Coursera Week 5 (FINAL)

1. Unit 5: Interviewing For a Job

This unit is about the question-and-answer process of job interviews, and will help prepare learners to present themselves well in interviews. Job seekers need to present themselves well by describing their skills effectively. Another important skill is asking and answering questions in a job interview.

• Overview of the Job Interview

A job interview is a formal meeting between an employer and a job seeker to decide if the person should get the job. The employer is called the interviewer and is the person asking the questions. The job seeker is called the interviewee and is the person answering the questions. Job interviews are usually in person or face-to face and are quite formal. Sometimes, interviews can be done by phone or video conference. To be more successful, job seekers can prepare for an interview by practising answers with specific examples of their skills and qualifications from their past experience.

Interviews are a great chance to explain your qualifications and transferable skills with examples or short stories. For example, many employers look for people who can show leadership skills or creativity in solving problems. You can prepare answers that show you have these skills by using examples from your past work experiences or education. Remember, you're not memorizing answers but just preparing some short specific examples that you can use to answer common interview questions. For example, if an interviewer said tell me about the time that you solved a problem.

Before an interview, job seekers should prepare a list of questions that they want to ask the interviewer about the company or about the job itself. During the interview, keep eye contact with the interviewer. Give clear and honest answers, and bring extra copies of important documents like resumes or certifications. In summary, job-seekers should be prepared for job interviews with examples of theirs skills and qualifications to answer the questions. Job seekers should also ask a couple of questions about the organization or the job duties. And finally, job seekers should make a positive impression by presenting themselves professionally.

• Answering Typical Interview Questions

In a typical interview, the interviewer, or interviewers as sometimes there may be more than one person, is there to find out if you are the right person for the job. If you are in an interview or preparing for one, then congratulations. You have got this far because the employer is seriously considering you as a possible employee. However, you now need to show them that you really are the person for the job.

During an interview some questions will be direct, and some will be indirect. An example of a direct question is why are you a good fit for this job, or why do you want to work for this company. These questions should be pretty clear to understand and answer. Since both questions use why, you should give reasons in your answers. So you might say in your response, I believe I'm a good fit for this company because I have the necessary skills and experience to fit right in and help the company grow.

However, indirect questions are more difficult to recognize. An example of an indirect question is, so tell me a little bit about yourself. It's called an indirect question, because the question doesn't begin with a wh word, like what, where, when, why, who, and how, which direct questions often use. However, it is still a question, and you need to listen carefully during the interview for these types of indirect questions.

• Language Focus– Asking for Clarification in an Interview

Clarification is when you don't understand something the interviewer. So you ask him or her to make it clear. Repetition is when you ask the interviewer to repeat or say again something that they said. In a job interview, there may be times when you won't understand every question an interviewer asks you. This may be especially true if you're doing an interview in a language that is not your first, such as English. It is perfectly normal that sometimes you won't understand everything the interviewer asks you. You shouldn't panic. Good interviewees have the same difficulty, but they usually have some strategies or ways of working around a difficulty that allows them to better understand what the interviewer is asking.

2. Learning Experience in Fifth Week

I learned about how to interview properly in finding a job. Must answer the questions with good words, must not be offensive or negative. Must be confident too.

3. Progress and Score