CAN THO UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS
BUSINESS ENGLISH 1 UNIT 1 CAREER
Instructor: M.A PHAM LAN ANH
Can Tho, November 2023 GROUP MEMBERS GROUP 1 Order Vietnamese English Contribution Positions number name name s Trần Thị Kiều 17 Emily Candidate 1 100% My Nguyễn Trương Human Resource 23 Fiona 100% Như Huỳnh Director Managing 29 Lê Trung Nghĩa David 100% Director Danh Thị Xuân 32 Anna Finance Director 100% Yên Nguyễn Thị Assistant 35 Celina 100% Anh Thư Director Nguyễn Hoàng 36 Sofia Candidate 2 100% Phương Trang 37 Bùi Bảo Trân Jennie Candidate 3 100%
Consultation from Ms. Lan Anh Order number Place Date/Time 13/09/2023 1 101/KL 3:30 PM, 10 minutes 2 Attendance Other Result Full name Meeting Task detail No. Start date Due date Status (%) date Write the script of Trần Thị 3,9,10 Submit scene 6, 8 17 9/8/2023 100 Kiều My (Attended) on time check spelling mistakes Nguyễn Write the Trương 3,9,10 Submit 23 9/8/2023 script of 100 Như (Attended) on time scene 4, 5, 6 Huỳnh Write the script of scene 1 and Lê Trung 3,9,10 Submit 7, totally 29 9/8/2023 100 Nghĩa (Attended) on time checking information, complete PP file Write the Danh Thị 3,9,10 Submit script of 32 9/8/2023 100 Xuân Yên (Attended) on time scene 1, 7 support idea 35 Nguyễn 9/8/2023 3,9,10 Submit Write the 100 Thị Anh (Attended) on time script of Thư openning 3 and scene 2, 8 checking spell mistakes Write the Nguyễn script of Hoàng 3,9,10 Submit scene 5, 36 9/8/2023 100 Phương (Attended) on time check Trang grammarly sentences Write the script of scene 4, check Bùi Bảo 3,9,10 Submit 37 9/8/2023 grammarly 100 Trân (Attended) on time sentences, complete document in Word 4 INTRODUTION
THE INTERVIEW IN SCHARFFEN BERGER
NEEDED POSITION: SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR
1. The interviewers:
- Fiona: Human Resource Director
- Anna: Finance Director
- Celina: Assistant Director
2. The interviewees: Emily Sofia Jennie American, aged 39 Canadian, aged 35 Korean, aged 32
Introduction Married, two Married, childless Single children - University - University degree degree in - University degree in Marketing Marketing in Economics Education - Diploma in - Studying for a - Master’s degree in Business Master’s degree in Marketing Administration Business Administration - Sales Staff (2015 - Market Research - Salesperson (2008 – 2017) (2017 – 2020) – 2015) - Marketing - Sales Manager - Sales Manager Experience Assitant (2017 – (2020 – 2023) (2015 – 2020) 2019) - Good knowledge - Market Research - Market Research of computing and (2020 – 2023) (2019 – 2023) numerate Fluent English, Fluent English, Fluent Korean, Languages Good Chinese and Basic France Good English Basic Russian 5 Workaholic person, Motivated, strong, A sociable person. do everything competitive person A good sense of carefully. She has a and a fast learner. humor. Not afraid
Personnality strong sense of Also giving to public speaking, responsibility, breakthrough hard-working respected by all ideas. Well- person staffs managed schedule
The play has scenes:
Scene 1: The quarterly meeting between all current members.
Scene 2: Assistant Director led the workshop.
Scene 3: The Assistant Director gave the Human Resource Director 3 CVs of prospective candidates.
Scene 4: The interview goes on between Fiona, Anna, Celina, and Jennie.
Scene 5: The interview goes on between Fiona, Anna, Celina, and Sofia.
Scene 6: The interview goes on between Fiona, Anna, Celina, and Emily.
Scene 7: All members discuss the candidates and select the suitable one.
Scene 8: The Assistant Director calls the candidate for a congratulation. 6
Scene 1: The quarterly meeting between all current members. (Knock Knock …)
Fiona (23): Excuse me, sir. May we come in?
David (29): Come in, please!... So now have a seat!
As we already know, this meeting is a quarterly assembly and the main purpose
is that we will look back on the previous business results. So now, Anna, could
you let us know more about the report? Are you ready?
