Updates: 2017-03-22: Added China version for "You're Hired". 2017-02-13: Fixed Monkeysee link. 2016-06-20: Added ESL.About.com. 2016-03-11: Removed VideoJug links. 2015-06-04: Fixed "Howcast - Job Interview" link. 2013-12-24: Added British Council - You're Hired series.
In our course on Job Hunting, there are of course a couple of classes on job interviews, dealing with issues like:
Here are some links to many useful videos you can watch and listen to, with advice about job interviews and these issues.
VIDEOS
These links will take you to many short videos about job interviews, on video websites which are not blocked in China. These videos are not designed for ESL students (except for the British Council series & ESL.about.com) but they usually have transcripts (sometimes already shown on the same page as the video, or sometimes you have to press a button that says "Transcript") so that you can also read what is said.
As always, I hope you find these links useful. If you have any comments or suggestions, please comment below
UPDATE: VideoJug used to have great job hunting videos on their own website and it was possible to watch them in China. But they made some changes to their website recently, and now their job hunting videos are only available on YouTube (which is blocked in China) at YouTube - VideoJug. For now I've removed the VideoJug links (if you have VPN, you can try searching their YouTube channel for "job hunting", "interview", "salary" etc). I'll see if I can find alternative links. Sorry.
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Update 2017-01-08: Fixed National Careers Service & Oxford links. Changed person specification link. Update 2015-10-02: Fixed some links. The BBC have an article and short video interview with an expert from the National Careers Service, about blunders on CVs that ruin you chances of getting the job you want. The main point is to tailor your CV to each job. One thing that can help is look at the person specification in the job advert. And you must remember that your CV is like your shop window: just as a shop makes the display of goods in its window as attractive as possible to get customers to come in and buy, you must make the display of your experience, knowledge, skills, abilities and qualities on your CV as attractive as possible to get companies to interview and hire you. Another piece of advice: you should spend at least 1 hour a week working on your CV. The National Careers Service has some useful material to help with job hunting which I might post about more in future. (It is a service provided by the British Government for people in Britain, so while you can access the website from any country in the world, don't try making calls from outside the UK to their phone numbers for free advice!) Below is their "about us" page. Why not take a look around at what they offer?
UPDATE 2017-3-6: All ESLPod.com links changed to Lizhi.fm. For more info, see this post: ESLPod Links Broken. Update 2016-5-22: Added several more BEP podcasts and 1 more ESLpodcast. In our course on Business Communication, we have a class on telephoning, with topics like answering the phone, leaving/taking messages, setting up & changing appointment, making/respondng to complaints etc. Here are some useful ESL podcasts you can listen to about making business phone calls. ESL Pod ESL Pod has lots of useful podcasts for intermediate & upper-intermediate learners. Usually a short conversation followed by explanation of the words, idioms & ideas; followed by the conversation again at normal speed for native English speakers. Business English Pod (BEP) Business English Pod has many podcasts for learning business English, some for advanced learners, some for intermediate learners. The audio is free. For some podcasts, you have to pay for other resources, but others might have free resources like "Quiz & Vocab".
More Telephone English I also have a few more links for telephone English here on my website, mostly shorter exercises for beginner and intermediate levels.
Update 2017-02-16: Added ESL Podcasts #360, 508, 660, 668, 688 & 752, with vocab links.
2017-01-05: Updated ESLPod links to Lizhi.fm. Added ESL Podcast 282, 320, 392, 412, 524. Added more vocab links. 2016-07-03: Added ESLPod 25, 328, 716, 820. Updated a few vocab links. 2013-09-24: Added "ESL Podcast 139 - Job Layoffs". Added more descriptions for other podcasts. Fixed link For "English at Work" Introduction.
We have a couple of classes on Workplace Problems, mostly about people problems and difficult people at work: bad bosses, bullies, gossip, demanding bosses, harassment, losing your job in a bad economy etc.
Here are some useful ESL podcasts you can listen to about these kinds of problems in office life: conversations, stories and advice.
Update 2017-01-08: Updated ESL Pod links to Lizhi.fm. Updated Monkeysee resume link. Added English Café 306.
Update 2016-03-11: Removed VideoJug links. Added Monkeysee - Job search. Fixed Jobsearch.about.com. Update 2015-10-02: Fixed About.com video link. Update 2013-11-28: Added British Council - Advice on Writing CVs podcast.
In our course on Job Hunting, there is a class on writing impressive CVs / résumés.
For more on meaning, usage & pronuciation of CV and résumé, see these articles of mine:
Here are some useful videos and podcasts about this issue.
Videos
These links will take you to many videos about CVs & résumés, on video websites which are not blocked in China, and which usually have transcripts (sometimes already shown on the same page as the video, or sometimes you have to press a button that says "Transcript"). The links for Howcast and About.com have videos about many job hunting topics but you can easily see which ones are about CVs and résumés.
UPDATE: VideoJug used to have great job hunting videos on their own website and it was possible to watch them in China. But they made some changes to their website recently, and now their job hunting videos are only available on YouTube (which is blocked in China) at YouTube - VideoJug. For now I've removed the VideoJug links (if you have VPN, you can try searching their YouTube channel for "job hunting", "CV", "resume" etc). I'll see if I can find alternative links. Sorry.
Podcasts
The British Council's Learn English site has many useful articles for ESL students, completely free.
ESL Pod is a site for ESL podcasts, usually conversations that are spoken slowly, then an explanation of the words and ideas in the conversation, then the conversation repeated at normal native-speaker speed.
