GROUP JOB INTERVIEW: What to say and do to succeed

Hi everyone!

In today's lesson, we're going to talk about group job interviews, and I'm also going to

teach you phrases you can use if you get in a group job interview situation.

Group job interviews are common if you've just graduated and you're looking to get into

certain kinds of work, you go and you're interviewed all together with lots of people at the same

time.

They're also common in trendy kind of work places or in particular areas of work.

Like, if you're going to work in a call center.

So, let's have a look at an example exercise at the group job interview situation, because

it's very different to go into your interview in your suit and answering questions - question,

answer, question, answer, all just for you.

In the group job interview situation, you have to do tasks and activities with other

people in a group.

And while that's happening, your interviewers watch you and they observe what you're doing.

So, depends on what they're looking for.

Sometimes, they'll be looking for people who are leaders, people who are assertive, people

who can put themselves forward in a group.

And sometimes, they'll be looking for people who are good team players, people who work

well in a group with other people.

And they'll also be looking for people who are confident, people who have got good people

skills in general.

So, depending on the job and what they're looking for, they'll watch you interacting

with other people in the group.

An example exercise - I had this exercise at a group job interview that I once did,

and although I can write all the things to say now and tell you about it, because I'm

a good teacher, this kind of interview situation is not my forte.

It's not what I'm best at.

And anyway, so the task was a story, like, "You've been shipwrecked on a desert island,

and you're not going to be rescued for three days.

Here is a list of survival equipment, or a list of equipment", but actually there's more

things on the list.

"You can pick three items from the list.

Which ones do you choose?"

So, in your group, you have to go into the roleplay and talk about the things from the

list that you need to survive until you're rescued.

So, there might be reasons that you say, "We need the matches, because we want to make

a fire.

We need the lighter also, because we want to make a fire", but you might have a reason

why matches are better than a lighter.

Somebody else might say, "We need tinned meat, because we have to eat something here while

we're waiting to be rescued", and you could say, "Well, if we have the meat, we need to

open the meat with a tin opener."

Or, you could say, "Well, we need a mobile phone so we can call our families or call

the rescue services."

So, there is - in these group job interview situations, there isn't always a right answer.

It's more about how do you interact with the other people in that situation.

So, of course, you need something to say.

You don't want to just be watching everyone talk and you're not saying anything.

But also, we have to deal with other people and display our ability to interact in those

kind of group situations.

So, let's look at the first phrases.

These are indirect suggestions.

So, when you want to give an idea but you don't want to be like, "Hey", really forceful,

"this is what we're going to go.

I'm the leader, I'm the boss of the group, this is what we're going to do."

You can phrase what you're saying more gently and with more tact.

So, if you wanted to choose the matches, you could say, "Does anyone else think we should

choose the matches?"

It's like, I think we should choose the matches, does anyone else think we should?

If you agree, then it's a good idea.

How about we choose the matches?

What if we choose the matches?

Yeah, I think the matches are a good idea.

Let's choose the matches.

Or, we could say, "What are your thoughts if we choose the matches?"

What are your thoughts if we choose the matches?

Instead of saying directly, "I want to choose the matches", we can use all of these example

phrases to more gently give our opinion about the thing we want to choose.

And when we say that, other people might start talking about it.

Let's look now, if we want to be more assertive.

This is going to be the language chosen by people who are more natural in leadership

kind of roles.

People who want to be in charge of the project, perhaps we'd see this in graduate recruitment.

They'd be looking for, you know, people who can just go in the situation and take charge

in the group.

"I'm absolutely convinced that we should select the tin opener.

If we don't have the tin opener, we can't open the meat."

Absolutely, I'm certain, I'm absolutely convinced.

Trust me, I know that we should choose the tin opener.

I go camping, and you can't open tins unless you've got a tin opener.

Clearly, we should choose the tin opener.

Otherwise, we won't have any supper.

There's no question, there's no question, there's no question.

There's no question - you don't need that here.

There's no question, there's no question we should choose - there's no question, we should

choose the tin opener, because we need it to open the meat.

There's no doubt in my mind, it has to be the tin opener.

So, these are ways that you can show that you know what you're talking about, be noticed

in the group.

What if you disagree?

What if you think the guy and his tin opener, he's on - you can't choose a tin opener, it's

not the most important thing.

How do you go about disagreeing with him?

And it is okay to disagree in the group job interview situation; you might have a better

idea.

So, what - let's use mobile phone.

"I'm not sure about the tin opener.

