Essential Job Interview Tips and Career Vocabulary

Job Interview Success: Dos and Don'ts

Securing a job involves successfully navigating the job interview process. There are essential rules regarding what is appropriate to say and what is not. Following these guidelines will help you conduct an excellent job interview.

What You Should Do (The Dos)

• Provide specific examples: Give detailed examples of achievements and responsibilities from your career.
• Highlight your strengths: Clearly articulate your key professional strengths.
• Develop detailed answers: Elaborate on your responses with sufficient details and explanations.
• Show genuine interest: Demonstrate enthusiasm for the company and the specific job position.
• Ask thoughtful questions: Prepare and ask relevant questions about the role or the company culture.

What You Must Not Do (The Don'ts)

• Do not mention plans to quit the company in the near future.
• Do not strongly criticize your current job, employer, or colleagues.
• Avoid giving short answers that lack necessary details.
• Do not display negative qualities or attitudes.
• Never say things that are untrue or misleading.

Candidate Profile: Highlighting Skills and Experience

I am highly professional and organized, possessing strong negotiation skills and excellent interpersonal abilities. I am fluent in English and proficient in essential computer applications, including Microsoft Word and Excel.

While my experience in organizing exhibitions is limited, I have significant experience in sales. I currently work as a successful sales representative, and while I enjoy my current role, I am seeking a bigger challenge. The position you are offering appears to be the ideal next step in my career development.

Key Career and Business Vocabulary

Set 1: Roles, Goals, and Technology

• A stepping stone: A stage or step that helps achieve a goal.
• Fluent: Able to speak a language easily and quickly.
• A managee: A person who is managed by a manager.
• Motivation: A feeling of enthusiasm or interest that makes somebody want to do something.
• Ambition: A strong feeling of wanting to be successful in life and achieve great things.
• A position: A level or rank of employment in a company.
• CEO (Chief Executive Officer): The highest-level manager in a company.
• Hardware: The physical parts of a computer.

Set 2: Actions, Traits, and Environment

• To diversify: To become more varied or make something more varied.
• Picky: Hard to please or satisfy; knowing what you want or like and not accepting anything else.
• Voluntary work: Work that is unpaid, often for charity organizations.
• Technicalities: Precise or technical details, often found in a contract.
• To pull something off: To do something successfully.
• To move on: To leave a job.
• A carbon footprint: The amount of carbon dioxide produced by somebody or something.
• Temperament: A dominant quality of mind that characterizes somebody.

Workplace Personality Traits

Identifying key personality traits used to describe colleagues and employees:

• Clara is always at her desk when I arrive. She is never late for work. PUNCTUAL
• Zara is always very polite with the company's visitors, but she makes lots of mistakes in her emails. CARELESS
• Abdul is able to do more work than the rest of the staff in the same amount of time. PRODUCTIVE
• Tony would never quit his current job—his company is like his family. He is always ready to work overtime and even on weekends. HARDWORKING
• Mishal never hesitates when she has to make an important decision. DECISIVE
• Brian likes to give orders to everybody in the office. He also thinks he is better than everybody else. BOSSY AND ARROGANT
• Paolo works hard, but he doesn't have the skills necessary to do his job properly. INCOMPETENT