ESP resource: surprising job interview roleplay questions

This piece explores a useful ESP resource discovered when expanding a Business English activity.

Surprise, surprise

When teaching Business English it will come as no surprise that some students will ask for work-related activities, for example, which is where English for Specific Purposes (ESP) comes to play. As most Business English teachers are not specialised in all the areas of business, it is necessary to adapt tried and tested activities such as: job interview roleplay, meetings discussions, discuss a project, giving a presentation, correcting work samples and (to some) the dreaded elevator pitch. By giving the students free reign to write questions, for example, you are empowering the learners to be autonomous as well as tailoring the activities to their work.

In banking, the following example arose from a private banking student: What do you think a private banker's day looks like? This can be used when teaching those with relevant experience. The students had been asked to supply two questions each before being given some generic questions (a few can be found further down). One would be a typical question they would get at a job interview at their company (can also be their specific industry) and the other was to add a surprising question, which also allows them to personalise or express their creativity. These can be asked at any point in the interview roleplay, though it was noted that some forgot to ask their two questions, so doing so before the ones the teacher supplies may work best. Below are the new ‘surprise questions’ which the teacher decided to answer himself to test their usefulness (he tells himself), flesh them out (there is truth in this), and, of course, to make the blog long enough (amen).

Q&A with the not so mystery guest

One of our core values is "personal" can you describe how you will use this value in your daily work?

I use what I call the personal approach, so by getting to know the students, divulging a few personal bits of information between you as the course progresses, it is easier to create a safe learning environment and be trusted by your learners.

Can you tell me about a time when you had to learn something completely new in a short amount of time?

Working with teenagers without any previous experience. Although I managed to teach a whole academic year with some difficulty, I did benefit from learning that I only wished to teach adults thereafter.

What would your ideal workweek look like??

A combination of working online and face-to-face. 8 x 2-hour lessons is my target each week. Since COVID and the new hybrid way of working, I try not to travel too often to save time and energy. Ideally, travelling twice a week works well.

Can you describe your personality in 3 words?

Creative, humorous and well-structured. Examples of each respectively would be adapting an activity based on the Dragons’ Den TV show that can be used as a collaborative task or a competitive one for B1 and above, natural humour seeing the funny side of many things, and clear methodical instructions, a schedule each lesson and a course outline as part of a detailed introductory lesson at the beginning of each course.

How would your friends describe you?

Loyal, caring, funny (hopefully), intense and great at planning.

Do you have any good habits you don’t mind sharing?

First thing that came to mind: loading the dishwasher in a timely fashion, although this is beside the point. Quickly moving on: in terms of work, planning lessons 2 weeks ahead, which means being two steps ahead of my schedule. Also, fulfilling obligations a freelancer has to keep to. i.e. recording all business related duties in a business agenda and on spreadsheets.

Is there something you’d like to change about yourself?

I could be less hard on myself. As a perfectionist with mild OCD, my own high standards can put pressure on me if something doesn’t go according to plan. Take for example an experience via Teams when an organisation blocked external people from becoming ‘organiser’ of meetings. When break-out rooms didn’t work out as it usually does in the hands of a student, momentarily, it felt like the world was caving in around me, but luckily, after relativising and rationalising, as well as a few words of encouragement from students who had still managed to benefit from the job interview roleplay activity without me being able to monitor as I usually would, I was able to joke about it and mentioned that it was not a complete disaster after all.

Would you like to become a Manager and manage a team some day?

No. I have no aspirations to be a people Manager. Planning schedules and courses is OK as perhaps a Director of Studies would, but the administrative duties would be a turn-off.

Are there any skills you have that set you apart from the rest?

Teacher training experience (workshops, teaching 2 courses), writing blogs and books, having a DELTA module 1, being creative, imaginative, using humour, planning, being well-structured, and using the personal approach.

In terms of your achievements, what are you most proud of?

Getting my teaching diploma in 2010, starting up my company a year later and staying in business while managing to make a profit each year. The best thing is when you hear from a student that you have inspired them. Work-wise, this resonates more than anything anyone else could tell you.

A few good old generic questions

What would you bring to this company?

A dependable, loyal colleague with a lot of experience, who gives 110% and is passionate and appreciated by clients, who consistently give him excellent evaluations.

Why would you like to work with us?

Having heard about you from trusted colleagues and knowing you have a good solid reputation within the industry, I feel that it could only be beneficial to work together. I am always open to broadening my client base and my horizons as a teacher.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Hopefully, doing the same thing based in the same area, which is as convenient as can be for getting to all the big cities nearby within a one hour geographical radius. I can see myself being just as enthusiastic about the job as I am now.