Shadowing Practice: Doing This (Almost) GUARANTEES You Get Hired In A Job Interview! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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When you invest three minutes into storytelling like that, all of a sudden, they're not interviewing you as a potential candidate, they're interviewing you now as a friend.
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I find that the people who often get shortlisted for jobs and job opportunities are the ones who've just prepared.
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And you just think they're lucky?
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No, it's not luck.
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Well, it kind of is luck if you define luck as being preparation meeting opportunity.
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They've just prepared.
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The opportunity came along, they did the job interview, and because of the preparation, they got the opportunity, they seem lucky.
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Nope, they were just prepared.
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I've got a couple of friends in the recruiting space here in Australia.
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And I remember messaging one of them named Jared.
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And I said, Jared, what are the most common questions that are asked during a job interview?
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So I'm going to give you the top 10 list that he gave me.
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All right, you ready?
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This is the top 10 list of questions.
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The first one, inevitably, and you must be prepared for this question.
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Whereas most people, they just go into the interview and go, I'm just going to wing it.
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I'll think in the moment.
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And you know, just, just, right.
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And then they fail at the first question that they know is already going to be asked.
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And the first question is, Servian, tell us a little bit about yourself before we begin.
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That's the first question they always ask.
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Tell us about yourself.
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Make sure you've got something prepared for that, right?
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So I'll give you the 10.
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I'll fire them off at you.
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First one is, tell us about yourself.
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Second one, classic.
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So tell us a bit about your strengths and weaknesses.
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Next, why do you want to work here?
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Where do you see yourself in five years?
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Why should we hire you?
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Tell us about a challenge or conflict you faced at work and how you dealt with it.
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Seven.
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What is your greatest professional achievement?
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Eight.
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Tell us, why are you leaving your current job?
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Nine.
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How do you handle stress and pressure?
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10. Classic one they always end on.
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So then do you have any questions for us?
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We know, all of us, we know that these are the most common questions, yet we don't prepare.
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Do you know what most people do here?
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Most people give descriptive phrases about themselves, adjectives.
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They'll say things like, oh yeah sure, my values are integrity, honesty,
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punctuality my only weakness is that i'm a perfectionist and i i do things really well
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right no no connect with people this is where you build rapport
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so if you want to build rapport let's say for example i was applying
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and we'll do some improv here okay let's say example i
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was applying for i don't know head of innovation uh at apple
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or something okay clearly i'm an apple fan massive apple fan apple nerd one day hopefully they'll bring me in
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so say i'm interviewing they So Vin, tell us a little bit about yourself.
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I can use a childhood story, and I call these origin stories.
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I think using an origin story when they say, tell us a little bit about yourself, is extremely powerful because it shows them who you are,
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it builds rapport, and if you can link that story into the position that you're applying for, match made in heaven.
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Hello Vin, welcome to Apple.
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We can tell you're very excited, you haven't been able to stop shaking your leg for the last 15 minutes while you were in the waiting room.
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But Vin, tell us, before we begin, tell us a little bit about yourself.
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Thank you for noticing the leg shaking thing.
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Look if I had to tell you a little bit about me, there's one memory that comes to mind.
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When I was young, I gotta ask you this, what do you think a 13 year old boy wants more than anything.
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A PlayStation sex?
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Well, close.
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Love.
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It's love.
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And thank you, Brad, for being so transparent.
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But I wanted to find love.
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And Brad, I remember asking my dad for advice.
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And I asked my dad, I said, Dad, I want to find love.
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What do I do?
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And you know what my dad said to me?
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My dad says, looks me dead in the eyes, 13.
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And he goes, OK, no money, no honey, man.
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And I thought, damn it, Dad, that's really wise of you.
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It rhymes like Eminem.
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So I thought to myself, okay, how am I going to make money as a 13 year old?
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And that's when I discovered eBay.
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And one of the things about me, Brad, is I'm an early adopter.
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So my friends didn't know what eBay was at the time.
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It was 1999.
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So I got onto eBay, I borrowed my mom and dad's credit card, borrowed, and I purchased 30 mp3 players and I sold them to my friends for double the price.
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I love entrepreneurship.
