Preparing for Your First Job Interview

You’ve just graduated from school. Now comes the scary part: interviewing for your first job. For many recent graduates, this is an anxiety-provoking time. However, there are some simple ways to prepare for this challenging experience.

First, you should make a list of the questions you might be asked. In many job interviews, you have to answer questions about your academic experience and how it has prepared you for the job. For example, you might be asked to discuss how your participation in student union or sports has given you experience working on a team. You will, of course, also be asked how your experience and talents fit with the company’s goals.

Once you’ve got your question, you should then think about possible answers and practice responding to them. Employers will expect you to talk in detail about your experience and use examples. Make sure that your answers describe particular situations you faced, the actions you took and the results you achieved. Once you’ve got your responses, try practicing on your friends or family members. This will make you feel comfortable speaking in front of a person.

Finally don’t get discouraged if you aren’t hired the first, second, or third time you are interviewed. Think of every interview as practice for the most important one: the interview that will get you a job.

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5 . We have been putting smart women on the couch for 40 years without making full use of their talent. Today the portion of top jobs that go to women is still _________ low. Why aren’t more women running things in America? It isn’t for lack of ambition or qualifications. The real _________ to getting more women to the top is the difficult issue of time commitment: Today’s top jobs in major organizations _________ 60-plus hours of work a week. Isn’t it too much?

But for businesses and reformers are serious about making their companies _________ for the large number of American talented women, here are three ways to handle it.

Re-think time. We can break away from the _________ that high-level work can be done only by people who work extra time. Maybe working time can be shortened by setting the right amount of work that needs to get done. Senior roles should actually be easier to adapt in this way because highly paid people have the desire to give up some _________ in order to work less.

Availability matters. It’s important to differ between availability and absolute time commitment. Many professional women would _________ agree to check email seven days a week and come to office, if necessary, for an intense project — so long as over the course of a year, the time devoted to work is more _________. Managers need to know that 24/7 availability is not the same thing as a 24/7 _________.

Quality is the goal, not quantity. Leaders need to create a __________ in which talented people are judged not by the quantity of their work, but by the quality of their __________. One who works 20 hours a week and who delivers exceptional results on a pro rata (摊派) basis should be qualified for __________ and viewed as a top performer.

“Devotion” may help talented women who can live with the way that top jobs require today— and if that’s their __________, give more power to them. But only a small percentage of women will choose this route. Until the rest of us get serious about __________ the present way that work gets done in American corporations, we can only complain about the __________ of it all while changing almost nothing.

6 . On March 16th I left the offices of The Economist to head home. That was the last day when all editorial staff assembled in our London office. And, at the time of writing, no date for a return to the office is in _______

It is remarkable how quickly we have adapted. The newspaper has been written, edited and produced from couches and kitchen tables. January and February seem like an ancient era — the BC (before coronavirus) to the new AD (after _______).

The shift may _______ great workplace transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries, and it has been a much more sudden transition than occurred with factories, enabled by advanced economies that revolve around services instead of manufacturing. Back in the 1970s, when Britain adopted a three-day week (to commit a miners strike), there were power cub and TV stations had to close down early. This pandemic has not turned the lights _______

Not only that, it has made remote work seem both normal and acceptable. In the past employees who stayed home had to overcome the _______ that they were bunking off (偷懒). Now those who insist on being at the office sound self-important.

Things are _______, of course. Video calls Jack the spontaneity of a normal meeting; no off-the-cuff (即兴的) remarks to lighten the mood. Distance makes it difficult to generate camaraderie. Creativity is probably harder to foster. Experts say new ideas come from weak links in networks — i.e., people you meet occasionally. Such “ _______ collisions” have become rarer.

Yet _________ offices will not disappear, it is hard to imagine that working life will return to BC ways. For more than a century workers have stuffed themselves onto crowded trains and buses to get into the office. For the past two months they have not had to commute. _______, for their part, have maintained expensive offices in city centers because they needed to gather staff in one place. The rent is only part of the cost; there are the cleaning, lighting, printers, catering and security ________.

Another aspect of the AD era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the pandemic many workers became used to taking phone calls or answering emails at the weekend. In the AD era, the ________ between home and working life, a useful way of relieving stress, will be even harder to sustain.

In future employees may work and take breaks when they please, with the company video call the only ________. The downside, however, is that the rhythm of life has been disrupted and new ________ are needed. Looking further out, the AD era may bring other changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, since they have no need to commute. Men will have ________ excuses to skip cleaning or child care if they are not disappearing to the office. In a sense, this is a(n) ________ to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the start of a new age.