WEBVTT 00:00:00.780 --> 00:00:06.219 Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast 00:00:06.219 --> 00:00:19.000 number 44. You're listening to English as a Second 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:25.780 Language podcast number 44. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:29.260 from the Center for Educational Development. 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:36.020 in Los Angeles, California. For more information 00:00:36.020 --> 00:00:43.200 about this podcast, visit our website at www 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:57.340 .eslpod .com Today's topic is going to be about 00:00:57.340 --> 00:01:02.820 preparing for an interview. Lucy is going to 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:08.859 tell us about her experiences in preparing for 00:01:08.859 --> 00:01:18.939 an interview. Let's get started. My interview 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:26.859 is today. It is with a marketing company. It 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:32.840 is a large corporation with headquarters in San 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:39.420 Francisco, California. It also has satellite 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:48.040 offices across the US and in Europe. I'm not 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:54.680 sure if this would be the right fit for me, but 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:01.739 I'm keeping an open mind. I got some sound advice 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:08.379 from my aunt. She said that I should be confident, 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:15.180 but not cocky. That means I have to look for 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:19.659 opportunities to talk about my qualifications. 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:27.389 But don't make the mistake of boasting or worse, 00:02:28.189 --> 00:02:33.849 making things up. I do that sometimes when I 00:02:33.849 --> 00:02:39.990 get really nervous. My brain stops working and 00:02:39.990 --> 00:02:46.030 my mouth takes over. I need to be respectful 00:02:46.030 --> 00:02:52.759 but not meek. I want to be professional with 00:02:52.759 --> 00:03:01.719 everyone, my coworkers and my bosses. But I don't 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:06.159 want them to think that I would let my coworkers 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:13.500 walk all over me. I should show them that I'm 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:19.759 a team player. Nobody likes a person who tries 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:25.360 to grab the limelight all of the time, especially 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:32.780 if they're new, like me. Okay, I think I'm ready. 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:39.919 I have my resume, my transcript, and the address 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:43.360 of the office where I'm going for the interview. 00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:57.889 Now, all I need are my shoes. Lucy talked today 00:03:57.889 --> 00:04:06.289 about how to prepare for an interview. She began 00:04:06.289 --> 00:04:13.750 or started off. To start off means the same as 00:04:13.750 --> 00:04:21.949 to begin. Lucy started off by talking about how 00:04:21.949 --> 00:04:26.790 she was interviewing with a large corporation 00:04:26.790 --> 00:04:34.930 with its headquarters in San Francisco. A corporation, 00:04:34.930 --> 00:04:41.290 as you probably know, is the same as a company, 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:47.730 although we often use it to mean a very large 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:55.920 company. Microsoft and Apple are large corporations. 00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:02.779 Headquarters refers to the place where the company 00:05:02.779 --> 00:05:10.560 or any organization has its main offices or its 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:16.980 biggest office. For example, the headquarters 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:25.240 of General Motors automobile company is in Detroit, 00:05:25.420 --> 00:05:31.000 Michigan. The headquarters of the United Nations 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:37.839 is in New York City. Usually when we talk about 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:45.680 a company's headquarters we are implying or indicating 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:52.310 that they have smaller offices in other cities. 00:05:54.209 --> 00:06:01.189 These smaller offices are sometimes called satellite 00:06:01.189 --> 00:06:09.290 offices. Now the word satellite is also the term 00:06:09.290 --> 00:06:16.170 we use to describe what we put up in space. For 00:06:16.170 --> 00:06:21.720 example, A weather satellite takes pictures of 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:27.959 the earth. Lucy explains that she's not sure 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:34.420 if the job she is interviewing for is the right 00:06:34.420 --> 00:06:40.120 fit for her. But she's keeping an open mind. 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:46.480 When something is the right fit, it means that 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:52.459 It's a good match for the person. The verb to 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:59.420 fit is also used when we try on a piece of clothing, 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:06.220 a shirt for example. And it's related to this 00:07:06.220 --> 00:07:12.600 expression of right fit. If something is a good 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:18.490 fit, we mean it isn't too big and it isn't too 00:07:18.490 --> 00:07:24.050 small. Notice the difference here. When we are 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:29.509 talking about clothing, we say, a good fit. And 00:07:29.509 --> 00:07:34.529 when we are talking about a situation or something 00:07:34.529 --> 00:07:43.069 like a job, we say, the right fit. To keep an 00:07:43.069 --> 00:07:49.529 open mind means not to make up your mind, not 00:07:49.529 --> 00:07:55.569 to decide, to leave all your possibilities available. 