Shadowing Practice: Behavioral Mock Interview (Jobs and Internships) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi, I'm Ria.
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Thank you for coming to interview with us today.
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Let's just go ahead and get started with a quick introduction.
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Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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First of all, thank you so much for having me.
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It's an honor to be here.
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So a bit about myself, I'm originally from Morocco, where I lived pretty much my whole life.
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I then came to Boston and studied industrial engineering at Northeastern University.
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While I was in college, I did a few different internships.
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I did technical ones at a local power plant and at Amazon Robotics, and I also did one in consulting at the Boston Consulting Group,
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and was also the president of the consulting club at my university.
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So really I'm someone who enjoys both the business side of things, but I also do have a passion for technology.
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So down the line, my goal is to start my own education technology company in my home country, Morocco, so I can make education more affordable through the use of tech.
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And outside of school and work, I also do magic tricks on college campuses.
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Oh wow, that sounds like a very impressive background.
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So why exactly are you interested in interviewing with our consulting firm?
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Yeah, my reasons for joining your consulting firm are twofold.
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Number one, I think the exposure to the strategy work is very appealing to me.
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And then second, the opportunities for externship is also one that I'm highly looking at.
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So on the strategy side, I know that your consulting firm is one of the few
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that gives you exposure to C-suite executives
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and to strategy type projects early on in your career which is something that I won't find at other companies.
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Then the second reason is the opportunity to do externships.
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So as I mentioned I am interested in the education sector down the line
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and I know
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that your company offers the opportunity to work for six months at a public sector type company
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or a nonprofit out in Africa focused on education.
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So I think those are some of the things that highly appeal to me in your company.
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Okay awesome that's good to know.
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So now we'll dive into a little bit more behavioral questions.
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So could you tell me about a time where you solved a difficult problem?
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That's a good question.
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I think the moment that I can think of is when I was working at the electrical power plant.
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We were trying to launch a new department and my task was to essentially source a supplier.
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Typically we work with a supplier of generators from France, but this time around, Their capacity and also their pricing did not match our budget and what we were looking for.
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So, what I ended up doing is I ended up creating a large list of all the different suppliers
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that are out there and then I found a supplier in South Korea
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that I negotiated with and also was able to bring them in and implement all of the new generator technology.
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So that was able to save us a total cost of 10% from the total project
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and it was a huge success at the end of it.
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Awesome, thank you for sharing that.
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So next, could you tell me about one or two of your key strengths?
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So I would say the biggest two would probably be my ability to persuade people, and then the second would be leadership.
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I would say those are the biggest two.
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Okay, so could you dive a little bit more into that first one, your ability to persuade people?
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Maybe tell me about a time you were able to convince someone to change their mind.
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Yeah, so what I can think of is when I was working at Amazon, one of the big projects that we're trying to launch is the first new robotic facility.
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But it came at a time when COVID had just hit
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and I was unable to essentially source a lot of the material that we typically get from our Japanese supplier.
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So the vice president of supply chain at the time, his executive decision was to push the launch and push it out for a few months.
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Instead, what I decided to do is try to see
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if there's a way to still keep the launch at the same time.
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And I looked at some of our existing facilities already
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and try to source some of the unused material from there so that we don't delay the launch.
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So initially the VP of supply chain wanted to delay the launch but through the analysis, through explaining to him that we could source it from the other facilities, I was able to convince him to not delay the launch
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and instead change the strategy to still be able to get the facility right out on time.
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Okay great, so now we'll dive into that second strength you had mentioned.
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Could you tell me about a time that you demonstrated strong leadership skills?
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Yeah, the one that I can think of is when I was working at the Boston Consulting Group.
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There I was leading a big real estate occupancy project where
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I wanted to essentially showcase what the attendance of each office looked like.
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What I had to do was then automate the process for a lot of the partners
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so that they have like a dashboard that they can like manipulate and change and look at the data.
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So I had to work with a large team of 15 different developers, software engineers and data engineers.
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So I worked with them to essentially gather the data, clean the data, and process it and put it and visualize it through Tableau.
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So that was a great opportunity where I was essentially working with different teams, putting game plans, putting timelines for them, and as I mentioned at the end of it it was a very strong project
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and the partners were very happy with the dashboard.
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And it was a good managerial experience for me at the time as well.
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Awesome, that sounds like a very worthwhile experience.
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So now that we've talked a little bit about your strengths, maybe you could tell me about a weakness that you face in the workforce?
