Practice Listening Business English Exercises for A2 – Jobs

A

Dan and Elsa are both going to interview the candidates.

B

1 communication   2 three/3   3 French   4 language

5 eight/8   6 smaller   7 friendly   8 five/5   9 basic

Audioscript

E = Elsa   D = Dan

D:   Hello, Elsa. I’m just phoning about your email. How did the video interviews go?

E:   Very well. A few technical problems at ­first with the video and sound quality as usual.

D:   Yes, it’s always the same.

E:   The good news is, I have three excellent candidates for you to meet.

D:   Sounds great! Tell me about them.

E:   Well, ­first there’s Vicki Grant. My impression of Vicki is she’s very friendly and has good communication skills. She has all the essential skills, with three years’ experience in sales and she manages a team of twelve staff.

D:   Does she work in the chemical industry?

E:   No, but she works in a related industry – pharmaceuticals. And she has a chemistry degree.

D:   A chemistry degree! That’s a useful quali­fication for the job.

E:   Yes, I know. She doesn’t speak German, but she’s studied French and speaks it well and says she’s happy to study German.

D:   That’s good to know.

E:   Next there’s Sam Gowan. My impression of Sam is he knows a lot about our company and products and he has good language skills. He also has three years’ experience in sales and manages a team of eight staff.

D:   Where does he work?

E:   For a smaller company in our industry called, Centrin. Have you ever heard of them?

D:   No, I haven’t.

E:   He has a business degree. He’s worked in Germany and he says his German is excellent.

D:   Ah, that’s interesting. We work a lot with Germany.

E:   And ­finally, the third candidate. His name’s Isaac Lange. My impression is he’s a good team worker and he has a friendly personality. He plays in a football team at weekends, so you have something in common.

D:   Yes, we do!

E:   He has more experience than Vicki and Sam – ­five years in sales – and he manages a bigger team of staff – twenty people. He works for a paint manufacturer, so it’s a related industry. He’s travelled a lot in Europe for work but says his German is basic. No university quali­fication.

D:   That’s no problem, it isn’t essential for the job. The right experience and personality is more important to me.

E:   Yes, I agree.

D:   Well done, Elsa! It’ll be di‑ cult to choose the candidate. Can you contact them and arrange the interviews for next week? Tuesday morning is the best time for me.

E:   Yes, OK. I’ll do that, and I’ll send you their full curriculums.

D:   Thanks, I’d like to read them. And can you do the interviews with me? Two heads are better than one.

E:   Certainly! I’ll email you the details. Bye for now.

D:   Cheers. Bye!

A

1 Agnes   2 Miranda   3 Luca

B

1 communication   2 three   3 marketing   4 Italian   5 language

6 (a) business   7 Six   8 Twelve   9 experienced   10 clothing / clothes

11 twelve   12 basic

Audioscript

M = Maria   E = Ernesto

M:   Hello, Maria Maya speaking.

E:   Hello, Maria. It’s Ernesto here. I’m just phoning about the interviews for a Marketing Manager.

M:   Oh, good. How did they go?

E:   They went well. I have three excellent candidates for you to meet.

M:   Great! Tell me about them.

E:   Well, ­first there’s Miranda Dunn. My impression of Miranda is that she’s very motivated, organised and has good communication skills. But she’s the youngest candidate and has the least experience. She’s been a manager for two years. And she manages the smallest team – a team of three staff.

M:   That’s OK. Does she work in the cosmetics industry?

E:   Yes, she does. She works for a company called Planet Health. Have you heard of them?

M:   Oh, yes. They’re a vegan cosmetics company – I’ve read about them. They’re interesting. What about her quali­fications?

E:   She’s got a degree in marketing. Oh, and she also speaks Italian well.

M:   That’s good.

E:   Next there’s Luca Baldini. Luca is Italian, very friendly and a good team worker. He has great language skills. He’s fluent in Italian and English. He has a business degree. And his French is good, too.

M:   That’s useful. What about experience?

E:   Well, he’s older than Miranda. He’s got six years’ experience in marketing and he manages a team of twelve staff.

M:   That is good. And where does he work?

E:   He works for GTCR Pharmaceuticals. It’s a related industry.

M:   Oh, yes. I know them. He’s a very strong candidate.

