Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 44. You're listening to English as a Second Language podcast number 44. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen from the Center for Educational Development. in Los Angeles, California. For more information about this podcast, visit our website at www .eslpod .com Today's topic is going to be about preparing for an interview. Lucy is going to tell us about her experiences in preparing for an interview. Let's get started. My interview
is today. It is with a marketing company. It is a large corporation with headquarters in San Francisco, California. It also has satellite offices across the US and in Europe. I'm not sure if this would be the right fit for me, but I'm keeping an open mind. I got some sound advice from my aunt. She said that I should be confident, but not cocky. That means I have to look for opportunities to talk about my qualifications. But don't make the mistake of boasting or worse,
making things up. I do that sometimes when I get really nervous. My brain stops working and my mouth takes over. I need to be respectful but not meek. I want to be professional with everyone, my coworkers and my bosses. But I don't want them to think that I would let my coworkers walk all over me. I should show them that I'm a team player. Nobody likes a person who tries to grab the limelight all of the time, especially if they're new, like me. Okay, I think I'm ready.
I have my resume, my transcript, and the address of the office where I'm going for the interview. Now, all I need are my shoes. Lucy talked today about how to prepare for an interview. She began or started off. To start off means the same as to begin. Lucy started off by talking about how she was interviewing with a large corporation with its headquarters in San Francisco. A corporation, as you probably know, is the same as a company, although we often use it to mean a very large
company. Microsoft and Apple are large corporations. Headquarters refers to the place where the company or any organization has its main offices or its biggest office. For example, the headquarters of General Motors automobile company is in Detroit, Michigan. The headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. Usually when we talk about a company's headquarters we are implying or indicating that they have smaller offices in other cities.
These smaller offices are sometimes called satellite offices. Now the word satellite is also the term we use to describe what we put up in space. For example, A weather satellite takes pictures of the earth. Lucy explains that she's not sure if the job she is interviewing for is the right fit for her. But she's keeping an open mind. When something is the right fit, it means that It's a good match for the person. The verb to fit is also used when we try on a piece of clothing,
a shirt for example. And it's related to this expression of right fit. If something is a good fit, we mean it isn't too big and it isn't too small. Notice the difference here. When we are talking about clothing, we say, a good fit. And when we are talking about a situation or something like a job, we say, the right fit. To keep an open mind means not to make up your mind, not to decide, to leave all your possibilities available.
The opposite of an open mind is a closed mind, which is used to describe someone who doesn't like new ideas or has already decided. or made up his mind. Usually, to say someone has an open mind or keeps an open mind is a good thing and closed mind has a negative meaning. Lucy also says she got some sound advice from her aunt. Sound advice is good advice when someone gives you their opinion that is useful and wise or intelligent. One thing her aunt told her was
not to be too cocky. Someone who is cocky is someone who is too confident, who thinks he's better than everyone else. Someone who is cocky likes to boast, which means to tell other people how good he or she is. It's another negative term to describe someone. He's cocky or she's cocky. I guess we have a lot of negative terms in today's podcast. Oh well. The opposite of cocky would be meek. M -e -e -k. Meek. To be meek means that you're not confident enough that
you are too modest about what you've done. Lucy was told that she shouldn't make things up. To make things up is a polite or nice way of saying to lie, to not tell the truth. We sometimes use this expression with Children, for example, don't make things up. When people get in trouble, they often make things up or lie. Lucy also says that she wants to be a professional, but that she doesn't want her coworkers to walk all over her. Co -workers are, of course, people you work with.
A similar expression would be your fellow workers or your fellow employees. When someone says, it's my fellow worker or my fellow student, That term fellow means someone who is also like you. We use the expression to walk all over me. To refer to a situation when a person doesn't defend herself. When other people get to do whatever they want. and the person doesn't stop them. They walk all over her. They tell her what to do. They don't listen to anything that she says.
It implies that a person is very meek, very weak to walk all over someone. Lucy also says that she wants to be a team player, not someone who tries to grab the limelight all the time. To be a team player means to cooperate or work well with other people. It's a common expression in American You are supposed to work with others like you were players on a sports team. You are supposed to cooperate with other people. To grab the limelight means to capture or to get the
attention of other people. It is also a negative term referring to someone who always tries to be the focus of attention. That word limelight refers to an old type of very strong light that used to be used in theaters for plays. to light up the stage. But we don't actually use limelights anymore. But the expression is still with us. Someone who tries to get attention. That's going to do it for today's English as a Second Language podcast. As always, we ask you to email us and
tell us who you are. and what country you are from. Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com. From Los Angeles, California, this is Dr. Jeff McQuillan. We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005.