English File 4thE - Upper-Intermediate - Colloquial English 1 - The Conversation — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:06When you're applying for a job, do you
2. 0:08think it's okay to slightly exaggerate
3. 0:10on your CV?
4. 0:14I think it's a terrible, terrible idea
5. 0:18to even slightly exaggerate because I
6. 0:21think it will always come back to hurt
7. 0:24you. I think being as honest as you can,
8. 0:26I think it doesn't matter if you if you
9. 0:29can't do something. If you say I'm
10. 0:31willing to learn, I'm a good learner, I
11. 0:34like I have these skills, I'm really
12. 0:36open to learning some new ones. But to
13. 0:39go into an interview or or write on your
14. 0:42CV um
15. 0:44I can speak, you know, very average
16. 0:47amount of French when you don't know
17. 0:49anything. That you might find yourself
18. 0:51in a situation where you've wasted their
19. 0:53time and you've just made yourself look
20. 0:56really, really silly. Yeah, I think it's
21. 0:58a terrible idea. And I I would feel
22. 1:00really uncomfortable. Um I'd I'd say I'm
23. 1:02quite an honest person. So, if I can't
24. 1:05do something
25. 1:07I'll just say it.
26. 1:08I've definitely exaggerated on a CV.
27. 1:12Um I think you have to be I I mean, I
28. 1:15would still consider myself an honest
29. 1:16person and I'm not going to say I speak
30. 1:17fluent Chinese when I don't.
31. 1:20But I think
32. 1:22I've
33. 1:23done I've done it when
34. 1:26it wouldn't be an essential skill for
35. 1:28the job, maybe just to
36. 1:30pad Well, not even pad things out cuz
37. 1:33I'm talking very small exaggerations
38. 1:35here, but where it's more
39. 1:37for the optional side of things just to
40. 1:40make it look a bit more like I might put
41. 1:43a language on there that yeah, I can
42. 1:46read a postcard or I can understand an
43. 1:48airport announcement, but if you ask me
44. 1:49to actually speak it. But I wouldn't do
45. 1:51that if the if I knew the job was going
46. 1:54to require me speaking that language cuz
47. 1:57like you say, you're going to be
48. 1:59potentially in a very awkward situation
49. 2:02if that ever comes up. Um and I've had I
50. 2:05have had job interviews where they
51. 2:07suddenly start speaking to you in an
52. 2:09another language to check
53. 2:11to check whether you speak the language
54. 2:12or not.
55. 2:14So, but I think I think white lies are
56. 2:17okay, personally.
57. 2:20I swing between both.
58. 2:22Um you shouldn't outright lie because
59. 2:26you will get caught out. And
60. 2:29if it's a lot of the times, it could
61. 2:31cost a a company a lot of money if they
62. 2:33employ you to do a job and then when you
63. 2:35turn up, you cannot do it or to the
64. 2:38ability that you have told them you
65. 2:40could. And there's a lot of people to be
66. 2:41affected. So, you shouldn't lie because
67. 2:44you will be asked to use it, but
68. 2:47the question didn't say where on the CV.
69. 2:49So, I agree with you because when you're
70. 2:51talking about hobbies, that is to see
71. 2:53what sort of person you are, whether
72. 2:55they would like you to work with them.
73. 2:57So, if you're quite a boring person and
74. 3:01you don't have many hobbies, I think you
75. 3:03should exaggerate a few to make yourself
76. 3:06look a little bit more interesting. So,
77. 3:08I cook every single night, but that
78. 3:10doesn't mean I enjoy cooking, but I'm
79. 3:12happy to put down that I love cooking.