Anna (32): Of course, i am going to talk about it now. As a long-serving
member, I am deeply disappointed to say that our company has met a significant
decrease. Look at the charts, it shows that our industry turnover in sales was $22
million, a fall of 20% last quarter, and it is predicted a continuous lesson. The net
profit decreased by 15% to $1.9 million. Our competitors have had opportunities
to expand their market share, so we lost nearly 10% of this. These problems
affect on our cash flow, now it is so hard for us to finance several products. We
absolutely meet the ever-biggest challenge.
David (29): As we just saw, the sales result has fallen into a significant poor. I
found that it is caused by our previous Sales and Marketing Director, Simon. He
is a passive-aggressive person, he seems to affect to all his staff’s motivation,
most of his employees said that he always refuses their ideas, also, he has no
clear strategy for develop sales, so he has just got the sack for his bad
performances. Now, I need some ideas to resolve the whole problem. Anna, do you have any suggestions?
Anna (32): Ah yes, I do. How about recruit a new member for this position?
David (29): That sounds great, and Fiona, what do you think about Anna’s opinion?
Fiona (23): I do agree with Anna, her idea as seems as possible. But I have a
question, how do we know if a candidate is fit for this position? What are the necessary requirements? 7
David (29): Hmm, I need more helps, Anna, how do you describe the suitable person?
Anna (32): I think the successful candidate should be responsible for increasing
sales and developing marketing stategies.
David (29): That is what we need, anything else?
Anna (32): Ah, and they should be able to coordinate the work of the sales teams
so that they are more motivated and effective, and the last, the successful
candidate could carry out market research to improve customer numbers.
David (29): Wow, I have to say that your ideas are incredible, and what about the personality traits?
Anna (32): I think our next successful director should have a strong personality
with leadership qualities, and maybe they should be an energetic, dynamic, and enthusiastic person.
David (29): Nice, I do believe that your ideas can be suitable for our
requirements, and Celina, did you note down all the ideas?
Celina (35): Certainly sir!
David (29): Great! And Fiona, did you get to the point?
Fiona (23): Yes, I did. All of those are so incredible, and I will arrange the
interview with this useful information.
David (29): Oh, I just forgot to say one more important thing. The successful
candidates should have a good academic background and relevant work
experience, and it should be better if they have organizational and interpersonal
skills, you know, which are fit for an effective leader, and also, good linguistic
ability could help them mostly in order to work abroad. Don’t forget to mention
it!...I am actually busy this month, so Celina, I need you to plan and host the
workshop, then post the Recruitment News and attend the interview. Ohhh! I
have something to do right now, so the meeting should end now. Thanks for your 8
attendance, if anyone has a problem, please contact me, because this interview
seems to be important, I hope you can do your best. See you later.
Scene 2: Assistant Director led the workshop.
Celina (35): Good morning, everyone!
Welcome to our company seminar. My name is Celina and I’m an Assistant
Director at Schaffen Berger. As far as I know, all of you are interested in our
company and maybe you might be on our team in the future. Before going to the
main point, let me introduce something about our company.
Schaffen Berger – which is our official business name, and the head office is
based in California, United States, and we were a subsidiary of The Hershey
Company after our company was acquired in 2005. Schaffen Berger was
established as an independent chocolate maker in 1996 by sparkling winemaker
John Scharffenberger and physician Robert Steinberg. Our main activities are
that we manufacture our chocolate which is opposed to the more common
practice of acquiring chocolate from other manufacturers. We are confident to
say that our company is an American maker founded in the past 50 years to make
chocolate “from bean to bar”. We primarily produced chocolate bars, using
small-batch processing, and focusing on dark chocolate varieties with high cocoa
solid content. And now, we still explore every corner of the globe to source the
finest cacao, and pick the best beans from our small, sustainable farm partners.
Moreover, we still taste more than 150 samples of cacao variants a year, but only
a lucky few get picked to become Scharffen Berger Chocolate. We are still made
in America, we are still farm-to-bar, and we are still raising the bar.
Moving to our main purpose of this workshop, we are looking for a next
prospective member, especially one who works in Sales and Marketing sites. The
suitable requirements will be posted as soon as possible. So, if you want to join
our team, just send your CV to our office at 1105 Benson Way. Our seminar will 9
end soon, contact me if you have any question, my phone number is 0983.456.123, best of luck!!
Scene 3: The Assistant Director gave the Human Resource Director 3 CVs of
prospective candidates. (Knock Knock …)
Celina (35): Excuse me.
