Daily English Phrases
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Entries in interview (topic) (7)

Sunday
Dec182011

“You have to convey not only what your skills are, but how you can benefit their organization.”

English Lesson: Convey how you can benefit their organization

You're a mentor for a college student who wants to get a job in your industry. You're giving him some advice on how to act in a job interview. You say:

You have to convey not only what your skills are, but how you can benefit their organization.

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Thursday
Aug112011

“You can't show up to an interview with scuffed shoes and your shirt untucked!”

English Lesson: scuffed shoes and your shirt untucked

Your teenage son is going for a job interview. He tried to dress up for it, but he still doesn't look very neat. You yell at him a little bit to dress more nicely and say:

You can't show up to an interview with scuffed shoes and your shirt untucked!

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Tuesday
May182010

“I totally bombed it.”

Memorize

You applied for an open position at your company. You had an interview earlier today. Now you're telling your friend about how the interview went. You don't think you did a good job. You say:

I totally bombed it.

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Tuesday
May182010

“I felt pretty confident going in.”

You're applying for an open position at your company. You had an interview for the job, and now you're telling your friend about how the interview went. You're explaining what you thought at the beginning of the interview:

I felt pretty confident going in.

feel confident

When you "feel confident", it means that you think that you will be able to succeed at something.

pretty (adjective)

You use "pretty" before an adjective to show how much of that quality something has. It basically means "a little more than you expected". For example:

This soup is actually pretty good.

I think I have a pretty good shot at getting the job.

That song is pretty catchy.

(do something) going in

You use the phrase "going in" to describe what you knew, felt, or did at the beginning of something. For example:

I had low expectations for Iron Man 2 going in, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

Going in, I knew that if I didn't make this sale, I was out of a job.

As you can see from these examples, "going in" can come at the beginning or end of a sentence or clause.

"Going in" is useful because it specifically refers to the beginning point of an event. If you say:

I felt pretty confident before the interview.

That could mean the same thing as "going in", but it could also mean that you felt confident a few hours or days before the interview, but didn't feel confident when it started:

I felt pretty confident before the interview, but when I got to the office I started to feel nervous.

Tuesday
May182010

“How'd it go?”

Memorize

Your wife applied for an open position at her company. She had an interview earlier today. Now you've called her to ask about it. After she answers the phone and you say hello to each other, you ask:

How'd it go?

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Tuesday
May182010

“I think I have a pretty good shot at getting it.”

Memorize

You've applied for a higher position at your company. You had a job interview that went well, so you think you might get the job. You are telling your wife about this, and you say:

I think I have a pretty good shot at getting it.

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Sunday
Mar212010

“He ended up getting job offers from both companies.”

Memorize

You're telling a story about a friend of yours who made embarassing mistakes in two different job interviews. You describe the mistakes that your friend made, and then you tell the result of the interviews:

He ended up getting job offers from both companies.

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