Monster.co.uk is a jobs website with a lot of advice on careers, job search and CVs. Update 2017-01-08: Updated ESLPod to Lizhi.fm. See this post for more info: ESL Pod Links Broken. Removed dead About.com evaluation & KPI videos. Added Howcast peer performance review & feedback videos. Update 2016-03-30: Added BBC Business Language to Go. Update 2016-03-21: Added more videos from About.com. Removed dead Videojug link. In our course on human resources and strategic people management, there is a class on Employee Development and Performance Reviews. I have looked for videos on sites other than Youtube etc so that the videos are not blocked in China. Many of the videos also have transcripts of what is said in the video, making it easier for ESL students to understand and check what is said. With the Business English Pod links, also try the Free Resources, like the "Quiz & Vocab" links. Here are some useful videos and podcasts about these issues, first from the point of view of those giving the review (i.e. the manager or human resources staff), then from the point of view of those receiving the review (the employee), and finally some for both sides. For those giving reviews Managers and human resources staff Videos
Podcasts For those receiving reviews Employees Videos
Podcasts For both sides Podcasts
Update 2017-02-26: All ESLPod.com links changed to Lizhi.fm. For more info, see this post: ESLPod Links Broken.
Update 2016-03-11: Removed VideoJug links. Added Monkeysee and About.com. Update 2015-04-29: Added 2 more podcasts.
For our class on Job Hunting - Research & Preparation, here are some links to useful videos & podcasts about choosing a career, looking for work etc.
Videos
UPDATE: VideoJug used to have great job hunting videos on their own website and it was possible to watch them in China. But they made some changes to their website recently, and now their job hunting videos are only available on YouTube (which is blocked in China) at YouTube - VideoJug. For now I've removed the VideoJug links (if you have VPN, you can try searching their YouTube channel for "job search", "job hunting" etc). I'll see if I can find alternative links. Sorry.
Podcasts (audio)
ESL Pod is a site for ESL podcasts, usually conversations that are spoken slowly, then an explanation of the words and ideas in the conversation, then the conversation repeated at normal native-speaker speed.
ESL Pod has many podcasts related to jobs & job hunting. Here are a few related to finding job opportunities, and career choices.
Update 2016-4-14: Fixed British Council link.
Different kinds of adjectives in English
Adjectives in English are not all the same, and what we can do with them is not always the same.
Some are gradable (or "graded"). You can have degrees of them ("a little", "rather", "very" etc.)
Some are non-gradable (or "ungradable" or "non-graded").
Some non-gradable adjectives have a very strong meaning. Some non-gradable adjectives are absolute (e.g. either you're dead or you're not dead. There's no middle ground). You can't have degrees of non-gradable adjectives You can't be "a little" or "very" of a non-gradable adjectives.
Some adjectives can be either gradable or non-gradable, depending on the exact meaning in the context.
Knowing whether an adjective is gradable or non-gradable can be important for intensifying it (e.g. should you say "very" or "absolutely" to intensify "exhausted"?).
To make things even more complicated, some linguists refer to classifying & non-classifying adjectives. (E.g. either you're dead or you're not dead.) Linguists love to disagree about everything to do with language.
Introduction to Gradable & Non-Gradable Adjectives
English Club has a good introduction to this issue, with some examples.
The excellent Random Idea English blog has an article on why you should know about the difference between gradable & non-gradable adjectives, a quick introduction to them, and many useful exercises to learn and practise.
Warning for students in China: Random Idea English is hosted on Blogspot, and there might be a few problems due to the Great Firewall. The page might look a little strange, or sometimes be blocked completely.
How can you know if an adjective is gradable or not?
Unfortunately most English dictionaries do not yet have this info about adjectives. And there is no list with every single gradable and every single non-gradable adjective.
Random Idea English has an article with advice on how you can work out for yourself if an adjective is gradable or not.
One dictionary that does give info on whether an adjective is gradable or not is the Baidu online English-English & English-Chinese dictionary.
If an adjectives is gradable, it says:
If an adjective is not gradable, it just says:
Sometimes it doesn't say which type an adjective is, because the adjective doesn't have its own page; instead it is just treated as related to another part of speech (verb, noun etc), in which case the ADJ-GRADED or ADJ is not next to the adjective.
Here are some examples from the Baidu dictionary.
Intensifiers with gradable & non-gradable adjectives
The main difference with these adjectives is which intensifiers we use with them.
Random Idea English has a post dedicated to exercises on which intensifiers to use (although many of them are also part of the article on gradable and ungradable adjectives).
The British Council's Learn English site also has an article with an explanation of gradable and non-gradable adjectives and an exercise on intensifiers for them.
In my online classes
In my online English classes, I give info about words in the chat window, from notes that I prepare in advance. Slowly I am adding to my notes info on whether an adjective is gradable or not. It is a long, imperfect process, so please forgive me if I don't always says if an adjective is gradable or not, or if sometimes I make a mistake.
If you have anything to say on gradable / non-gradable adjectives or the links I've provided, please feel free to write a comment below.
I updated links in my article "Sales: Some movies to watch and learn", so all links are working... for now ;) Mostly it was fixing dictionary links for the vocabulary in the article, thanks to the Bing disaster. But a link to thread on "best sales movie ever" on jobs site Monster.com was also broken, as they've reorganized their site. I found and added 2 other lists of great movies about sales. By the way, Monster now has a section dedicated to sales called "SalesHQ". It's got a lot of useful stuff for people interested in sales, on things like résumés, interviews, salaries, commissions and professional development. It's also got sub-sections dedicated to certain fields of sales: I know some of my students work in pharmaceuticals & IT sales (as well as other areas of sales), so I hope this SalesHQ link proves useful for you.
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G.A.L.E.S.L. / joe3
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