Job interview English: 12 words and phrases that come up every time
B1–B212 words
Interview English is predictable, which is good news. The same handful of nouns and phrases appear in almost every interview, so a small, well-drilled word list buys you a lot of fluency exactly when you are nervous.
Where you will use it: Interviews, CVs and cover letters.
Job interview English — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| background | Your education and past experience.“Tell me about your background.” |
| strengths | The things you are good at.“One of my strengths is planning.” |
| responsible for | In charge of a task or area.“I was responsible for the whole team.” |
| achievement | Something impressive you accomplished.“My biggest achievement was the redesign.” |
| notice period | The time you must work before leaving a job.“I have a one-month notice period.” |
| salary expectations | The pay you are hoping for.“What are your salary expectations?” |
| hands-on | Practical, involving direct work.“I have hands-on experience with the tool.” |
| team player | Someone who works well with others.“I would describe myself as a team player.” |
| apply for | To formally ask for a job.“I applied for the analyst role.” |
| onboarding | The process of starting a new employee.“Onboarding takes about two weeks.” |
| probation period | A trial time at the start of a job.“The probation period is three months.” |
| reference | A person who can confirm your work quality.“My former manager will be my reference.” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying job interview english pairs well with our business English vocabulary, professional email phrases and English collocations, or browse all free English word lists.
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