Fiona (23): Who’s there?
Celina (35): It’s me, Celina. May I come in?
Fiona (23): Oh! Good morning, Celina, come in, please!
Celina (35): I have received a lot of job applications since you posted it.
Fiona (23): Wow, how amazing. Is anyone suitable?
Celina (35): Yes, I found that there are three prospective candidates. Here is their CVs.
Fiona (23): Thank you, put it on my deck, please! I will read it later. (Reading the CVs)
Celina, could you announce them for coming to our company’s interview room in 5 days next, at 9 AM?
Celina (35): Yes, I would like to do that. May I get back to work, Madam?
Fiona (23): Alright, have a good day. Goodbye!
Scene 4: The interview goes on between Fiona, Anna, Celina, and Jennie.
Celina (35): Hello, are you Jennie?
Jennie (37): Yes, I am. May I sit there?
Fiona (23): Of course, take a seat. Welcome to the interview Jennie. I’m Fiona –
the Human Resources Director of Scharffen Berger. Your name is sounded like
an Asian. A beautiful name you know, where you come from? 10
Jennie (37): Thank you, you are right, actually I’m from Korea. Also, my parents are Korean too.
Fiona (23): Wow! Were you born there or move there?
Jennie (37): I was born in Korea and then I have moved to America for maybe
12 years because I got a full schoolarship.
Fiona (23): That sounds amazing, so best of luck. Jennie, now can you please
start off and tell me something about yourself?
Jennie (37): Well, first of all, thank you for giving me an opportunity today.
Before I applied for the role, I studied the job description carefully, and I am
confident that I have the skills, qualities, and knowledge to add long-term value
to this position. I am resourceful, fast working, have strong attention to detail
skills and I like to manage the team so that I can lead my employees to achieve the goals.
Fiona (23): Alright, I have read your CVs, you mentioned that you graduated
from Harvard University, so what was your major?
Jennie (37): My major was Marketing, and now I’m studying for a master’s
degree in business administration. I have qualifications in subjects that are
relevant to this industry, and I have worked as a Market researcher and then as a
Sales Manager in my previous company. And I believe this experience will
empower me to hit the ground running in this role.
Fiona (23): Well, that is a strong answer. And how about your lifestyle, what do you do outside work?
Jennie (37): Outside work, I take good care of myself, which means my
concentration and energy levels are always high. I’m still single, so during my
whole free time, I strengthen my pieces of knowledge, I like reading books,
further, I usually spend a lot of money buying academic books, I think that
knowledge will be all that we need to run a business. 11
Anna (32): I have a question, you mentioned that you are good at computing and
numerate, how long have you learned it?
Jennie (37): Well, I have taken part in computer courses since I was in high
school, and I found that I’m good at this. So, when I worked in my previous
company, I used the computer to organize the strategies, arrange the workload
for my employees, and calculate the figures in sales better than other people.
Anna (32): Okay, and I have one more question, what is your weakness?
Jennie (37): I think I don't have any significant weaknesses, I can cross
everything that I deal with. Maybe, I am confident enough to deserve this position.
Fiona (23): At least, nothing? You are amazing, the last question for you, Jennie,
why did you drop your previous job?
Jennie (37): Well, I worked for my old company since I graduated, it is about 6
years, I always did my best, and my contribution can be noticed that it is better
than everyone. I have improved the turnover in sales, but I felt that I deserve
nothing no matter how hard I work, no motivation, no promotion, no bonus
money, and even the guarantee is quite bad. So, I have decided to quit the job.
Fiona (23): Alright, we take note of all your answers. We will discuss all what
we have talked about together. Thank you for being here, the result will be
announced as soon as possible. Celina will make a call with you if you are the person we chose. Goodbye! 12
Scene 5: The interview goes on between Fiona, Anna, Celina, and Sofia.
Celina (35): The next candidates, please!
Celina (35): Hi, are you Emily?
Sofia (36): No, I’m Sofia.
Celina (35): Oh I’m so sorry, come in, please Sofia. Would you like to have a cup of tea?
Sofia (36): Oh thank you so much!
Fiona (23): Welcome to the interview, Sofia. Before we start, I’m Fiona –
Human Resources Director at Scharffen Berger, here is Anna – our Finance
Director, and here is Celina – our Assistant Director. How are you feeling right
now, Sofia? Do you feel nervous?
Sofia (36): No, I’m good, and I’m ready to answer confidently all questions.
