How to Assess Candidates’ English Skills at Job Interview?

Nowadays most interviewers check job applicants’ English skills superficially, only by asking them several questions in English. After this, they assume that they are aware of a potential employees’ level. However, they may be surprised to discover that their new employee has no clue how to write business letters or can’t prepare a report or a presentation.

Why does it happen? The thing is that usually English skills are not developed evenly. A sales specialist can be an excellent negotiator but a poor writer. A marketing researcher can be a brilliant analyst but an incompetent translator.

The most viable solution would be to check English skills required for actual job responsibilities. In this article I will focus only on English evaluation, not professional evaluation, which should be performed separately. English test will consist of 2 stages.

Stage 1

Writing competition – 90 minutes

You can invite all the potential candidates who fit the position criteria and let them do three writing tasks. Afterwards, those who manage successfully can be invited for the second stage.

Make sure that the candidates take only a pen and paper into the examination room. Don’t let them use mobile phones or other electronic devices, or you will have a risk that work will not be their own.

It seems wise to change tasks for each new round of interviews.

Stage 2

Individual interviews with selected candidates – 25-30 minutes

Here you will have three situations that a candidate will need to solve.

You will need to assess not only English fluency, grammar and vocabulary, but the knowledge of cultural realia, politeness and tone.

Now, let’s have a look at few examples:

Personal Assistant

Job responsibilities that require English skills would be:

• work with documents in English, including data management and filing;
• arranging travel, visas and accommodation;
• taking notes at meetings or during presentations;
• screening phone calls, enquiries and requests from foreign colleagues;
• meeting and greeting visitors;
• organising and maintaining diaries and making appointments;
• dealing with incoming email, faxes and post;
• carrying out background research and presenting findings;
• producing documents, briefing papers, reports and presentations;
• liaising with clients, suppliers and other staff.

How to set up a job interview in English

Stage 1

Writing competition – 90 minutes

Stage 2

Individual interviews with selected candidates – 25-30 minutes

Network Engineer

Job responsibilities that require English skills would be:

• speaking with customers via email and phone for initial requirement capture
• remote support of employees in overseas offices
• remote troubleshooting and fault finding
• scheduling upgrades
• updating job knowledge by reading professional publications
• writing reports on current performance

Stage 1

Writing competition – 90 minutes

Stage 2

Individual interviews with selected candidates – 25-30 minutes

Such approach will save your time and give you an idea of job applicants’ real English skills and their areas of improvement. Still, however proficient they are in English, you will also need to check their professional competence before offering them a job.

Other articles about job interviews:

Twelve Tips on How to Master a Job Interview in English

How Employers Check Your Knowledge of English

A Stressful Job Interview in English