Shadowing Practice: English Job Interviews | Two Magic Words - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Welcome to the Effortless English Show with the world's number one English teacher, A .J.

Hogue, where A .J.'s more than 40 million students worldwide finally learn English once and for all, without the boring textbooks, classrooms, and grammar drills.

Here's A .J with a quick piece to help you learn to speak fluent English effortlessly.

Hi, I'm A .J.

Hogue, the author of Effortless English, Learn to Speak English Like a Native.

Go to EffortlessEnglish .com.

enter your email in the middle of the page and get my free audiobook effortlessenglish .com

i was desperate at one time in my life desperate for a job i was unemployed

and I had just a little bit of savings

and my savings were going down down down very quickly I desperately sent out resumes

and cover letters now eventually I did get some interviews

but they all went the same I went into the interviews

and i was confident you know this was later in my life

so i had more confidence i was uh better at interviewing

but still not great so i would go in and they asked the usual questions again

what's your greatest strength well my greatest strength is that um

you know i work very hard i'm intelligent i'm always looking to solve problems whatever something like

that what's your greatest weakness why do you want

this job what do you want to be doing in five years all

that stuff and I gave decent but boring answers like most people and I did not get called again

and I started to panic

because I was getting job interviews I was doing a good job with my cover letters

and resumes and I use a method I was using a method that I use that I talk about rather,

in the Business English Conversations course, businessenglishconversations .com.

A very powerful and effective method for getting interviews using letters or emails.

Now we can do emails and resumes.

So that wasn't my problem.

I could get interviews, no problem, but I could not pass the interviews.

I would get one interview and then done.

One interview and then done one interview then done again

and again and again and then i was getting more and more

and more desperate like oh my god

i i i'm not gonna be able to pay my rent

i i'm not going to be able to pay my bills my phone bill

i'm gonna starve you know all these thoughts in my head i was starting to panic and that's

when i decided to try something different in the next interview

i got an interview at a hospital for a job in the emergency room as a social worker

i thought i've got to do something different in my job interviews

so i decided to try something new and different

and i decided to use two magic words two magic words and these two magic words

transformed my interviewing ability.

With these two words, I went from being okay at interviewing to great at interviewing.

I got that job in the emergency room because of those two words.

And then after that, anytime I went for a job interview, I got the job offer.

I had a hundred percent record after that until I started my own business.

Mainly because of these two magic words, the two magic words of job interviewing.

What are they?

I know you're wondering, what are they, AJ?

Why don't you tell us?

Because I want you to think about it.

What do you think they are?

The two most powerful words you can use in any job interview.

Any job interview, any situation, doesn't matter.

Two most powerful words when you give an answer.

Ideas?

all right i'll tell you the two most powerful words in job interviewing are for example for example

for example for example makes you an amazing interviewer let me tell you how it works

i'll show you i'll give you two different answers the second one will use the magic words so number one

um tell us about your uh job history you know are you good at showing up on time

oh yes i'm very punctual you know i i always come to work on time i'm not late i'm never late

that's answer number one sounds confident sounds good right answer number two much better

same thing oh yes yes yes you know i'm i'm always on time

i'm never late being punctual being on time is very very important to me for example in my last job

i never missed one day of work and i was never late.

I was on time or early every single day of that job.

In fact, I encourage you, please call my former boss.

He's one of my references, and I'm sure he'll be happy to talk to you about my attendance record

and my dedication to being on time and punctual.

But that's not the only thing that's important.

You know, it's also important when you're at work to do good work, to be proactive.

For example, at my last job, we had a big project.

There was a problem.

One of our team members quit, and I had to step in and do his work also.

And we got the project finished on time.

I'm very proud of that.

Can you feel the difference between those answers?

Can you see what that does?

Those two magic words, for example, they transform the answer how do they do it well by

being specific see as a job interviewer what i want is i want a proof

i want evidence every person says the same thing okay nobody comes into a job interview

and says you know really i'm not a good worker i'm lazy

and i'm always late and I really hate working and I suck, my skills are no good.

Nobody says that.

Nobody, even though it's probably true for a lot of them.

They don't say that.

Everybody says they're always on time.

Everybody says they're a hard worker.

Everybody says they have good skills.

Everybody does.

So just saying it is meaningless in a job interview.

The interviewer doesn't believe it that he hears every person says exactly the same thing.

He doesn't really believe it.

So how will you be different?

How will you convince him that it's true?

With examples, specific stories, specific examples, specific numbers.

When you say for example and then you tell a story to show your actions,

not just talk about it but show specifically when you did something

and how you did it then you give the interviewer a picture they start they see you performing

and this will make you

100

so much different than most other interviewers most other interviewers are too general

101

you always want to be specific in your answers you always want to give an example for everything,

102

everything, everything, every answer should have at least one example, specific example.

103

Don't just say you work hard.

104

Talk about a specific time when you worked hard.

105

Talk about the details, about how hard it was.

106

And I stayed up every night until midnight.

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Then I would sleep for four hours.

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And then I got up at eight the next morning and worked again because this project was so important.

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See, that's a specific example of you working hard.

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Talking about a specific example is so powerful.

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Just saying, I'm a hard worker, that sucks.

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That's weak.

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It's meaningless.

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Everybody says that.

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So when you prepare for job interviews, you not only prepare for all the different questions, you have to prepare your examples.

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You need 20 or 30 great examples from your past to show that you work hard, to show that you solve problems,

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to show that you can work with other people well.