E:   And ­finally, the third candidate, Agnes Becker. She’s a bit older than Luca. She’s very experienced, very friendly and she knows a lot about our company, which is interesting because she works in the fashion industry.

M:   Really? Where does she work?

E:   She works for Lessismore. They’re a clothing manufacturer.

M:   Oh, yes. They’re very big.

E:   Yes, they have factories all over the world.

M:   Very interesting. What about her quali­fications?

E:   Well, she’s got a degree in fashion …

M:   OK …

E:   But she has a lot of experience managing people. She’s worked in the marketing department in Lessismore for twelve years. And she manages a team of nine staff.

M:   Interesting. And what about her language skills?

E:   She’s got basic level French. But she’s travelled a lot for work and she says she’s happy to learn Italian. She’s done a lot of research about our company. I think she really wants to work for us.

M:   That’s important, and it isn’t essential to speak Italian.

E:   I agree.

M:   You’ve done a great job, Ernesto. It’ll be di‑ cult to choose from these candidates. Can you send me their full pro­files?

E:   Yes, of course. I’ll send them now.

M:   Thanks, and can you organise the interviews for next week?

A

1   Can you tell me about your quali­fications?

2   What are your main strengths?

3   How have you helped to create a good team spirit?

4   Have you ever organised a conference?

5   Have you ever had problems with difficult team members?

B

a there, 5   b hard, 2   c organised, 4   d degree, 1   e meetings, 3

Audioscript

I = Interviewer   C = Candidate

I:   Can you tell me about your quali­fications?

C:   Yes, I have a degree in business administration.

I:   What are your main strengths?

C:   I’m hard-working, organised and analytical.

I:   How have you helped to create a good team spirit?

C:   I often have positive meetings with my team and we’ve always celebrated events like birthdays and promotions.

I:   Have you ever organised a conference?

C:   Yes, I have. I organised last year’s conference.

I:   Have you ever had problems with difficult team members?

C:   Yes, there have been problems, but it’s important to listen and help them.

1   excellent communication skills

2   good at communicating

3   always said ‘Well done!’

4   done a lot of staff training

5   there has been conflict

6   I’ve learnt

Audioscript

I = Interviewer   C = Candidate

I:   What are your main strengths?

C:   I have excellent communication skills. I’m good at communicating with my team and motivating them to do a good job.

I:   How have you helped to motivate your staff?

C:   I’ve always said ‘Well done!’ when they’ve done a good job.

I:   Have you ever organised training sessions?

C:   Yes, I have. I’ve done a lot of staff training.

I:   Have you ever had problems with difficult people?

C:   Yes, I have. I’ve had problems with difficult clients and there has been conflict between team members. But I’ve learnt a lot about managing people.

1 T

2 F She has over five years’ experience.

3 T

4 F – He hasn’t any experience managing teams.

5 T

6 F – He has a degree in marketing.

7 T   8 T   9 T

10 F – He doesn’t have a lot of experience with data.

Audioscript

M:   OK, so we have three candidates for the new marketing position. What did you think?

F:   I liked Carly. She has a lot of experience.

M:   Yes, and she talked a lot about our company. She knows which cities our offices are in, and all of our product range.

F:   I think that’s good. She had great communication skills.

M:   Yes, she was very good. And she has a lot of experience.

F:   She’s worked in an international company for over five years, and she’s been in sales all that time.

M:   I think her skills and experience will be great. What about Lee?

F:   I liked him.

M:   I think the team will like him, too. He’s very friendly and he has good communication skills.

F:   He hasn’t any experience managing teams. That’s a problem for this job.

M:   And the company he’s at is much bigger than our business.

F:   Do you think he’ll get bored at our company?

M:   Possibly. But he has a degree in marketing and he has three years of experience.

F:   And we need new ideas.

M:   OK, and the last candidate is Dan. I think he’s a good team worker.

F:   I agree. He studied marketing at university for four years.

M:   He hasn’t had much work experience. He worked for a local company for two years. That’s not long, and he hasn’t worked internationally.

F:   No, but he can speak Spanish and Chinese very well, and we need someone with good language skills.

M:   That’s true.

F:   He doesn’t have a lot of experience with data. We need someone with strong analytical skills. I don’t think Dan has.

M:   That is important. OK, let’s look again at their online profiles.