Job Interview Roleplays for EFL Learners

Helping Students Prepare

For the World of Work

JALT 2019 Presenter: Eric Gondree

Presentation Overview:

• Background: Business Skills and Job Interviews

​

• Preparation & Procedure

​

• Roleplay Summary

​

• Discussion

Quick discussion:

​

• Have you taught (or been in) any language classes which involved practice job interviews?

​

• What did you do?

​

• Were the activities effective?

Content-based EFL elective:�“Business Skills”

​

• Reading, business topics discussions in English
• Small class, under 5 students

​

• Writing emails, CVs and roleplay scenarios
• Emphasis on English-speaking, international organizations

​

• Job interviews were a major student concern:
• Seniors in the process of job-hunting

​

English job interviews:

• Source of stress, worry and anxiety
• Preparation is important

​

• Job interview skills can be a barrier to employment (Roberts, 2013)
• Especially for non-native English speakers

​

• Roleplaying is effective language teaching method (Rojas and Villafuerte, 2018)

Preparation:

• Objectives: Students will be able to complete a practice job interview roleplay

​

• Materials: Note paper, Job Opening Description (customized according to the students’ situations), sample follow-up letter

​

• Pre-class procedure:
• Review process of interviewing & preparation
• Introduce common interview questions
• Student preparation:
• Do research on the organization you’re interviewing!
• Prepare self-intro and answers for interview question
• HW: Students write sample interview questions & answers

Class Procedure:

• Students take turns acting as interviewers and interviewees in Roleplay
• Look at job requirements and CV; brainstorm interview questions
• Conduct interview; Teacher facilitates
• Post-interview:
• Interviewers give feedback after each RP
• Debriefing of interviewee
• Review post-interview steps:
• Write a follow-up thank-you letter referencing something from the interview
• Provide example follow-up letters

Common topics/questions:

• Be able to explain your CV, experience (and gaps!)

​

• How does your CV match what they’re looking for?
• Match the points in the job description

​

• “Can you tell me a little about yourself?”
• Brief overview of personal history, make it relevant to the job

​

• “How did you hear about the position?”

​

Common topics/questions:

• “What do you know about our company/organization?”
• Do research! Check the website!

​

• “Why are you a good match?/Why should we hire you?”
• Relate your experience to points in the job description; explain why you’re a GREAT match!

​

• “Why are you interested in this job?”
• Don’t say ‘money’ or ‘I need a job, you nitwit’
• Explain why the job is a great match for you and your future goals

Common topics/questions:

• “What are your greatest strengths/weaknesses?”
• Admit a weakness, show you’ve been learning from the weakness; put a positive spin on it

​

• “Tell me about a challenge/failure and how you handled it?”
• Show what you learned from the failure

​

• “Where do you see yourself in three/five years?”
• Relate your future to the job

Common topics/questions:

• “Why are you leaving your current job?”
• Give a good reason but don’t speak ill of your current employer

​

• “How do you feel about working on a team?”
• Explain why you like teamwork; give example

​

• “Do you have any questions?” (Don't say 'no‘; ask a question)
• Yes. Ask about the organization or a point raised earlier in the interview

Let’s try part of it now:

​

• Look at the job description and CV

​

• Brainstorm interview questions

​

• Share and debrief

Positives of activity:

• After the RP, several students told me they felt the activity was useful:
• Introduction to job interview process

​

• Chance for preparation & feedback

​

• Increased confidence, reduced anxiety

​

• Awareness of post-interview steps

Comments? Questions?

• What did you think?

​

• Are there areas which need improvement?

​

• Would you do it differently?

References:

• Roberts, C. (2013). The gatekeeping of Babel: Job interviews and the linguistic penalty. In A. Duchene, Moyer, M. & Roberts, C. (Eds.), Language, migration and social inequalities: A critical sociolinguistic perspective on institutions and work (pp 81-94). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.

​

• Rojas, M. and Villafuerte, J. (July 2018). The Influence of Implementing Role-play as an Educational Technique on EFL Speaking Development. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(7), pp. 726-732.

​

Thank you for attending!

This Powerpoint available for download at:

http://eric.gondree.com

​