April, 08

The office-job interview II (62)

Key vocabulary

1.       educational background=the history of the education you’ve had

2.       with honors=with special recognition for receiving very high marks

3.       major=the main field of study in an undergraduate degree

4.       specialization=a limited area of study

5.       minor=to have a secondary area of study in an undergraduate program

6.       course of study=the combination of coursed taken in a degree program

7.       track=course of study

8.       postgraduate=masters of Ph.D; education above the bachelor’s degree level

9.       hence=for that reason

10.   pursue= try to do something over a longer period of time

11.   strive=try hard to do something

12.   breadth=a wide range of scope of something

13.   significant=important and large enough to have a noticeable effect

14.   contribution=adding or giving something

15.   passionate=充满热情的

16.   churn rate＝顾客流失率

A: Thanks for coming in today, did you have any trouble finding us? Please take a seat.

B: Thank you.

A: So, let’s get started; tell me a bit about your educational background.

B: Sure! Well, I graduated with honors from Chesterton University with a major in Business Administration, with a specialization in information management, and I minored in psychology. I chose this course of study for two reasons: I wanted to gain some practical, marketable skills, which the information management track provided, and I also feel that interpersonal skills are essential for professional success, hence the minor in psychology.

A: Interesting. And your postgraduate studies?

B:  Well, I am really passionate about consumer behavior, so I pursued a master’s in that area. I also strive to keep my professional skills current, so I continuously attend seminars and conferences related management and customer service.

A: Very good. Now, tell me a little bit about your work experience. I see here that you previously worked at Oracle.

B: Yeah, I worked as their customer support manager, which brought me a breadth of experience in both client care, and process management. I supervised and coordinated the customer support team as well as implemented new strategies to achieve better customer satisfaction.

A: Interesting…

B: Yes, in this position I was able to make some pretty significant contributions to the overall success of the company. With the different initiatives that we implemented, we lowered our churn rate to about five percent, which had a direct impact on revenue.