Fiona (23): Great! So, the first question, can you tell me something about yourself?
Sofia (36): Well, as you know, my name is Sofia and thank you for giving me
this opportunity today. For your job requirements, I have the skills and qualities
to match the job description, and to perform highly in the role. I have experience
of working with other people; I am someone who is always seeking to learn and
develop, and I have the creativity to help our business grow whilst offering
excellent service to the customers.
Fiona (23): Alright! And what do you usually do outside of work?
Sofia (36): Outside of work I keep myself fit and active, I join many social
groups, which improve my human connection skills, and extend relationships
with other people; I am a positive person who always embraces changes, and I
will always take responsibility for my team’s development.
Fiona (23): It sounds like you are a sociable person. What are your strengths? 13
Sofia (36): Well, my strengths include my ability to make a speech directly, the
fact that whenever I’m in a negotiation, my puclic speaking skills can take an
advantage so that I deserve many valuable contracts. Moreover, I can give my
employees a cozy atmosphere to reduce stress, and I will always change the
strategies until it is the best one.
Anna (32): I have looked at your CV, and I noticed that you have never worked
as any manager role in your previous company. So, do you think that is your biggest weakness?
Sofia (36): No, I never think that is my biggest weakness. In fact, I think that
should be a challenge. As you know, I don’t yet have much experience in leading
to large groups of people. This is something I am very keen to improve on, so if
any opportunities were to arise in this position to gain experience in this area, I
would certainly want to take advantage of that.
Fiona (23): I noticed that, and Sofia, and the last question is what experience do
you have relevant to this role?
Sofia (36): Well, I graduated with 2 degrees, one in Marketing and another one
in Business Administration, then I have worked for a France company in many
roles such as salesperson, market assistant, and market researcher that are
relevant to your requirements since 2015. So, I can speak France fluently and
now I’m going to learn more about Spanish and Portuguese, I think that the two
mentioned countries would be our prospective partners in the future. I also have
experience of collaborating with other people in a team to achieve a common
objective, and I also have experience of completing time sensitive tasks under
pressure. So, if you hire me, I will build up my employees as same as I did in my previous company.
Fiona (23): Alright, that is enough for you, all your answers have been noticed,
thank you for coming to this interview. We will connect with you if you are the
person we need. Once again, thank you and goodbye! 14
Scene 6: The interview goes on between Fiona, Anna, Celina, and Emily.
Celina (35): The last candidate, please!
Emily (17): Hi, may I come in?
Celina (35): Certainly, have a seat, please. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?
Emily (17): Thank you, I prefer a cup of coffee.
Fiona (23): Hello Emily, welcome to the interview. Waiting for a long time, how do you feel right now?
Emily (17): I am still great, Ms. Fiona.
Fiona (23): Wow, you know me? Have we ever met yet?
Emily (17): No, we haven’t. But I have read your name in the news, you are
Human Resources Director. And Is here Ms. Anna, Finance Director? And is here
Ms. Celina, Assistant Director? I saw all of you in a company member’s pictures.
Fiona (23): We are impressed for sure. Okay, let’s get to the point! Emily, can
you describe yourself in 3 words?
Emily (17): I would describe myself as productive, commercially-aware, and
self-motivated. I am productive which means you will always see me achieving
good things for the business, and always being the latest going to home. I am
commercially-aware which means I understand the importance of always doing a
good job on time to help the business develop. I am also self-motivated which
means I will take it upon myself to quickly and diligently work through all tasks
and duties to help my employees achieve all objectives.
Fiona (23): I have read your CV, you mentioned that you have work in Sales
Manager and Market Researcher, so what was your greatest achievement?
Emily (17): My greatest achievement was in my previous role where I helped
my company increase sales in subsidiaries in China and Russia. This was
achieved by improving customer service standards and by thinking of different
ways to help the business market its products via social media.
Fiona (23): You already got married, right? Is this any difficult for your work? 15
Emily (17): To be honest, I have two children, the boy is ten and the girl is five,
my older son is studying at boarding primary school, but my younger daughter
will come with me if I get the job. My husband won’t be at all pleased, but he
can’t do anything about it. I could leave my daughter with my parents, but I don’t
want to do that. Children adapt very quickly to new places. It won’t be a problem for me.
