The Job Interview Workbook: A Workbook for College Students and Jobhunters

Tory S. Thorkelson, M.Ed.

The Job Interview Workbook

A workbook for college students and new job hunters

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Table of contents

Part One: Interviews versus Conversations and a model

Part Two: Informal Interviews for practice

Part Three: Your CV and Cover Letter

Part Four: Types of Interviews/Interview Questions & Advice

Part Five: Worksheets and Practice activities

Sample Answers, Resources and References

Preface and About the Author

Part One: Interviews versus Conversations and a model

Common Conversation Sins:

An interview is sometimes referred to as a guided conversation. While this may be a bit misleading, it is a good, concise description of what a job interview that is done properly should feel like for the job applicant. Below is a list of some common mistakes that people make during a typical conversation that also relate to a good job interview.

i) Being rude: Playing with your phone, ignoring the people you are supposed to be talking with or otherwise showing that you’d rather be somewhere else than here talking to these people is bad behaviour. Period.

ii) Telling boring or depressing stories about yourself: This is not a session with your councillor, and these people are not your social workers or personal psychiatrist. They have no need or desire to make you feel good about yourself or keep you from committing social suicide. They are here for a friendly chat and that is all.

iii) Race, Religion, Politics, & WHY meat is killing us all: There are just some topics that you do not talk about with people you barely know. There are acceptable topics for small talk (see the lesson on this), but these are NOT them.

iv) Arguing for no reason: There are places and times to play devil’s advocate or have an enjoyable debate, but a typical social situation is not it.

v) Being boring: We all like to tell stories or make attempts to be interesting and the center of attention at times but telling stories or relating a long, boring anecdote about yourself is not a good way to make a good impression on people you just met.

vi) Failing to listen: Especially in a social situation with new people and in an unknown venue, it makes sense to listen carefully to what people are saying and how they are expressing themselves before you start trying to get into the conversation. Listening first, last and in between is a good way to avoid making mistakes in a conversation just as it is a good idea in almost any other aspect of life.

Vii) Complaining: Just as with people who argue about everything, those who complain about every aspect of a place, the people there, the food being offered or every other thing they dislike are unlikely to make a lot of new friends. There are times and places for this, but at a party or other meeting with relative strangers is NOT it.

Now, discuss these questions with your partner(s):

l Which of these do you agree or disagree with? Why?

l Which of these also apply to a job interview situation as well? Why?

What is a Register?:

In linguistics, a register is a set of words used with a particular group of people or in a specific situation. Registers can be professional, like the words or expressions used by doctors or teachers. They can also be personal, like the nicknames or slang used by close friends or the members of an online community or gamers who play a game like StarCraft together. Registers are also called tenor (Halliday, 1978) or even style (Trudgill, 1992)

Also, a register may be formal or intimate depending on the situation and group who uses it. The chart below shows one way to categorize registers by when and how they are used following Joos (1961) model:

Registers & You:

1) What is a register?

2) What are some terms used that are similar to register?

3) Look up definitions for the following terms:

4) What are some terms that are similar to register?

5) Define and give examples of the following levels of formality.

6) Now, think of words/phrases you ONLY use with the following people or in the following situations.

A. Family:

B. Friends:

C. Classmates/Teacher: