Things You Should NEVER Do in a British Job Interview — Transcript

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1. 0:00Imagine this. You have landed a major
2. 0:02job interview in London. You walk into
3. 0:05the room. You sit down across from the
4. 0:07hiring manager and you are ready to
5. 0:09shine. You bring maximum energy. You
6. 0:12look them dead in the eye. You throw
7. 0:13your shoulders back and announce, "I'm
8. 0:15quite literally the greatest possible
9. 0:17asset this company will ever hire, and I
10. 0:20am ready to crush every single sales
11. 0:23target on day one." Now, to you that may
12. 0:26sound like passion, confidence, and high
13. 0:28performance drive, but inside that
14. 0:30British interviewer's head, well, alarm
15. 0:33bells are ringing. They're thinking,
16. 0:34"Wo, let's uh let's yeah, let's dial it
17. 0:38back a bit. This person could be
18. 0:41exhausting, and I don't think they're
19. 0:42going to work well in a team." Welcome
20. 0:46back to English Right Now. My name is
21. 0:47British English teacher Roy, and in this
22. 0:49lesson, we're breaking down the
23. 0:51unwritten rules of job interviews. If
24. 0:54you want to land that perfect role in
25. 0:56the UK, mastering your CV is only half
26. 1:00the battle. You have to understand how
27. 1:02British corporate culture views
28. 1:04confidence, understatement, and subtext.
29. 1:08So, grab a cup of tea and let's dive in.
30. 1:10Now, this lesson was inspired by a
31. 1:12recent lesson I did on understatement in
32. 1:15British culture. There were a number of
33. 1:16comments asking about performing in
34. 1:19interviews, how not to basically
35. 1:22sabotage your chances and how to shine
36. 1:24without sounding too arrogant. So that
37. 1:27is why this lesson is taking place
38. 1:29today. So let's start right at the very
39. 1:32beginning of the interview, the opening
40. 1:35minutes. In many cultures, interviews
41. 1:38are quite sudden. They start with a
42. 1:42sharp transition into business mode. In
43. 1:45the UK, however, the interview starts
44. 1:48well the second you walk through the
45. 1:50door or you click onto the video call
46. 1:53and it almost always begins with light
47. 1:56pleasantries.
48. 1:57The interviewer will usually make a
49. 2:00brief low stakes observation about, you
50. 2:03know, the weather or your journey.
51. 2:05They'll say something like, "Oh gosh,
52. 2:07did you have any trouble finding us with
53. 2:09the rain today?" or "How was your
54. 2:11commute with all this traffic?"
55. 2:14A lot of candidates, they make the
56. 2:16mistake of treating this like a waste of
57. 2:19time or just a, you know, a extra bit of
58. 2:22information. They'll give them a
59. 2:23one-word answer like fine, which
60. 2:25actually the word fine is never fine,
61. 2:27but we'll talk about that. Or they'll
62. 2:29say something, yeah, it was all right,
63. 2:30and immediately try to pivot into the
64. 2:34interview process. My best advice is
65. 2:36don't do that. This small talk is a
66. 2:41crucial psychological test. In other
67. 2:44words, they basically want to see if you
68. 2:46can communicate with your colleagues
69. 2:48without just being all business
70. 2:49business. They want to see that you're
71. 2:51able to hold a conversation to interact
72. 2:56and in in short that you're not going to
73. 2:58make the workplace a more sterile
74. 3:00environment. So treat the hiring
75. 3:03manager, the interviewer, not as an
76. 3:05intimidating authority figure sitting on
77. 3:07a throne, but as a future colleague.
78. 3:10Keep your energy balanced,
79. 3:12conversational, and warm right from the
80. 3:15first second.
81. 3:17Now, of course, interviews are designed
82. 3:20for you to show your best skills and
83. 3:23show who you truly are. It's also, by
84. 3:25the way, I have to stress this, your
85. 3:27opportunity to find out more about the
86. 3:29company and find out actually if that's
87. 3:31somewhere you want to work. But this is
88. 3:34more about you at the moment. So, let's
89. 3:37talk about the biggest trap that some
90. 3:39candidates fall into, especially some
91. 3:42from certain cultures. Selfpromotion.
92. 3:46In some countries, corporate culture
93. 3:48often rewards big, bold, high energy
94. 3:51storytelling. You're expected to market
95. 3:54yourself like a product. But in the UK,
96. 3:57aggressive, and notice I say aggressive,
97. 4:00self-promotion or over-the-top corporate
98. 4:04hyperbole can make you look boastful or
99. 4:07untrustworthy. In other words, in the
100. 4:09the mind of the the interviewer, they're
101. 4:11thinking you're going to upset the
102. 4:13balance of the company, the social
103. 4:16balance of the company. Now, that
104. 4:18doesn't mean you shouldn't show off your
105. 4:20skills. British interviewers inherently
106. 4:24respect quiet confidence. They want to
107. 4:29see the evidence,
108. 4:31but delivered in a way with a degree of
109. 4:34modesty because if you're too arrogant,
110. 4:35you're too loud, you're going to upset
111. 4:37the balance.
112. 4:39Instead of saying, "I completely
113. 4:41revolutionized our entire global
114. 4:43marketing strategy and generated record
115. 4:45a record-breaking profits because
116. 4:48fundamentally I was the hardest working
117. 4:50member of the team.