I think it would be better to choose the mobile phone.

If we've got the phone, we can call our relatives at home."

Now, this - this example can be disingenuous, as in you say it but you don't mean it.

"That's a good idea", you don't really mean it.

"That's a good idea, but how about we choose a mobile phone?

Once we've got a phone, we can tell the emergency services where exactly we are."

You could also say, "Yes", about the tin opener, "but have you considered the mobile phone?

It's really important.

Otherwise, we won't be rescued.

We'll be here forever and we'll starve."

You could also say, "Hm, I see where you're coming from about that tin opener, but I'm

a vegetarian, so I'm not going to eat the meat.

That's why we can't choose that."

And the last example here - he's already been talking about the tin opener - "But what if

we choose the mobile phone?

Wouldn't that be a good idea?"

Next, we've got more things to say in your group job interview.

Now, let's look at responding to a bad idea.

Have you been in that situation, working in a group where someone just starts talking

for ages with a really stupid idea, or they're not making sense?

How do you respond to that in the group job interview situation?

Well, there's the silence.

Sometimes, they stop talking.

Sometimes, they don't.

You could say, "Hmm.

I'm not so sure - not so sure about that.

I don't know", and then say what you're going to talk about.

Of course, you could be more direct as well and say, "No, that's not really going to work."

Just depends how you want to appear in that job interview situation.

Next is showing agreement.

When someone has an idea, you really like it, here's what you can say.

So, let's say somebody said the matches - we should take the matches and not the lighter,

because when the lighter breaks, if the lighter breaks, that's it, it's finished.

But matches, you've got plenty - plenty more matches to use.

So, it's more likely to mean we can have fire for longer.

If you agree with that, you can say, "That's a good idea."

You can say, "I wholeheartedly agree."

Now, that is a bit formal there.

I don't - depends on the situation, depends on what kind of person you are.

But it is a bit formal, and you probably wouldn't say that at a graduate recruitment situation.

Or, you could say, "I think you're right about that."

Now, let's look at including others.

We've got to be very kind when we're working in a group, and we can't dominate and talk

too much.

Well, maybe we can, maybe we can't.

Depends on what they're looking for, so to show that you're a good team player, include

others.

So, you've said something about the - what is it - tin opener, or the tin, the can of

meat.

You've said something - you want to choose the can of meat.

You've said the reason why and at the end, you look around and you say, "What does everyone

else think?"

And you let them speak.

Or, if you're really good, if you're really, really, really, really good now, you'll have

already remembered the random people's names in your group that you met two minutes ago.

And you'll start to use their names, because your people skills are so good.

So then, you can say, "Tom, what's your opinion?

What would you do?"

Or perhaps you want to be including everyone and to make the decision based on everybody's

input in the group, you could say, "Let's take a vote."

Or you say, "Let's take a show of hands".

People will put their hands up if they agree with an idea or not.

And again, a similar one, "Sarah, what would you suggest?"

Perhaps Sarah's been quiet, not saying anything.

Because your people skills are so good, you include her.

"Sarah, what would you suggest?"

Okay, speeding things up.

Sometimes, in a group, you're talking, you're talking, you're talking, it's going nowhere.

Nothing's happening.

Come on, we've only got four more minutes and we haven't finished talking about the

matches yet.

We've got ten more things on this list.

How are we ever going to make a decision?

So, you want to speed things up.

You could say, "We don't have long left, are we all agreed on the matches?"

The matches are the only thing we've spoken about.

You could say, "Guys, we really need to make a decision on this."

Or, you can say, if things - if you've been taking about that tin opener for too long,

you have to move on and say, "Let's leave this for now.

We'll come back to it later."

Sometimes, you have to move away from where you're stuck to speed things up.

And finally, confirmation.

When you want - when you get to the end part and you want to finalize what you've decided

in the group, you can say, "Does everyone else agree?

We're going to choose the matches, the tin opener and the tin of meat?

Does everyone agree?"

We could also say right at the end, "Is it all settled, then?

It's all settled?"

Settled means decided in this - in the context of this sentence.

Is it all settled, then?

Yes.

Or you could also say, "Just to confirm, we're going to choose the lighter, the tin opener,

and the mobile phone?

Just to confirm."

So, that's when you finish your group job interview task.

You've been observed and if you are the winner, you'll find out a few days later after your

group job interview.

What I'd like to do now is suggest to you to watch my other video on going to job interviews

to get more sentences that you can use in a job interview situation.

Thanks for watching, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye!