A Lack of Enthusiasm.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 756.

Part 2

Part 1

II. READING

I. PRE-READING

UNIT 7. SEVEN DEADLY INTERVIEW SINS

III. AFTER READING

v Write your own resume.

v If you want to give your CV added oomph, look at page 99 for a piece of advice.

v Read about the experiences of young job hunters in Britain from the book “Understanding Britain” by Karen Hewitt (page 101)

o Answer the following questions:

1. How should you behave at an interview?

2. What behavior is not appropriate at an interview?

v Active vocabulary

o Study the following vocabulary items and collocations:

Fodder

To commit blunders

To generate off-the-wall-stories

Late cancellation

To kill one's chances

Company's line of business

First-time job seeker

Hot candidates

To move heaven and earth

To schedule a follow-up meeting

To set something up right away

To fare bad

A hunch

To expect job offers

o Read the text. Do the comprehension check below:

"Did you hear the one about the candidate who...?"

Interviewing generates more off-the-wall stories among campus recruiters than it does actual hires. We often swap stories about candidates who arrive hours late, in shorts or a T - shirt, fully expecting job offers. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Some first-time job hunters can be as unreliable as puppies. I scheduled interviews with executives at headquarters for one promising new graduate. Late the night before, he left me a voice-mail message, asking to come in another day. He didn't realize that such a late cancellation would kill his chances of landing another invitation. On a different day, half the students who signed up to meet with me for on-campus interviews didn't know my company's line of business.

Not every meeting with first-time job seekers is disappointing. Hiring executives and recruiters often talk of finding "hot" candidates, and will move heaven and earth to recruit them. Many interviewers who locate a "find" on campus quickly schedule follow-up meetings, telling managers, "We better set it up right away or someone else will!”

What makes certain new graduates "hot" and others fodder for recruitment jokes? I've found that candidates who fare worst are those who haven't prepared for interviews or made the psychological leap from college to the business world. To confirm my hunch, I asked recruiters in various fields for their opinions. What follows are the "seven deadly sins" committed by first-time job hunters.

v Comprehension check

o Answer the following questions using information from the article to support your ideas. Remember to use the article vocabulary to the maximum:

1. Why can first-time job hunters be as unreliable as puppies?

2. What job seekers can be characterized as “hot” and which are fodder for recruitment jokes?

o Explain what is meant by:

Off-the-wall stories

To be as unreliable as a puppy

To kill the chances

Company's line of business

o Translate in written the paragraphs beginning from “Interviewing generates…” up to “…chances of landing another invitation”.

v Active vocabulary

o Study the following vocabulary items and collocations:

To convey (manifest) enthusiasm

To show appreciation

A career field

To be more likely

To receive a job offer

To be a tall order

To elicit examples

Best / worst case questions

A ticket to a great job

The weakest link

To be barely conscious

A mishap

An all-too-common sign

To commit to an interview time

To fail to follow up after an interview

A telling sign

To merge

To be featured in newspaper

o Read the text. Do the comprehension check below:

It's difficult to define or explain how to convey enthusiasm. Athletes describe it as "being pumped." Hiring officials say enthusiastic applicants show appreciation, interest - even love - for a particular career field that can compensate for a lack of paid experience.

For instance, Penny Fraumeni, principal of Cedarlane Middle School in Hacienda Heights, Calif., says prospective teachers who are enthusiastic about working with children are more likely to receive job offers. "They need to have energy and a smile," she says. "Their love of kids must show. If I don't hear a love of children in what they say, it doesn't really matter about their technique."

Showing that you love a particular field is a tall order when interviewing with someone you've never met before. Nevertheless, don't just say how you feel. Demonstrate your interest by recounting enjoyable academic or professional experiences, says Doug Jacobson, divisional sales manager with Roche Laboratories in Cincinnati.

"Ninety-five percent [of applicants] will say ‘I'll work hard enough to get the job done.' [But what we're] really looking for is an example of their initiative or work ethic," he says.

Jacobson elicits examples by asking candidates best / worst case questions, such as, "What's the best class you took in school?" "What was the worst?" "Who were the best and worst bosses you ever had?" "How did you cope with the worst one?"

Regardless of how you manifest enthusiasm, demonstrating it can be your ticket to a great job, says Jon Eisele, a partner in Minneapolis with Deloitte and Touche LLP, a national accounting firm. "The most critical component of an interview is attitude," he says. "[Some] people go to work because they need something to do. They do all right, but there's a clear distinction between that person and one with a terrific attitude and sense of direction."