實用商務情景口語:準備面試(2)
MB: Hi, I’m Marcia Boardman, I’m calling from WebWare.
DW: Oh hi Marcia. Great to hear from you.
MB: You’ll already have been told you’ve been shortlisted for interview...
ST: o? Can you hear me?
MB: it ok if I call you now? Would you like me to call you back later?
ST: Erm, no, no, no, that’s ok...
MB: Good – well we’re very excited about meeting you. Ok, I just want to talk you through the procedure for the day. Someone will meet you when you arrive, reimburse you for any travel expenses you may have, and then bring you up to meet myself and Philip Hart, the CEO.
DW: Ok sounds good. So will you be the only members of the interview panel there then?
MB: Yes, it’ll be just me and Philip who will talk to you. The interview will be in three parts – first of all we’ll ask you some general questions about yourself and your educational and professional background, then we’ll move on to specifics.
ST: Oh, er, Specifics? Well er, what kind of questions will you be asking?
MB: Well, it’ll be very similar to the personal statement you submitted with your CV - we’ll be expecting you to to give actual examples of problems you’ve faced and solved, and of what you feel are the major successes in your career so far.
DW: Ok well yeah, that sounds great – can’t wait!
MB: Then there’ll be a chance for you to ask us any questions - about the job itself, or WebWare in general...
ST: Oh, erm, ok...I’ll think of something!
MB: After that, we’d like you to give a short presentation on how you see WebWare as a company progressing, and how you see yourself taking us there.
DW: Ok so will I be expected to give like a formal style presentation?
MB: It can be as formal or informal as you like. There’ll be a flipchart and a data projector there available. If you need anything else, just let us know.
ST: Oh, erm ok, a presentation! I’ll think of something. I haven’t done one of those in a while...
MB: Is that all clear? Great, so, Daniel, I’ll see you at 11am, a week tomorrow.
DW: Ok great I look forward to meeting you! Thanks, bye.
MB: Ok, so, Sarah, we’ll be seeing you at 1pm, a week tomorrow. Best of luck!
ST: Oh, thanks...I’ll need it...
reimburse - to pay somebody back money spent for an official or approved reason 報銷
Travelling expenses can be reimbursed on handing in the railway tickets.旅費憑火車票報銷。
travel expenses - include meals, lodging and transportation expenses while away from home in the pursuit of a trade or business
personal statement - is a brief and focused essay about one's career or research goals, and is frequently required for job applications
flipchart - a visual aid consisting of a large pad of paper mounted on an easel, used to present information
data projector – a video projector which projects an image onto a screen, usually attached to a computer
In the third episode, Marcia Boardman the HR manager at WebWare outlines to the 2 candidates the interview format. There are several possible interview formats:
Structured Interview - Competencies
The employer identifies the competencies (skills, abilities and experience) required for the role. They design the questions to test whether the candidate has these competencies. The questions are often phrased, "tell us about a time when."
Behavioural job interview (situational job interview)
Behavioural interviews are trying to find out how you would act in certain situations. The interviewer wants to be able to predict how you would behave in the role, if they recruited you. So they ask hypothetical questions. These might be about a time in your past, or asking you to imagine yourself in a future situation.
Panel Job Interview
Sometimes employers want candidates to be seen by a number of managers or peer-workers. A panel interview simply means a candidate meets multiple interviewers at once. They may play the "Good cop / Bad cop" routine, where one of them is aggressive and another sympathetic, to see how you perform under stress.
Technical Job Interview
This usually refers to a "hands-on" interview. For example, an engineer might be expected to do some analysis of an engineering problem; a market researcher might be asked to analyse some data; a sales person might be expected to make a mock sales call. This type of interview is designed to predict how you would perform in the role.
