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Unit 20 Lesson 8
Job interviews
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• read two passages with different viewpoints
• talked about job interviews
• written a letter of advice
A What do you know about the process of selecting candidates from the applications received? Share your ideas with a partner.
B Now read the following and see what the writer says about interviews as a selection process.
The selection interview has had a long and dishonourable history as the world's most popular method of sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Despite being in constant use from the moment when the first cave-dweller asked a succession of nervous cave painters the immortal question "So why should I offer you this job?', the humble interview has always been thought of as a pretty useless way to select the right candidate. And yet, despite the widespread feeling that interviews are only marginally more successful at predicting success at work than examining the entrails of a dead cockerel, all employees continue to inflict this unnatural experience upon successive generations of graduates.
Your performance in the interview is very important, even though some people regard interviews as poor predictors of future performance. There is a] good deal of subjectivity in an interview to judge a candidate, but as a candidate, the subjectivity inherent in interviews can work to your advantage. If you manifest confidence and enthusiasm, smile a lot and generally look as though you know what you are talking about, then you're well on the way to a result. How you respond is probably more important than what you say.
(Source : Jobs and Professions)
Read the passage again and in pairs discuss the answers to the following question. Then write them down.
1 What is this writer's view about interviews as a selection process?
2 What is meant by 'subjectivity'? How can it go in your favour?
3 How would you describe this writer's attitude towards interviews?
C Here is another extract about job interviews - this time from a different angle. Read the passage.
To be successful in a job interview (or for that matter in almost any interview situation), the applicant should demonstrate certain personal and professional qualities. In as much as the first and often lasting impression of a person is determined by the clothes he wears, the job applicant should take care to appear well-groomed and modestly dressed, avoiding the extremes of too elaborate or too casual an attire. Besides care for personal appearance, he should pay close attention to his manner of speaking, which should be neither ostentatious nor familiar, but rather straightforward, grammatically accurate, and friendly. In addition, he should be prepared to talk knowledgeably about the requirements of 'the position for which he is applying in relation to his own professional experience and interests. And finally, the really impressive applicant must convey a sense of self-confidence and enthusiasm for work, factors which all interviewers value highly. The job seeker that displays these characteristics, with just a little luck, will certainly succeed in the typical personal interview.
(Source: From Paragraph to Essay)
D In pairs answer the following questions.
1 Write down a few adjectives to describe what is required of a good candidate under the following headings: appearance manner of speaking personality
2 Look at the first sentence. How does it set out the topic of the whole paragraph?
3 Look at some of the linking words that are used in the passage to develop the topic. Identify these words/phrases.
E How do the two passages differ? Examine them in terms of each author's viewpoint and style of writing.
F Your partner is going for a job interview with an NGO. Pretend you are going to interview him/her. Write a series of questions you are going to ask. In pairs role-play the interview.
Focus:
Skills.
Reading,
speaking,
writing.
Functions.
Understanding
paragraph
development,
understanding
writer's attitude,
asking for/ giving
information.
Grammar/Structure.
Modal verb:
should/must for
advice/obligation.
Vocabulary.
sorting-out, chaff, cave-dweller,
pretty useless, marginally,
entrails, predictors, subjectivity;
inherent, confidence,
widespread, enthusiasm,
elaborate,
well-groomed, casual, attire,
ostentatious, typical
This text will be replaced
Unit 20 Lesson 8
Job interviews
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• read two passages with different viewpoints
• talked about job interviews
• written a letter of advice
A What do you know about the process of selecting candidates from the applications received? Share your ideas with a partner.
B Now read the following and see what the writer says about interviews as a selection process.
The selection interview has had a long and dishonourable history as the world's most popular method of sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Despite being in constant use from the moment when the first cave-dweller asked a succession of nervous cave painters the immortal question "So why should I offer you this job?', the humble interview has always been thought of as a pretty useless way to select the right candidate. And yet, despite the widespread feeling that interviews are only marginally more successful at predicting success at work than examining the entrails of a dead cockerel, all employees continue to inflict this unnatural experience upon successive generations of graduates.
Your performance in the interview is very important, even though some people regard interviews as poor predictors of future performance. There is a] good deal of subjectivity in an interview to judge a candidate, but as a candidate, the subjectivity inherent in interviews can work to your advantage. If you manifest confidence and enthusiasm, smile a lot and generally look as though you know what you are talking about, then you're well on the way to a result. How you respond is probably more important than what you say.
(Source : Jobs and Professions)
Read the passage again and in pairs discuss the answers to the following question. Then write them down.
1 What is this writer's view about interviews as a selection process?
2 What is meant by 'subjectivity'? How can it go in your favour?
3 How would you describe this writer's attitude towards interviews?
C Here is another extract about job interviews - this time from a different angle. Read the passage.
To be successful in a job interview (or for that matter in almost any interview situation), the applicant should demonstrate certain personal and professional qualities. In as much as the first and often lasting impression of a person is determined by the clothes he wears, the job applicant should take care to appear well-groomed and modestly dressed, avoiding the extremes of too elaborate or too casual an attire. Besides care for personal appearance, he should pay close attention to his manner of speaking, which should be neither ostentatious nor familiar, but rather straightforward, grammatically accurate, and friendly. In addition, he should be prepared to talk knowledgeably about the requirements of 'the position for which he is applying in relation to his own professional experience and interests. And finally, the really impressive applicant must convey a sense of self-confidence and enthusiasm for work, factors which all interviewers value highly. The job seeker that displays these characteristics, with just a little luck, will certainly succeed in the typical personal interview.
(Source: From Paragraph to Essay)
D In pairs answer the following questions.
1 Write down a few adjectives to describe what is required of a good candidate under the following headings: appearance manner of speaking personality
2 Look at the first sentence. How does it set out the topic of the whole paragraph?
3 Look at some of the linking words that are used in the passage to develop the topic. Identify these words/phrases.
E How do the two passages differ? Examine them in terms of each author's viewpoint and style of writing.
F Your partner is going for a job interview with an NGO. Pretend you are going to interview him/her. Write a series of questions you are going to ask. In pairs role-play the interview.
Focus:
Skills.
Reading,
speaking,
writing.
Functions.
Understanding
paragraph
development,
understanding
writer's attitude,
asking for/ giving
information.
Grammar/Structure.
Modal verb:
should/must for
advice/obligation.
Vocabulary.
sorting-out, chaff, cave-dweller,
pretty useless, marginally,
entrails, predictors, subjectivity;
inherent, confidence,
widespread, enthusiasm,
elaborate,
well-groomed, casual, attire,
ostentatious, typical