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Yeah, I'd say the biggest one is probably my ability to prioritize when there's a lot of conflicting and competing priorities.
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The big one in that case would be when say there's three
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or four different projects and all of them are high urgency or high priority.
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Sometimes as someone who's still very junior in their career, I still don't have that business sense on which one I should tackle first.
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But I've been trying to improve on it and work on it.
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So what I do now is I typically just chat with my manager
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and try to understand where the business focus should be
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and sometimes even just directly ask on how I should prioritize some of the work.
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So I have been improving on that a little bit
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and I think with some seniority I'll hopefully be able to get there and understand what I should start with first.
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Okay definitely makes sense.
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So those are all the questions that I had for you today.
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Before we end do you have any questions for me?
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Yeah I think I have two big questions.
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I think I think the first one is, as you know, there's a lot of big push for the remote workforce right now.
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And as a consulting company, there's a lot of work working directly with clients or coming in in person to visit the clients.
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Do you think that the consulting business model would necessarily change now that we are in a remote environment?
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I think that's a big one.
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And then the second question that I had for you is, what are kind of the big goals of your consulting company by, say, 2025?
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What are the big milestones that you guys are hoping to achieve?
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and is say international expansion one of those big milestones that you're looking at.
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Great, so I think Siad did an amazing job with that interview.
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There are four main things that I think he did really well.
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First, he was very poised and confident throughout the entire interview.
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We were going back and forth and I was asking him a lot of questions, but he came back very prepared for each question.
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Second, he used the STAR method very well.
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I could really understand the situation, task, action, and result, and he introduced each story in a way that made me understand what he was saying.
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Third, he was very concise in each of his stories.
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And lastly, he ended with some very thoughtful questions
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that made it seem like he really cared about the company and the position.
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Overall, Zia did a great job and I would accelerate him to the next round.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Behavioral Mock Interview”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: consulting, launch, project. This video has 103 sentences and 1513 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:04. The speaker talks fast, about 214 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| consult verb | /ˈkɑnsʌlt/ | To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer; to advise. |
| supplier noun | /səˈplaɪə/ | One who supplies; a provider. |
| dive verb | /daɪv/ | To swim under water. |
| dashboard noun | /ˈdæʃˌboɹd/ | A panel beneath the windshield of a vehicle or aircraft containing indicator gauges, compartments, and sometimes controls and indicator lights. |
| externship noun | An experiential learning opportunity, usually offered by a school, similar to an internship, but generally shorter in duration. | |
| prioritize verb | /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/ | To value, do, or choose something first, or before other things. |
| milestone noun | /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/ | A stone milepost (or by extension in other materials), one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of… |
| persuade verb | /pə(ɹ)ˈsweɪd/ | To successfully convince (someone) to agree to, accept, or do something, usually through reasoning and verbal influence. |
| workforce noun | /ˈwɝk.foɹs/ | All the workers employed by a specific organization or state, or on a specific project. |
| generator noun | /ˈdʒɛnəɹeɪtə(ɹ)/ | An apparatus in which vapour or gas is formed from a liquid or solid by means of heat or chemical process, as a steam boiler, gas retort etc. |
| automate verb | /ˈɔ.təˌmeɪt/ | To replace or enhance human labor with machines. |
| concise adjective | /kənˈsaɪs/ | Brief, yet including all important information. |
| occupancy noun | /ˈɑk.jə.p(ə)n.(t)si/ | The act of occupying, the state of being occupied or the state of being an occupant or tenant. |
| seniority noun | /sinˈjɔɹɪti/ | A measure of the amount of time a person has been a member of an organization, as compared to other members, and with an eye towards awarding privileges to… |
| twofold adjective | /ˈtuːfəʊld/ | Double; duplicate; multiplied by two. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
- Before we end do you have any questions for me?
- I think that's a big one.
- What are the big milestones that you guys are hoping to achieve?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been trying · have been improving |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who enjoys · career which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: worthwhile /ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/, thoughtful /ˈθɔːtfəl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dashboard /ˈdæʃˌboɹd/, visualize /ˈvɪʒuəˌlaɪz/, internship /ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp/, showcase /ˈʃoʊˌkeɪs/, negotiate /nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt/
- Long words — get the stress right: prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, generator /ˈdʒɛnəɹeɪtə(ɹ)/, occupancy /ˈɑk.jə.p(ə)n.(t)si/, seniority /sinˈjɔɹɪti/, managerial /ˌmænɪˈd͡ʒɪəɹi.əl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like consult, supplier, dive.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.