ESL Job Interview Lesson and Worksheet

ESL Job Interview Lesson and Worksheet Students in ESL classes (and some EFL classes) will eventually need to take job interviews as they go about finding new employment. The art of job interviewing can be a touchy subject for many students and the approach can vary widely from country to country. Some countries may expect a more aggressive, self-promoting style, while others may generally prefer a more modest approach. In any case, job interviews can make even the best students nervous. One of the best ways to deal with this is to explain job interviewing as an extremely important game. Make it clear that students should understand the rules of the game. Whether or not they feel any given job interviewing style is fair is an entirely different issue. By making immediately clear that youre not trying to teach the correct way to interview, but only trying to help them understand the rules of the game and what they should expect from it, youll help students focus on the task at hand, rather than getting caught up in cultural comparisons. Aim: Improve job interviewing skills Activity: Simulated job interviews Level:  Intermediate to advanced Teaching Outline Distribute the worksheet (from this lesson) to students in the class. Students should follow each of the instructions carefully.Make groups of three people and choose one person to interview for the positions, one to interview the job applicant, and one to take notes on the job interview.Review notes after each interview and have the interviewers tell the interviewees how they think they could improve their job interviewing skills.Have students switch roles and either interview another person or take notes. Make sure that all students have taken notes AND interviewed so that they can better understand the job interviewing process.While students are in their groups, have them note disagreements on a good job interviewing technique. At the end of the session, have students to ask other students their opinions on these disagreements.As a follow-up activity, have students go online and find a few jobs they would like to do. Have them write down their qualifications as practice in class. Job Interviewing Worksheet Visit a popular employment website to search for positions. Put in a few keywords for jobs that you would like. Alternately, find a newspaper with employment ads. If you dont have access to job listings, think of some jobs that you might find interesting. The positions you choose should be related to employment you have done in the past, or the jobs you would like to do in the future as they relate to your studies.  The positions dont necessarily need to be identical to your past jobs, nor do they need to exactly match the subject you are studying at school. Choose two jobs from the list of positions you have found. Make sure to choose jobs that match your skills in some way. To prepare yourself with appropriate vocabulary, you should explore vocabulary resources that list specific vocabulary for the work sector for which you are applying. Several resources can help with this: Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which lists positions by industry. This is a rich resource that provides general descriptions of the type of work and responsibilities you can expect.Search the industry glossary, for example, banking glossary. This will lead you to pages that provide definitions for key language in your chosen industry.Use a collocation dictionary with keywords from your industry. This will help you learn key phrases and words that usually go together. On a separate piece of paper, write down your qualifications for the job. Think about the skills you have and how they relate to the job you would like. These skills and qualifications can later be used on your resume. Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself when thinking about your qualifications: What tasks have I done at past jobs that are similar to the tasks required in this job advertisement?What are my strengths and weaknesses and how do they relate to the tasks required in this job advertisement?How do I relate to people? Do I have good people skills?If I dont have any related work experience, how does the experience I have and/or studies Ive done relate?Why do I want this job? With classmates, take turns interviewing each other. You can help fellow students by writing down a few questions that you feel will be asked. However, make sure that your partners also include general questions such as Whats your greatest strength?