Shadowing Practice: PHONE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS! (A Real ‘LIVE’ Telephone Job Interview Example!) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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So in this video, I am going to undertake a real live phone interview to teach you what to say
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and do during your own telephone interview.
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So if you have a phone interview coming up for any job or any organization, watch this video from start to finish because I will help you pass your interview.
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So in a second, the hiring manager is going to call me on my phone
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and ask me several interview questions that will assess my suitability for the role.
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And I want you to watch this live interview.
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It's going to be great preparation for your own.
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But before I undertake the live interview, I want to work through quickly with you my phone interview checklist.
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These are the things that you need to think about before you undertake your own phone interview.
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Let's have a look at that checklist.
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Okay, let's work through the checklist.
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So the first thing that you need to consider before your telephone interview
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is to make sure you are going to undertake your interview
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in a quiet room where there's not going to be any distractions.
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That's really important.
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The second thing is to obviously make sure that your phone is fully charged.
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You do not want to run out of battery before the interview finishes, because if you do, you are going to fail the interview.
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The next thing is to make sure you take the phone interview as seriously as you would do for an in-person interview.
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Now, a phone interview
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is normally used as a filter to determine which candidates are going to be invited along to the face-to-face interview.
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So make sure you take the phone interview seriously.
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So the next thing on my phone interview checklist is to
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make sure you prepare your answers to the most common telephone interview questions asked.
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What are those questions?
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Well, you will get to hear them during the live telephone interview.
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The next thing on my phone interview checklist is to make sure you prepare a cheat sheet with bullets on
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that include your answers.
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So, for example, I have the most common telephone interview questions featured on this sheet,
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and I have included bullet points of what I want to say in response to each question.
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And again, I will tell you where you can download my cheat sheet at the end of this phone interview.
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The next thing on my phone interview checklist is to make sure you research their company before the interview takes place.
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Have a look at their website About Us page, and make sure you visit their social media pages, follow them and find out as much news information you can as possible,
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because then you can talk about their company during the interview.
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And the two final things on my phone interview checklist before we undertake this live phone interview are,
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number one, make sure you have three smart questions to ask at the end of the phone interview.
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Now, the hiring manager might not give you the opportunity to ask questions, but more often than not, they will do.
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sure you ask three smart questions.
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Again, I will tell you what those questions are during this live phone interview.
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And the final thing, this is really important, but it is often overlooked by phone interview candidates,
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that's to make sure you send a thank you email to the hiring manager once the phone interview has finished.
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And again, I will tell you the exact script to use at the end of of this phone interview.
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Let's now get into the phone interview and let's see if I can pass it.
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This is it.
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Hello, Richard speaking.
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Hi Richard, it's Joshua.
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I'm calling for our scheduled phone interview.
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How are you?
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I'm very well, thank you.
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I'm really good and I'm looking forward to the phone interview.
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Okay, great.
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Can you start off and tell me about yourself?
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Yes, no problem at all.
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Well, first of all, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed for this position today.
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I would describe myself as somebody who is positive, I'm happy and also resilient.
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And I also set myself goals all of the time that I want to achieve.
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Now, before I applied for this job, I took the time to read the job description.
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And I believe I have the skills needed to perform to the required standard.
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I would say I'm the type of person who always puts the needs of a team first.
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I am a creative problem solver.
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I'm the type of person who will always embrace change positively.
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And I am trustworthy and reliable.
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Outside of work, I like to keep myself fit and active, which in turn improves my concentration levels whilst I am at work.
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Outside of work, I'm saving up to buy a house, so it's really important that I work to a good standard for my employer when I am at work.
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If you hire me, I believe I will be a positive role model for your company, and I will also always take responsibility for my own ongoing professional development.
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Okay, great.
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Can you tell me why are you interested in this position?
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I am interested in this position for several reasons.
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The first reason is I am very passionate about this type of work
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and I am knowledgeable about this subject area and I believe I can really add value to your business.
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Now, I believe we spend a lot of time at work
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and I genuinely want that time to be put to good use with a forward-thinking company
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that has a really solid track record of achievement.
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Now, continuous development is something that I am passionate about
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and I believe I will get that within this position
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and I also feel having researched your company I will be supported a lot in the role.
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Okay great, next question, what are your strengths?
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So I have several strengths that I believe are a match for the job description.
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First of all I am a good collaborator
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so I can work with anyone and I will always put the needs of the team first.
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Other strengths include the fact that I am a creative person
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and I I can come up with innovative ideas to help your business grow.
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I'm also a good communicator and listener.
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So I always communicate with clarity and purpose.
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And finally, I have a good level of business acumen.
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So this means that I understand you are running a business
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and I would be there to help you reach your business goals.
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Brilliant, thank you.
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What's your biggest weakness?
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I would say my biggest weakness is the fact
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that I am not very good at asking other people for help when I need it.
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I tend to try and figure things out for myself, when in fact, the best thing to do would be to tap into all the other skills and qualities within the team.
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However, I am trying to be more mindful in situations like these, and I am the type of person who will always take on feedback from my managers
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and supervisors so I can continually improve and develop.
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Okay, great.
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Where do you see yourself in five years?
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Well, in five years time, I hopefully will still be working for you, either in the same role or having gained advancement to a higher level.
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I would have hoped to have undertaken numerous internal training development courses to make sure
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that I continually grow with the company as it grows.
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And I would like to be seen as a reliable coworker
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and also someone who will help train up newer members of the team as and when they join the company.
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Next question, how would you handle conflict with a coworker?
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So I would always handle conflict with a coworker
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by first of all assessing my own actions to see if I was contributing to the conflict.
