Enthusiasm wins the game!

I guess everyone reading this has been to a job interview at some point in his/her life. What was it like? Did they ask you typical interview questions?
Well, you will be glad to know that some job interviews may not consist of tedious and already expected questions. Job interviews may be very different  and even awkward with the aim of seeing what the reaction of the candidates is like. That´s what precisely happened at Heineken in an interview process for a position as an event and sponsorship internship. The interview process was far from being normal... Have a look at how it went...

 

Now, let´s have a look at some of the vocabulary and expressions used in the video concerning the area of job interviews.

• "Your biggest weakness". The interviewer asks one of the candidates for his biggest weakness. This is a typical question of a typical interview. Your biggest weakness is the area of your life you think you need to improve/ work more on.For example, someone´s weakness may be getting on time to meetings, or keeping his desk organized. Both candidates in the video select the adjective "stubborn" to answer this question.
• "To hire someone", this expression means to give someone a job, to offer someone a position in a company.
• "Kick Off" Phase. The "Kick off" phase is the starting point. In this case, the term is used not only to introduce the first stage of the interview process but also because it is a term that is normally used in sports.

Finally, towards the end of the video, the interviewer gives a choice to the candidates. They need to choose between "fire and passion" or "cold and calculated". Only the candidates who answered: "fire and passion" answered correctly. What adjectives could we use to describe someone who prefers "fire and passion" over "cold and calculated"? The answer to this question may be: passionate, enthusiastic, ardent, driven or determined. By the way, at the end, the candidate who proves to be more enthusiastic is the one who gets the job.

What other adjectives could we use to describe someone´s personality at a job interview? Many of these adjectives are compound adjectives. These are adjectives made up of two words and linked by hyphens. The stress on these adjectives always go on the second word.  Here you have a brief list including both positive and negative adjectives:

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Open-minded: Someone who considers ideas and opinions that are new or different to his/her own.
Strong-willed: Someone who is determined to behave in a particular way, even if other people disagrees with him/her.
Well-balanced: Someone who is stable, responsible, with sensible ideas.
Good-tempered: Someone who doesn´t get angry and annoyed easily.
Easy-going: Someone who does not easily get annoyed or worried
Laid-back: Someone who is not easily worried about other people´s behaviour or things that need to be done.
Self-centred: Someone who is only interested in himself/herself and activities in which he/she is involved.
Level-headed: Someone who is calm and able to make sensible decisions in difficult situations.
Self-assured: Someone who has confidence in his/her own abilities.
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Absent-minded: Someone who often forgets things or does not pay enough attention to what is happening around him/her.
Narrow-minded: Someone who does not accept ideas or ways of behaving that are different from his/her own.
Big-headed: Someone who thinks that he/she is more clever or important than what he/she really is
Bad-tempered: Someone who becomes angry or annoyed easily.

That´s all for now. I wish you the best of luck for your future interviews and happy weekend!