Practise a job interview in English, out loud

Why rehearsing out loud is different

Writing your answers down is useful and not enough. In an interview the words have to arrive in a second, while you watch the interviewer's face and plan the next sentence. A word you have only read, or only written, is not there when you need it. A word you have said out loud, in an answer that mattered, a few times on different days, is. That is the whole reason to rehearse by speaking, and it is the part most people skip because they have nobody to rehearse with.

The questions that come up

• Tell me about yourself, and why this role.
• Walk me through your experience with ... (the core of the job).
• Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult problem, customer or colleague.
• What would you do if ... (a situation from the work).
• What are you looking for next? Why are you leaving?
• What questions do you have for us?

Every one of these asks for the same thing in English: a short structure, a few precise verbs for what you did, and the confidence to keep talking for thirty seconds.

What a practice session looks like

Sign in, open Practice, choose Job interview and type the job. The tutor becomes the interviewer and starts: a greeting, then the first question. You answer as yourself, out loud. It follows up the way an interviewer does, asking for an example or pushing on a vague answer. When you are stuck for a word, ask; it steps out of the interview for a sentence, gives you the word, and steps back in. The words you reached for and missed are noted, and they come back in later conversations until you use them without thinking.

A session is as long as you want it; ten to fifteen minutes covers the main questions. Then do it again on another day. The second time the answers are faster and shorter, which is what good interview answers are.

The vocabulary interviews need

• Verbs for what you did:led, delivered, handled, negotiated, resolved, coordinated, reduced, improved. The difference between “I did the project” and “I delivered the project three weeks early” is vocabulary.
• Structure words: the situation was, what I did was, the result was. They buy you time and make an answer sound finished.
• Hedges and softeners: I would say, in my experience, to be honest, something I am still working on. Native speakers use these constantly and learners rarely do.
• Your field's own words, in English, which may not be the ones you use at work in your language. The interviewer brings them in when you name the job.

What this is and is not

It is language practice with a patient interviewer who never gets bored of hearing your answer about the difficult customer. It is not interview coaching: it will not tell you whether your answer would get you the job, and it is not an expert in your industry. If you have a mentor or a friend who hires people, use them for that, and arrive at that conversation already able to talk.

If you are not sure where your English stands first, the three-minute level test will tell you. If you want to warm up, an open conversation with the same tutor needs no account.

Questions people ask

Will it ask the questions my real interview will?

It asks the questions that come up in most interviews for the job you name: your background, why this role, a time you handled something difficult, what you would do in a situation, what you want next. It cannot know your interviewer's exact list. The point is to have answered out loud, in English, to questions of that shape, so the real ones are not the first time.

Does it work for my field?

Yes: you type the job, as specific as you like. A nurse in an emergency department, a backend developer, a hotel receptionist. The interviewer adapts its questions and brings in the vocabulary of that work. It is a language tutor, though, not an expert in your field, and it will not judge whether your technical answer is right.

Does it give feedback on my answers?

On the language, yes, in the way a tutor does: it explains a word you reach for, offers a better one when you ask, and brings the words you missed back in later conversations until you use them. It does not score your answers or tell you whether you would be hired. For that you want a person who hires in your industry.

How many times should I practise?

Three or four short sessions in the week before, on different days, beat one long one the night before. Answer the same questions more than once; the second time the words come faster, and that speed is what you are training.

Do I need an account?

To choose the job interview scenario, yes, a free one, with an email or a Google account. You can try an open conversation with the same tutor first with no account at all.