00:07:57.430 --> 00:08:03.329 The opposite of an open mind is a closed mind, 00:08:04.209 --> 00:08:07.910 which is used to describe someone who doesn't 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:16.029 like new ideas or has already decided. or made 00:08:16.029 --> 00:08:22.589 up his mind. Usually, to say someone has an open 00:08:22.589 --> 00:08:29.269 mind or keeps an open mind is a good thing and 00:08:29.269 --> 00:08:37.169 closed mind has a negative meaning. Lucy also 00:08:37.169 --> 00:08:41.710 says she got some sound advice from her aunt. 00:08:42.830 --> 00:08:49.269 Sound advice is good advice when someone gives 00:08:49.269 --> 00:08:56.269 you their opinion that is useful and wise or 00:08:56.269 --> 00:09:02.389 intelligent. One thing her aunt told her was 00:09:02.389 --> 00:09:10.029 not to be too cocky. Someone who is cocky is 00:09:10.029 --> 00:09:17.110 someone who is too confident, who thinks he's 00:09:17.110 --> 00:09:22.950 better than everyone else. Someone who is cocky 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:29.389 likes to boast, which means to tell other people 00:09:29.389 --> 00:09:35.690 how good he or she is. It's another negative 00:09:35.690 --> 00:09:40.850 term to describe someone. He's cocky or she's 00:09:40.850 --> 00:09:45.429 cocky. I guess we have a lot of negative terms 00:09:45.429 --> 00:09:52.149 in today's podcast. Oh well. The opposite of 00:09:52.149 --> 00:09:59.029 cocky would be meek. M -e -e -k. Meek. To be 00:09:59.029 --> 00:10:05.250 meek means that you're not confident enough that 00:10:05.250 --> 00:10:12.629 you are too modest about what you've done. Lucy 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:18.830 was told that she shouldn't make things up. To 00:10:18.830 --> 00:10:26.909 make things up is a polite or nice way of saying 00:10:26.909 --> 00:10:34.409 to lie, to not tell the truth. We sometimes use 00:10:34.409 --> 00:10:40.480 this expression with Children, for example, don't 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:46.419 make things up. When people get in trouble, they 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:55.460 often make things up or lie. Lucy also says that 00:10:55.460 --> 00:11:00.799 she wants to be a professional, but that she 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:06.960 doesn't want her coworkers to walk all over her. 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:13.919 Co -workers are, of course, people you work with. 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:20.960 A similar expression would be your fellow workers 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:26.399 or your fellow employees. When someone says, 00:11:27.379 --> 00:11:33.419 it's my fellow worker or my fellow student, That 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:38.299 term fellow means someone who is also like you. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:46.500 We use the expression to walk all over me. To 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:53.700 refer to a situation when a person doesn't defend 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:59.220 herself. When other people get to do whatever 00:11:59.220 --> 00:12:04.980 they want. and the person doesn't stop them. 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:10.000 They walk all over her. They tell her what to 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.919 do. They don't listen to anything that she says. 00:12:16.179 --> 00:12:23.820 It implies that a person is very meek, very weak 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:32.519 to walk all over someone. Lucy also says that 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:38.360 she wants to be a team player, not someone who 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:43.820 tries to grab the limelight all the time. To 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:52.399 be a team player means to cooperate or work well 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:57.779 with other people. It's a common expression in 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:03.320 American You are supposed to work with others 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:10.559 like you were players on a sports team. You are 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:15.740 supposed to cooperate with other people. To grab 00:13:15.740 --> 00:13:22.799 the limelight means to capture or to get the 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:28.730 attention of other people. It is also a negative 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:35.389 term referring to someone who always tries to 00:13:35.389 --> 00:13:43.429 be the focus of attention. That word limelight 00:13:43.429 --> 00:13:49.990 refers to an old type of very strong light that 00:13:49.990 --> 00:13:56.830 used to be used in theaters for plays. to light 00:13:56.830 --> 00:14:02.809 up the stage. But we don't actually use limelights 00:14:02.809 --> 00:14:06.809 anymore. But the expression is still with us. 00:14:07.090 --> 00:14:12.590 Someone who tries to get attention. That's going 00:14:12.590 --> 00:14:16.669 to do it for today's English as a Second Language 00:14:16.669 --> 00:14:21.990 podcast. As always, we ask you to email us and 00:14:21.990 --> 00:14:25.879 tell us who you are. and what country you are 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:36.799 from. Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com. 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:41.399 From Los Angeles, California, this is Dr. Jeff 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:47.700 McQuillan. We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast. 00:14:53.139 --> 00:14:56.679 ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:59.700 Development in Los Angeles, California. This 00:14:59.700 --> 00:15:02.279 podcast is copyright 2005.