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And as a result of doing that, I made double the amount of money parents were truly pissed off, but that set me off on a journey.
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It set me on the journey of entrepreneurship.
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And as an entrepreneur my entire life, I'm an early adopter.
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So whether it comes to MP3 plays, whether it comes to the latest AI that's coming out, one of the platforms I've been playing with is Udeo,
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and Udeo is a wonderful platform that can use AI to create music.
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Whether it's the Apple Vision Pro, I'm on it.
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I'm an early adopter.
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And I share this story about my past with you because that's why I'm applying for this role, is I know that for someone in the head of innovation,
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you need someone that's not just saying the right things and talking about technology.
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You want someone who's actually an early adopter, who's living and breathing things that are just coming out.
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I don't wait until it's cheaper.
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I don't wait until it's been in the market for three, four years.
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I'm the first one waiting in line in an Apple store.
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And when you release the Apple iPhone 16, you can bet your butt I'm gonna be there at 6 a.m.
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I'm an early adopter.
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That's why I'm perfect for this role.
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Again, right, that's me spending about three and a half minutes, three and a half minutes sharing a story.
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Now there's laughing moments, they're like, oh, no money, no honey, that's a good one.
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I built rapport, there's endorphins flowing through their body.
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I've been conversational with friends.
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I ask them questions.
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The entire interview situation now is relaxed.
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Again, you know that when you storytell dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin, all these wonderful chemicals.
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Now, the rest of the interview, they're going to treat you like a friend.
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They're not going to sit there and be like, question to question to question to question.
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No, when you invest three minutes into storytelling like that, all of a sudden, they're not interviewing you as a potential candidate,
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they're interviewing you now as a friend.
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So create a wonderful origin story, and this is gonna revolutionize the way you do job interviews.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Doing This (Almost) GUARANTEES You Get Hired In A Job Interview!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: apple, interview, dad, adopter, interviewing. This video has 109 sentences and 1205 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:15. The speaker talks fast, about 193 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| adopter noun | /əˈdɑp.tɚ/ | one who adopts |
| rapport noun | /ɹæˈpɔɹ/ | A relationship of mutual trust and respect; a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or… |
| endorphin noun | /ɛnˈdɔ(ɹ)fɪn/ | Any of a group of peptide hormones found in the mammalian brain that act as neurotransmitters and have properties similar to morphine. |
| entrepreneurship noun | /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ.ʃɪp/ | The art or science of innovation and risk-taking for profit in business. |
| storytelling noun | The act and skills of presenting stories and tales. | |
| borrow verb | /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/ | To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. |
| weakness noun | /ˈwik.nɪs/ | The condition of being weak. |
| adjective noun | /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/ | A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent. |
| conversational adjective | /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/ | Easy in conversation, chatty. |
| dopamine noun | /ˈdoʊ.pəˌmin/ | A monoamine C₈H₁₁NO₂ that is a decarboxylated form of dopa, present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of other substances including adrenalin. |
| improv noun | /ˈɪmpɹɑv/ | Improvisation. |
| oxytocin noun | /ɑksiˈtoʊsɪn/ | A hormone that stimulates contractions during labor, and then the production of milk; also plays a role in social bonding. |
| perfectionist noun | /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/ | Someone who is unwilling to settle for anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards. |
| punctuality noun | /pʌŋktjʊˈæləti/ | The state of being punctual |
| revolutionize verb | /ˌɹɛv.əˈl(j)u.ʃəˌnaɪz/ | To radically or significantly change, as in a revolution. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come along verb | To accompany. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Next, why do you want to work here?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Why should we hire you?
- What is your greatest professional achievement?
- Tell us, why are you leaving your current job?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | who've just prepared · They've just prepared · haven't been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are asked · be asked |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 45 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, they're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: entrepreneurship /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ.ʃɪp/, conversational /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/, perfectionist /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/, revolutionize /ˌɹɛv.əˈl(j)u.ʃəˌnaɪz/
- Long words — get the stress right: entrepreneurship /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ.ʃɪp/, conversational /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/, oxytocin /ɑksiˈtoʊsɪn/, perfectionist /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/, punctuality /pʌŋktjʊˈæləti/
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 adopter, rapport, endorphin.
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.