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to show that you know how to make money, to show that you know how to save money,

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to show that you're not stupid or crazy or foolish or difficult, to show that you come to work on time, all of those things, right,

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that employers are looking for.

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You need specific stories, specific examples to show each of those things.

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Don't just say it, show it with specific examples.

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This makes you a super powerful interviewer.

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They will remember you.

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You will get a lot more job offers when you do this in every interview.

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For example, you should use that phrase,

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those two words, in every single answer you give.

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I'm giving you, this is a super powerful secret.

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It's simple it's simple but see it takes time

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because you really have to think about it you got to

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think about all the details the more detailed your example the more detailed your stories the better

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they're more powerful the detailed examples that's what's powerful that's what's convincing that's what sells yourself to the interviewer

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that's what convinces them that you're special that you are better than the others

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that you're different

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that they should hire you now common question

136

I get especially from young people maybe they're just in college they'll say well

137

but I don't have any work experience I don't have any examples hmm what should I do then?

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Well, you need to get examples.

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That means you need to get out and live your life, get out of the damn classroom, stop just taking notes and taking tests.

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That's all useless.

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Get out in the real world and do something useful.

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Then you will have the stories.

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Then you will have the examples.

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How can you do that?

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Get a part -time job.

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Even working at McDonald's or Pizza Hut or fast food, that's still a job.

147

And you can still show that you worked hard

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that you were on time that you were good working with other people

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that you could handle money there are a lot of good things

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that come from a job like that

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that you can show just got to think about it something else

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you can do is volunteer volunteer for different groups charities events in your school

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or outside of your school

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and again this shows you can show leadership

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you can show examples of hard work

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you can show examples of getting results all of those things you need to get out in the real world

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and do something don't just complain oh i don't have a job yet

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because i've just been in school well that's no excuse you're going to lose you're going to lose

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if you just think

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that being in school is enough it's not enough everybody else interviewing also went to school

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so just going to school it's not enough

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so you better get your butt out in the real world

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and do something useful then you will have the examples then you will have the stories

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and the other guys won't you'll get the great jobs they won't

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and of course as you get older it should get easier

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because you get more and more and more and more work experience

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and life experience so you should have more and more

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and more great stories great examples of all the good things you've done to prove to prove

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that you will be useful and good and skillful and hardworking and on time and all of those things.

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You want to prove it.

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Don't just say it.

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Prove it.

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This is also where having good references can help.

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I gave that one example.

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If you know you have a great reference, if you did good work for them and you know they will say great things about you,

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mention them in the interview.

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Actually encourage the interviewer to call them.

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Say, you know, one of my references is my last boss from my last job

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and you know i completed a great project

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that made fifty thousand dollars for the company

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and he was very happy i encourage you please you know call him

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and talk to him about my work i know that he's going to say great things

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you can say it a little differently

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but you know some people it's like they're almost afraid of their references you should have good references

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so that you encourage the interviewer

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because that's more proof it's more evidence not just talking everybody talks the more evidence

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and specific examples you can give the better the chance you get the job

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and you get the better jobs and you get higher pay

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and over the years as you get older in your career your career will go higher

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and higher better and better as you get good at this

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all right so that's it it's a simple one today short

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but this is super powerful super super powerful i want you to get out there

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and get those great jobs

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you can do it all right as usual all of the

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shows have text free text guides on our blog go

196

there download the text guides you can read everything i'm saying helps you understand everything go to effortless english club .com

197

effortlessenglishclub .com go to the bottom you'll see blog

198

and video podcast click on that and then get all the free text guides

199

lots of love to you I will see you next time bye for now

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “English Job Interviews”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: example, interview, specific, words, powerful. This video has 199 sentences and 2234 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:39. The speaker talks at a steady 143 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
interviewer noun	/ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/	One who interviews.
encourage verb	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
worker noun	/ˈwɝ.kɚ/	One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.
desperate adjective	/ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/	In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
convince verb	/kənˈvɪns/	To make someone believe, or feel sure about something, especially by using logic, argument or evidence.
resume verb	/ˈɹɛz.ə.meɪ/	To start (something) again that has been stopped or paused from the point at which it was stopped or paused; continue, carry on.
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
solve verb	/sɒlv/	To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out.
suck verb	/sʌk/	To use the mouth and lips to pull in (a liquid, especially milk from the breast).
volunteer noun	/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/	One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
panic noun	/ˈpænɪk/	Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.
classroom noun	/ˈklɑːsɹʊm/	A room, often in a school, where classes take place.
transform verb	/tɹænsˈfɔɹm/	To change greatly the appearance or form of.
bore verb	/boɹ/	To inspire boredom in somebody.
meaningless adjective	/ˈmiː.nɪŋ.ləs/	Lacking meaning.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
get out verb	To leave or escape.
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
go down verb	To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.
send out verb	To issue, dispatch or transmit.
stay up verb	To remain awake; to not go to bed.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Why don't you tell us?
What do you think they are?
Can you feel the difference between those answers?
Can you see what that does?
How will you convince him that it's true?

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	i've just been · you've done
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should have · should use · should hire
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	were going · was getting · was using
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	your greatest

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 59 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, foolish /ˈfuː.lɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: intelligent /ɪnˈtɛlɪd͡ʒənt/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, desperately /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹət.li/, dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, audiobook /ˈɔdi.oʊbʊk/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like interviewer, encourage, worker.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: English Job Interviews | Two Magic Words - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?