118. 4:53A British candidate will typically scale
119. 4:55it down and they'll say something more
120. 4:57like, "We had a really strong quarter on
121. 4:59the marketing team, and I was really
122. 5:01pleased with how my campaign performed
123. 5:04overall given the tight budgets." Let
124. 5:07the verifiable facts of your track
125. 5:09record speak louder than dramatic
126. 5:12claims. And that also means you should
127. 5:13put some numbers in there, like we
128. 5:16increased profits by 17% and things like
129. 5:19this. Of course, don't make them up like
130. 5:20I did just then. But your CV should also
131. 5:23show that data and then you should bring
132. 5:25that to the interview as well. But not
133. 5:27in a way that I did this, I
134. 5:29revolutionized the workplace. No,
135. 5:32instead deliver it with quiet
136. 5:35confidence. Let the interviewer do the
137. 5:37maths on how good you are.
138. 5:40Understatement makes you look grounded,
139. 5:42mature, and professional. And it also
140. 5:44makes me think, well, it also makes an
141. 5:46interviewer think you're going to fit in
142. 5:48to our culture. You're not going to rock
143. 5:51the boat. Again, don't play it down too
144. 5:54much. Don't savage yourself. But
145. 5:57fundamentally, put it out there with a
146. 5:58level of quiet confidence. Next up, you
147. 6:02need to understand how British
148. 6:04interviewers give feedback during the
149. 6:06conversation because they rarely speak
150. 6:09in direct absolutes. If you pitch an
151. 6:12idea and an interviewer looks at you,
152. 6:16tilts their head and say and says with
153. 6:18polite caution,
154. 6:20h that that is certainly an interesting
155. 6:23choice. Do not smile and assume that
156. 6:26they love it. In in British corporate
157. 6:28subtext and in fact in the whole
158. 6:30culture, the word interesting if
159. 6:32delivered with no real emotion or
160. 6:35enthusiasm can be a polite code word for
161. 6:38that idea sounds terrible. And in an
162. 6:40interview, if they say something like,
163. 6:41"Well, that's certainly an interesting
164. 6:43choice," what they're actually doing is
165. 6:47saying, "It's a terrible idea," and
166. 6:48they're giving you a lifeline to save
167. 6:51your interview. If you encounter that
168. 6:54kind of guarded politeness, you need to
169. 6:56gracefully step back and defend your
170. 6:59reasoning with calm, objective data
171. 7:02rather than digging your heels in. It
172. 7:04doesn't mean that the interview is all
173. 7:05right. They may not just see the logic
174. 7:08and you may need to explain it in a calm
175. 7:10measured way using facts.
176. 7:14Keep your emotional delivery quite
177. 7:16steady and level. Avoid overly
178. 7:18theatrical expressions and dramatic
179. 7:20moments or high energy sales pitches
180. 7:23when things get technical. Read the
181. 7:25room, respect the subtext, and stay cool
182. 7:29under pressure.
183. 7:31Then let's move to the end. Eventually,
184. 7:35the interview winds down and you reach
185. 7:37that familiar question. Do you have any
186. 7:39questions for us? This is where a lot of
187. 7:42candidates blow it by immediately asking
188. 7:44about salary, holiday allowance, or
189. 7:47perks. Now, while all of those things
190. 7:49matter, asking them too early can signal
191. 7:52that you're more about the package than
192. 7:54the actual work. Instead, maybe focus on
193. 7:57uh team dynamics, company culture, or
194. 8:00even upcoming products or projects. You
195. 8:03can ask things like how does the team
196. 8:06typically uh typically collaborate on
197. 8:08crossf functional projects or what does
198. 8:10success look like in the first three
199. 8:12months in this role. When the interview
200. 8:14ends, wrap up with a polite understated
201. 8:17expression of gratitude. A simple
202. 8:18sincere thank you so much for your time
203. 8:20today. It was lovely meeting you and I'm
204. 8:22very excited about the possibility
205. 8:24leaves a lasting elegant impression. So
206. 8:28let's recap the golden rules. The four
207. 8:30golden rules to nailing a British job
208. 8:33interview. Number one, master the small
209. 8:35talk. Build warm sort of collaborative
210. 8:38rapport right from the opening minute.
211. 8:41Number two, lean into understatement.
212. 8:44Drop the aggressive self-promotion and
213. 8:46let quiet confidence do the heavy
214. 8:49lifting. Number three, read the subtext.
215. 8:53Pay attention to polite hesitation or
216. 8:56those sort of odd words that show no
217. 8:59emotion. and then keep your emotional
218. 9:02reply steady. And number four, ask smart
219. 9:06questions. Focus on team culture,
220. 9:09dynamics, and and all the other things
221. 9:12at the end rather than rushing into
222. 9:14perks. Remember that a job interview is
223. 9:17as much about you interviewing them to
224. 9:18see if it's the right place for you as
225. 9:20it is for them to interview you to see
226. 9:22if you're the right fit. Now, it's time
227. 9:25for you to put this all into practice.
228. 9:26Head down to the comments and practice
229. 9:28writing a modest, understated response
230. 9:31to the classic interview question, tell
231. 9:34me about your greatest professional
232. 9:36achievement. I will read and reply to as
233. 9:38many as I possibly can. And if you
234. 9:40enjoyed decoding the hidden rules of
235. 9:42British professional life, please do
236. 9:44remember to subscribe and also give this
237. 9:46lesson a like and a hype. And I'll see
238. 9:48you in the next lesson. Thank you very
239. 9:50much for watching.