Episode 08

Marcia writes to the unsuccessful candidate to give them the bad news.

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercises. You can also read the transcript.

Preparation

Transcript

Marcia: OK, OK, that's great! We'll be pleased to have you on the team. Looking forward to seeing you next week. Bye!

Philip: Was that Sarah?

Marcia: Yes. She's going to accept the job and wants to come in next week for a chat.

Philip: Oh, great news! Now you just have to tell the other guy that we don't want him.

Marcia: Mm, I hate giving bad news.

Philip: I'm glad that it's your job and not mine!

Marcia: OK, may as well do it straight away. 'Dear Mr Watson, we regret to inform you you have not got the job.' Hmm, sounds a bit too direct. How about: 'Dear Mr Watson, thank you for your application to WebWare. We regret to inform you you weren't successful'?

Philip: Erm, I think you should say something positive.

Marcia: But he was terrible!

Philip: Well, he wasn't great, no, but I think we should be positive and polite.

Marcia: Yes, you're absolutely right. OK, how about this: 'Dear Mr Watson, thank you for your application to WebWare. You were a promising candidate. However, we regret to inform you that the competition for the post was very strong and we will not be offering you the position. Yours sincerely, etc. etc.'

Philip: Yes, that's more like it. But we should include some feedback.

Marcia: Of course. How about if I add this? 'In future, you may wish to moderate your personal style and carefully fact-check your CV.' How does that sound?

Philip: Erm, I'm not sure what 'moderate your personal style' means. It's a bit vague.

Marcia: Hmm, OK. How about 'give more specific examples of your achievements and show how you work as part of a team'?

Philip: OK, yes, I like that. And remember to finish with something like, 'We wish you the best of luck in the future.'

Marcia: Of course. I certainly do wish him luck! OK, done. I'll send it now.

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

What feedback would you give to Daniel about his interview performance?

Download

Worksheet79.69 KB

Next episode

Language level

B1 Intermediate

B2 Upper intermediate

What feedback would you give to Daniel about his interview performance?
He is a good man , I admire him with his ambition and confidence but honestly I think everything too much always have a bad side , his overconfident make people feel uncomfortable and he should do more research for the position he wants to apply for in future.

What feedback would you give to Daniel about his interview performance?

daniel needs plenty of practice in communication and whatever he has experienced just only mention that not write wrong in our cv. confident must be important but overconfident not, so he needs to answer every question politely like a sarah.

Dear Daniel, you need to be more realistic and less arrogant and you need to make some reaserch about the company in which you are goning to apply

I'd like to disagree with the opinions about a most or less polite feedback answer to Daniel.It's not about a social relationship or a daily conversation.It's about a choice based on specific criteria and facts.Speaking based on the scenario in the video, the guy was at least unacceptable.He had written a lot of deliberate lies or inaccuracies in his CV ... His body language, his way of talking, the whole behaviour-especially at the end, wanting to sing a song of his own(!!!..), all of these show a person completely ''out of order'', it seems rather like a joke than a professional interview.( In English you could say something, light- informal, like : ''poncy'', ''popinjay'', ''smug'', ''peacock'', ''screwball'', ''big head'', ''stuffed shirt'' and many, many others, slang ones..I think it's a hypocritical and hollow thing and a waste of time trying to give feedback or advice to such a person.You might have to write only the typical text ''We regret to inform you that you failed''.Maybe that could make him think about...

What feedback would you give to Daniel about his interview performance? The feedback that I would give to Daniel is he must be honest in the future interviews, always tell the truth about himself and avoid being over arrogant and vague because he have positive points like what he said the team he was works with them they loves him and I think he is effective with being part of a team and he should be aware of the company before he does the presentation. This what I think.

This video was really helpful for me teach me how to reject someone by choosing my words so carefully to avoid hurt their feelings and how I be polite with them.

Mr. Watson Good Afternoon, Thankyou very much for your application. Despite your experience, we regret to inform you that you were not selected for the vacancy because the strong competition surrounding this. You could, in an upcoming interview, talk more about how you work as a team and be more humble about your professional qualifications. Best Regards! Edmar Santos.

Mr Daniel, First of all thank you for your interest in our company and for coming here to do the interview. We're really sorry but the competitiveness of the pos was hard enough, so you've not pass the candidate process as well. Nevertheless we hope you to stay focused on the next job oportunities and we wish you the best. Bye.