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  • Youre hired! Two words everyone loves to hear. But before we hear those words comes

  • (dun dun duuuuhn!) the interview. Today’s video is part three in a series that’s all

  • about preparing for a job interview.

  • This is part three of a five-part series on preparing for an interview. Interviewing for

  • a new job can be a huge source of stress and anxiety. If youre interviewing for a job

  • in a non-native language, the stress can be even higher. In this video you will see me

  • interview for a job. Throughout the interview, well discuss some of the most common interview

  • questions and how to answer them. Youll also learn some basic information to get you

  • started creating your own answers to these questions. Let’s pick up where we left off

  • in the previous video.

  • TK: Can you tell me about a time where you suffered a setback and had to maintain your

  • enthusiasm?

  • Common Question: Can you tell me about a time when you suffered a setback and had to maintain

  • your enthusiasm? The interviewer may ask questions like this to get a better sense of how you

  • behave and perform in certain stressful situations. The question may be about your actual past

  • experiences, or a hypothetical situation, to see how you would respond. Here are examples

  • of other questions that are similar to this one:

  • Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult client or coworker.

  • Tell me about a time when you had to respond to a crisis.

  • Tell me about a time when you had to give difficult feedback.

  • How would you handle a situation where you and your supervisor disagreed about an issue

  • or course of action?

  • You can see, there’s a lot of variety in the kind of way question is asked, so it’s

  • impossible to know exactly what you might need to say. In the days leading up to your

  • interview, practice responding to several different versions of this question every

  • day. This will help build important vocabulary you might need in the interview, and will

  • also help you feel ready to answer questions like these.

  • TK: Can you tell me about a time where you suffered a setback and had to maintain your

  • enthusiasm? RS: Sure. One definitely comes to mind. Last

  • year a project for a new toy was in its final stages after two years of work. As we were

  • looking at the branding and working up a final marketing plan, a competitor launched a version

  • of the exact same toy that we were launching. As the leader of the project, I knew that

  • my reaction would set the tone for the group. I acknowledged that it was a setback, but

  • challenged the group to think of this as a blessing in disguise. I asked them to go out

  • and buy the competitor’s product and make a list of anything they wished the toy could

  • do that it didn’t. It turned out that the list was pretty long. We added these items

  • to our toy, and launched a far superior product 6 months later. So, in many ways, the competitor’s

  • product became the key to our success. TK: That sounds like a great victory. Now.

  • What would you consider your greatest weakness?

  • Common Question: What do you consider to be your greatest weakness? This question can

  • be a tough one. You want to be as honest as possible when answering this question. This

  • is an opportunity to show a future employer that you know yourself, and are willing to

  • work to improve yourself. Share a weakness, like public speaking, or attention to detail,

  • fear of failure. And then talk about ways youve worked on improvement in that area.

  • Here is a way to start a response:

  • My greatest weakness is ___.

  • It shows up in my work when __.

  • The ways I’ve worked to improve in this area are __.

  • Take a moment to think about something youve struggled with in your work life. Think of

  • ways that youve worked to improve, any books that youve read, classes youve

  • taken, and so on. These are the things you want to share with the interviewer when answering

  • this question. Remember, the important thing is to show that you are aware of your weak

  • spotsand that you are already working at improving in these areas.

  • TK: Now, what do you consider to be your biggest weakness?

  • RS: Chocolate. Just kidding! No, my biggest weakness is public speaking. It’s something

  • that I’ve spent a lot of time working on and in which I’ve improved a great deal.

  • I’m very comfortable in smaller meetings with my teams. But when I present an idea

  • or concept to a larger audience, I still experience some stage fright. At this point, I can handle

  • these situations professionally, but I would like to be more comfort in these moments so

  • I can really enjoy the experience of presenting, rather than just survive it.

  • TK: Fear of public speaking is a very common fear; I’m in the same boat on that one!

  • To be continued! Well pick it up from here in the next video in this series where well

  • discuss talking about the future and wrapping up the interview.

  • I hope this video on job interviews has been helpful. There’s nothing better than walking

  • out of an interview feeling that you were well prepared!

  • If you have interview-related questions or stories, please post them in the comments

  • below. I’d love to hear them.

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  • with English videos and lessons, as well stories of American culture and my own life. Click

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  • That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Youre hired! Two words everyone loves to hear. But before we hear those words comes

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