# Ace your next job interview

**Language:** English  
**CEFR Level:** A2  

> Listen in as Lily and Oliver talk about how to answer common interview questions and present your experience in real, everyday English. By the end of this course their conversation will feel easy to follow, and you'll be ready to join in.

**Setting:** Lily and Oliver meet at a quiet, independent cafe in Glasgow's West End while attending a digital heritage conference. They sit at adjacent tables with their laptops, preparing for upcoming online job interviews and deciding to practice their interview techniques together.

## Lessons

### 1. Starting a practice interview

Oliver shares his nervousness about an upcoming job interview, and Lily agrees to help him practice by asking the first question.

### 2. Describing your work experience

Oliver talks about his background as a web designer, while Lily prompts him to give more specific details about his past projects.

### 3. Explaining why you want a job

Oliver explains the positive impact of his previous work, and Lily shares her motivations for wanting a bigger professional challenge.

### 4. Expressing future plans with confidence

Oliver asks Lily what she would do differently in her new role and suggests ways she can phrase her goals to sound more confident.

### 5. Talking about your weaknesses

Lily asks Oliver about his biggest weakness, and Oliver shares that he sometimes works too slowly because he double-checks his work.

### 6. Describing a problem at work

Oliver explains how he manages his weakness using lists, and then asks Lily to describe a difficult problem she faced at work.

### 7. Explaining how you solved a problem

Lily explains how she resolved the issue with the overlapping tour groups, and Oliver praises her clear and successful solution.

### 8. Discussing salary expectations

Lily and Oliver discuss how to handle questions about salary, sharing tips on asking for a range rather than a fixed number.

### 9. Talking about notice periods

Oliver and Lily talk about their job notice periods and begin discussing what questions to ask at the end of an interview.

### 10. Asking questions in an interview

Oliver and Lily share ideas for good questions to ask an interviewer, such as asking about training and team structure.

### 11. Asking for clarification

Oliver gives Lily advice on how to politely ask an interviewer to repeat a question when she does not hear it clearly.

### 12. Buying time to think

Oliver shares a useful phrase Lily can use to buy time to think during her interview, and reminds her where to look on screen.

### 13. Writing a follow-up email

Oliver gives Lily advice on how to write a short thank-you email to the interviewers to show she is still interested in the job.

### 14. Offering to buy a drink

Lily feels much better after their practice session and offers to buy Oliver a coffee to thank him for helping her.