介绍:
Wu You: Welcome to education today. I’m Wu You. In the last episode, we talked about English job interview part one “how to introduce yourself?” Since we received some comments and messages from listeners asking for advices on English job interviews, today we are going to touch upon English job interview, part two, “Questions”. For more I talk with Robert Parkinson, CEO of RMG Selection and International HR Recruitment Consultancy. So, good morning, Robert!
Wu You: First of all, before the interview, what to prepare? The girls need to prepare dresses or black suit? And boys can wear formal suit or business casual?
Robert Parkinson: Well, that’s a very important question because a lot of the decision making that we find happens when people get together and meet for the first time. That actually happens in the first ten or fifteen seconds when we meet. So specifically, I would always advise people go to interview in business smart, business dress. Smart casual in my view is not appropriate. XXX like the media companies, x companies, x companies maybe that is appropriate. But I would advise a lady to be in a business suit, guys to be in a smart business suit with a tie. You know, I’m X worried about the X of the tie. You know, XXXX. You know, with whole well groomed, make-up appropriate for ladies, take opportunity to make a great first impression really, it’s what I am trying to say.
Wu You: So, since you are the CEO of Recruitment Consultancy, so you are an expert on this field. So, what are the common questions during an English job interview?
Robert Parkinson: Well, it’s again a good question. First sort of questions would be to explore a little bit, maybe digging to a bit more detail on the CV, so to clarify any errors or missions or question marks on the resume what we counted in the past. X a big interview would be asking value-based questions. They would be looking into X , plus the super first information and to look and find out what is this person, who is this person about, will they match the value of our organization, what matches to them, what is important to them, what are their goals graduated once being five-year time. A good interview would really want to focus on getting to know who this candidate is rather than, you know, put them into a box or X, you know, can they do this specific job that what I meant who you are and what’s the value you bring long-term to the company.
Wu You: So, what to do when the candidate comes across a question that he or she doesn’t know how to answer?
Robert Parkinson: Well, it’s an interesting one. I think particularly in China where you actually got a little people speak very good English. But you only X have a language dialect who’s talking about any interview in English. And I think the first thing to do, is to make sure you understand what the question is before you decide you can’t answer it. So, I would ……….. to clarify and to ask the interviewer to restate the question or to clarify to say, for example, did you mean this, would this your question, do I understand that correctly. That’s what I would do. And then I think that would produce a good answer and it would show the interviewer, I mean that you are X of speaking of yourself and being assertive. And it’s also important to realize that a lot of the time, the people asking the questions don’t have that much experience themselves and all that well-trained qualified being interviewing people. So, it’s like situation X.
Wu You: What do HR value more, the examination certificates during college study or more participation in activities and internships?
Robert Parkinson: Well, you know, this is a tricky one because I think it depends a little bit on which field of employment you’re going into. For example, my background is in law, and if you’re hiring a lawyer, you would want to look very closely at someone’s university. Maybe its grade and how you score in different subjects. That would be giving a lot of X today. Is it great in to something a more general basis? Employers were less focused on more particular specializations. I think what each of the professional would value is lots of work experience, lots of internships. Because remember, when you be interviewed, you really, not just you being interviewed, it’s more your attitude that’s being interviewed. So that I want to say, in a half year, take your time to prepare. In the past few careers, you’d have you going down internships in different environment and they said what is the result of that. So you know, they would … sort of things well and certainly good interviews would not be just looking for, you know, how this person studies this particular subject or that particular subject. They’ll be looking for all-round imaging impression of some on experience, some on studies, and subjects and major, some on attitude, some on aspirations, alike, it’s a combination package, I would say.
Wu You: So, during the interview, in your opinion, is it appropriate to ask about the salary?
Robert Parkinson: Ya, for me it’s pretty clear. I think really not. I think it’s very very few circumstances where it’s okay to ask about the salary. …If you’regonna be a X, or you gonna work in a warehouse, you know, maybe you can ask that. But if it’s any more important than that, or if you are starting your career, you really should be focused on, you know, what do you want to do in your career and how can I help this company or how can I learn from this company, and not, you know, does it pay 5000RMB a month or 5500RMB a month. I know that’s might seem an old-school sense. You know, even today, with … material well, you know, people are interested in the financial side of things. People do want to know that. But it gives the interviewer a message that maybe it’sjust money you are
