Cambridge English for Job HuntingESP Strategies for Interview Success

What could you do to improve your performance in your next interview?How can you help prepare your students for interviews in English?Why are stories an effective way of demonstrating your skills and experience in an interview and also an excellent way of improving your English language skills?

Demonstrating Competencies

These days it is no longer enough to claim you have the skills and experience necessary to do a job; you need to provide evidence as proof. Once you have identified the competencies (knowledge, skills and behaviour) required for a specific job it is essential that you provide examples of how you acted in real situations in the past which demonstrate these competencies. It is important to tailor your CV and cover letter to highlight the competencies essential for the specific position applied for. Similarly, before interviews, you should prepare short memorable stories which demonstrate how you employed these competencies in action.

Measure your Impact – use facts and figures

Wherever possible, teachers should try to use impressive facts and figures in CVs, cover letters and interviews. For example, stating you have prepared over 200 students for an IELTS examination, is much more memorable than saying that you have experience preparing students for IELTS exams. Keep any written evidence, such as course evaluation forms and formal observation feedback, which positively commends your teaching. This will enable you to support claims that your teaching has received ‘outstanding feedback’, which will enhance your chances of promotion or of finding better employment elsewhere.

Why do stories work?

Stories are memorableFacts can easily be forgotten The brain is hard wired to remember storiesMarketers make clever use of stories to sell products and services …so should you

By using stories:

…you will appeal to the human mind;…you will create a strong connection with the listener; …you will demonstrate your communication skills and finally …you will be remembered.

1 | The Art of Interviews Cambridge Day 2014 © Colm Downes Feb 2014colmdownes@hotmail.com

Why type of stories can you tell?

The story about yourself How you can make money How you can save money How you’re a team player

How you’re passionate about teaching

How you can overcome difficulties

In all of these stories, you should say what actions you took, what skills you used and what results you achieved. Make sure these three elements are very clear so that the interviewer will be impress by your actions.

Exercise Stages

1. Analyse yourself – identify your own skills, strengths, weaknesses, competencies.2. Find a real job you’re interested in – online, in a newspaper, magazine.3. Identify the competencies required for this specific position.4. Think of real true short stories of your own which demonstrate these competencies.5. Write these stories down – edit your stories to only the essential information.6. Practice telling these stories – practice a lot – more than you think you need to. 7. Write potential interview questions for yourself.8. Role play this interview in class using the real job / real advert.9. Film the interview, review the film and assess your performance.10. Write a tailored covered letter / cv for the position highlighting your relevant competencies.

Practice

Writing, editing and practicing your stories will make them concise and powerful and help you feel confident telling them.

Why do this in the English language classroom?

1. Students are empowered free to choose jobs for themselves.2. Students can practice all four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.3. All of these tasks could be used to teach grammar either implicitly of explicitly. 4. Students are learning real life skills and language (CLIL)5. It’s meaningful. 6. You’re asking real questions.7. You’re treat your students as real people.8. This is highly motivating (for both teachers and students).

2 | The Art of Interviews Cambridge Day 2014 © Colm Downes Feb 2014colmdownes@hotmail.com

Cambridge English for Job Hunting3 Tips for getting a better job in ELT

1. Research yourself (and make a plan)

Researching yourself is the key to finding, and getting, the job that is right for you. Draw a mind map of your strengths and weaknesses, your character traits, what you enjoy doing as well the things you don’t, etc. The process of analysing yourself will help you identify the skills, experience and knowledge you have that employers are looking for. More importantly, understanding yourself better will help you make employment decisions more likely to lead to a successful, satisfying career. Writing a personal professional development plan will help you to identify the specific tasks and goals you need to complete to achieve progress in your career. Aim to identify both short-term and long-term goals with time scales included. This will focus your planning and enable you to monitor and assess your professional progress, as well as enhancing your personal motivation.

2. Get involved

English teaching can be a very solitary, independent, profession. Once you are in the classroom it is just you and your students. It is often possible to plan lessons at home; sweep into school, deliver classes, and sweep back out again. Indeed, the autonomy the teaching profession affords is without doubt one of its greatest attractions. However, in my experience, positive student feedback alone is unlikely to lead to real career satisfaction or further career opportunities. No matter how experienced or naturally gifted the teacher, fresh ideas have to come from somewhere. Ask to observe while others teach, and invite feedback from others observing you. Investigate and take advantage of any training opportunities. Volunteer to give in-service teacher training sessions and support those delivered by your peers. Spend more time in the teacher’s room and get to know your colleagues. By getting involved, you are demonstrating essential team working skills and a desire to continue your professional development. Remember, your teaching skills, however amazing, are likely to go relatively unnoticed unless you get more involved, and share your experience.

3. Diversify

Teaching twenty plus hours a week of general English is hard work and highly admirable. However, it is unlikely to help you stand out from the crowd, or to enable you to demonstrate a wide range of skills and abilities. I strongly encourage English teachers to take on as many varied classes as possible. You may only spend a week or two delivering a legal English course, or preparing a group for a business English exam, but afterwards you will legitimately be able to claim professional experience in these areas. If a specific area of English teaching interests you, volunteer to take on more work in this area. Once you have more experience, apply for the co-ordinator position responsible for the area if one exists. If it does not, then it might be worth trying to convince your boss of the value of creating such a post.

3 | The Art of Interviews Cambridge Day 2014 © Colm Downes Feb 2014colmdownes@hotmail.com