Opening Questions
- Could I just check your name, please?
- Where are you from?
- What is your nationality?
- What part of your country do you come from? Can you describe the area to me?
- How do you spell your family name?
Your Job
- Do you work?
- What work do you do?
- What do you do?
- What do you do for a living?
- What kind of business are you involved in?
- What do you like most about your job?
- Do you like working in a team?
- Could you tell me something about a typical day at your work?
- How long do you think you will stay in your present job?
- Would you like to work from home?
- How important is it to follow the news in order to do your job well?
- Have you ever been on a training course for your work?
Your studies
- Are you a student?
- What are you studying?
- Tell me about the course you are doing/ your studies?
- What do you enjoy most about your studies?
- Why did you choose to study X?
- Why did you choose this course? / What training course would you most like to do in the future?
- What job would you like to do later?
- Do you think you would ever want to work abroad?
- What job would you like to do in the future?
- What kind of business are you planning to be involved in?
- Would you like to do a job where you often travelled abroad on business?
You
- Tell me something about your home town.
- What kind of jobs do people do in your home town?
- Tell me a bit about (name of city/region). What’s it like?
- What are the traditional industries of the city/region?
- How do people normally travel to work in your city/region?
- What kind of jobs have you done in the past?
- Do you plan to do more studying?
- What ambitions do you have for the future?
- Where would you prefer to live and work?
- In what ways do you expect your career to differ from your father’s / mother’s?
- Is it easy to find interesting jobs in your country?
- Is there anything that you’d like to change about your home town? (Why?)
- What are you planning to do in the next year?
- What do you like doing best in your spare time?
- Which leisure activities are most popular with young people in your country?
- What area of business interests you most? (Why?)
- Why are you learning English?
- Would you like to learn English in the UK/USA, etc.?
- How useful do you think it is to speak English?
- If you could study anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
- Do you expect international travel to be a necessary part of your career? Would you welcome that?
Your Opinions
- Do you think it is better to live in the countryside or a big city?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in an open space office?
- Which do you prefer, speaking to people on the phone or sending emails?
- Do you think it is important for companies to help employees improve their English level?
- What hours do most office staff work in your country?
- What qualities does a good business person have?
- Do you think it’s important for business people to relax in their free time?
- Should companies provide facilities such as sports clubs for their staff?
- Do you think there are advantages in meeting clients socially?
- Do you think new technology makes our working lives easier or more difficult?
- At what age do you think people should retire from work?
- Is the opportunity for an annual pay increase important to you?
- What skills do you think employers look for in young people nowadays?
- Do you think companies should spend money on newspaper advertisements?
- Do advertisements make consumers buy a product?
