚠ Remember:
- It’s very important to write down your answers (or the main ideas you want to express) and REHEARSE. Grab a parent, sibling or friend and ask them to role play this dialogue with you.
- Do some reading. Check out the company’s website, blog and social media pages. Examine the language used in the job advertisement and mirror the words the company uses to describe the role and the ideal candidate.
- When talking about your strengths, give examples to support your opinions.
- When talking about your weaknesses, be honest. But emphasize your plan of action.
- Asking questions at the end of the job interview shows genuine interest in the company.
- GOOD LUCK! 🍀
1 comment
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