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I think that's really important.
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And I would try and see things from their perspective.
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I would speak to them in private to then try
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and agree on an amicable way forward because I think it's really important as coworkers, we have a responsibility to be mature and professional
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and to make sure the progress of the team doesn't get hindered by any conflict.
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Brilliant, thank you.
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Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure.
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So I believe I'm really good at working under pressure.
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A situation comes to mind in my previous role where I was working on a project with five other team members.
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Seven days before the project was due to be finished, two people went off sick.
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Now this meant the pressure was on because we couldn't delay the project finishing time.
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So the three of us got together to put an alternative plan of action in place.
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And we all agreed to stay behind late for an hour each day after work.
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And this would give us an extra 21 hours of work on the project.
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I also suggested that we should see which tasks we could outsource through the website, u2b.com.
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And that also saved us an additional 15 hours of work.
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Now by working hard together, and by using creative ways to overcome this problem, we were able to still get the project delivered on time.
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Okay, thank you.
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Why do you want to leave your current job?
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So I want to leave my job basically
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because I'm ready for a fresh challenge with a new company that has exciting plans for the future.
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And I looked into your company online and I was really impressed with your long-term goals.
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Now, my employer has been great.
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We've achieved lots of really good things together, but I now want to work for a new company where my skills, knowledge, and experience are going to be put to really good use.
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Next question, what's been your greatest achievement?
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So I would say my greatest achievement was in my last job
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when I came up with an idea for helping their business to grow.
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Now I noticed that our company website did not ask its customers for reviews after they had used our products and services.
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Now I felt this was a missed opportunity
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because we could get valuable feedback from our customers
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and also get some great reviews which would then encourage other potential customers to buy from us.
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So I looked into our options and I suggested to my manager
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that we should set up a trust pilot account
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and I then liaised with the IT company who put this in place
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and we immediately started to get positive reviews which in turn helped increase sales by 15%.
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That's the end of the interview Richard.
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Do you have any questions for us?
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I just have three questions if that's okay please.
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The first question is how has the company evolved over the years?
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It's evolved through constantly innovating by creating new services and products and by always focusing on giving really good customer service.
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We aim to be the market leader within the next five years.
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Thank you.
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And the second question is, what's the culture like in the company?
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It's a positive workplace culture.
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And whilst we do expect our staff to work to set standards, we also want everyone to be themselves and come up with innovative ideas that will help the company.
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Thank you.
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And the third and final question, what are the next stages of the process?
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I still have to carry out some more phone interviews today, but I will be drawing up a short list of those people that I want to invite along to a face-to-face interview, and I will be in touch soon.
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Okay, thank you very much.
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It's been great speaking with you, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
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Okay, so that's the phone interview finished, and you could see that my answers were seamless, and they were seamless and prepared
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because I use this cheat sheet where I put bullet points for all the common telephone interview questions
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that I am likely going to have to answer.
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Now, if you would like a copy my exact cheat sheet and the phone interview checklist.
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Click that link right now in the top right hand corner of the video.
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Head through to my website PassMyInterview.com and you can download this exact cheat sheet,
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the checklist, and in total 50 brilliant scripted answers to difficult interview questions.
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Make sure you check that out right now.
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Thank you so much for watching and paying attention.
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Please make sure you subscribe to the channel, give the video a like, and you can also connect with me on LinkedIn.
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I've put my LinkedIn link in the description below the video.
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Thank you so much for watching and I wish you all the best for passing your phone interview.
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Have a great day.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “PHONE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS!”. This video has 166 sentences and 2187 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:22. The speaker talks fast, about 193 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| checklist noun | /ˈt͡ʃɛklɪst/ | A list of tasks to be completed, names to be consulted, conditions to be verified and similar. |
| undertake verb | /ˌʌndəˈteɪk/ | To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on. |
| cheat verb | /ˈt͡ʃiːt/ | To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation. |
| seamless adjective | Having no seams. | |
| evolve verb | /ɪˈvɑlv/ | To move (something) in regular procession through a system. |
| continually adverb | /kənˈtɪnjuəli/ | In regular or repeated succession; very often. |
| assess verb | /əˈsɛs/ | To determine, estimate or judge the value of; to evaluate; to estimate. |
| passionate adjective | /ˈpæʃənɪt/ | Fired with intense feeling. |
| innovative adjective | /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/ | Characterized by the creation of new ideas or inventions. |
| weakness noun | /ˈwik.nɪs/ | The condition of being weak. |
| acumen noun | /ˈækjəmən/ | Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination; acuity of mind. |
| amicable adjective | /ˈæ.mɪ.kə.bəl/ | Showing friendliness or goodwill. |
| collaborator noun | /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/ | A person who works with others towards a common goal. |
| communicator noun | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/ | Someone who, or something that communicates. |
| excite verb | /ɪkˈsaɪt/ | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| look forward to verb | To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to. | |
| work through verb | To get past a difficult or stressful situation by thinking or talking about it. | |
| carry out verb | /ˈkæ.ɹi aʊt/ | To hold while moving it out. |
| draw up verb | To compose (a document), especially following a standard form; prepare a plan. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| go off verb | To explode. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Can you start off and tell me about yourself?
- What's your biggest weakness?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Why do you want to leave your current job?
- Next question, what's been your greatest achievement?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be invited · is often overlooked · be interviewed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have included · has finished · has been |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | somebody who is · person who always · person who will |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, couldn't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: continually /kənˈtɪnjuəli/, innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/, amicable /ˈæ.mɪ.kə.bəl/, collaborator /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/, communicator /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/
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 checklist, undertake, cheat.
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.