Fiona (23): Alright! What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
Emily (17): I can bring a diverse set of skills, qualities, and experience to my
employees that I believe will help our business grow. I am respected by my all-
previous staff because I always give them many useful suggestions to solve
problems themselves. I will always care of sales and marketing methods and
improve them which in turn will increase our net profit. I can also bring a level
of knowledge to this role that I believe is unrivaled, and I will always work hard
to ensure you see a positive return on your investment by hiring me.
Anna (32): Have you ever failed? Tell me about a time when you failed.
Emily (17): In my first job I was working as a salesperson in a team, and we
failed to finish a project on time. We simply failed because we had not listened to
the brief fully at the start of the project, and things got missed. As soon as we
realized we had made a mistake, we discussed what we had learned from the
experience to make sure it never happened again.
Fiona (23): Well, you answer the questions exellently. That is the last question of
this interview. Thanks for your answers, the results will be announced to you as
soon as possible. You can get back to your home now, goodbye! 16
Scene 7: All members discuss the candidates and select the suitable one.
David (29): Hello, come in, please! Is everything okay?
Celina (35): Of course, sir!! The interview went smoothly. We found 3 prospective candidates.
David (29): Can I see their CVs?
Celina (35): Here you are.
David (29): Thank you! Anna, Fiona, could you please show me your observes?
Fiona (23): Let me begin first. We have interviewed 3 candidates last weekend,
as you can see their CVs. As far as I know, it will be hard for us to decide who is
suitable for the position. I will first talk about Jennie, she can be described by 3
words: knowledgeable, versatile, and ambitious. She is knowledgeable because
she has studied academics standard which involve in Sales and Marketing sites,
also she is studying for a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. She is
versatile because she can use the computer well and be quickly when dealing
with raw data, which means she is good at numerate. She is ambitious which
means she will be a risky person, I mean she always want to reach the top by
herself, and she told me that knowledge is all in every cases. She also speaks
English, and fluently in Korean for sure because she was born there.
David (29): Umm, and how about Sofia?
Fiona (23): Fiona is a social person, I think. She answers all the questions
briefly, directly, and honestly. I think she has the standard knowledge to lead a
team, but unfortunately, she got no chance in her previous job. She knows how to
set up a working environment without stress and she told me she will always
embrace the opportunities whenever it appears. She has experience in Sales and
Marketing when she worked at her old company in France, so she can speak
France well and now she is learning more about Spanish and Portuguese. Her
weakness is that she has never worked in a manager role before, and she just has 17
a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.
David (29): Okay, I got that. And how about the last one, Emily?
Anna (32): Ah, let me talk about her. Emily is a productive person, she usually
works overtime until she completes her daily workload. She has excellent
knowledges in Sales and Marketing as same as Jennie, and she can work with her
employees effectively as same as Sofia. She has reached many consider
achieverments in her previous job, espeacially she are good speakers in Chinese
language and Russia language. She got married and now her daughter seems to
be with her whenever she works, but she said that won’t be a problem because
her daughter is a obedient child and can adapt quickly. She has one Bachelor’s
Degree in Economics and one Master’s Degree in Marketing.
David (29): Okay, I have to say that it’s hard for us to decide who will be our
next Sales and Marketing Director. All of them seem to be suitable for the
requirements, let me check, they have academic backgrounds and have great
linguistic ability. Sofia lacks experience in leading a team, Emily is good but I
think she is a workaholic, and Jennie lacks social skills. We should be carefully
when making a choice. So how about you, Celina, who is your chose?
Celina (35): ’m so troubled now and I’m going to say that can we hire all of them?
David (29): Just one of them, haha! According to our requirements, I think if I
have to choose the perfect prospector, it will be Emily because she has enough
knowledge and skills to develop her employees, she also achieved many business
targets and she can speak Russian and Chinese, which will be useful if we extend
our products to 2 mentioned countries.
Anna (32): I do agree with you. Emily could be the person we need. 18
Fiona (23): I’m confused between Emily and Sofia, I think Jennie is an
ambitious person so it would be risky to choose. But Emily has more experience
than Sofia so I think Emily is suitable too.
Celina (35): To me, I think Jennie could be a prospective person, she is
intelligent, and maybe she would give us many breakthrough ideas so that we
will have more strategies to raise our sales.
David (35): I see that, but three-fourths of our votes are for Emily, so sorry to you Celina.
Celina (35): I’m still alright! No problem, that’s just my own opinion. As I told
you, all of them are suitable for this position.
David (29): Okay, thank you! Could you make a call to announce for Emily?
Celina (35): Certainly, sir! Let me do it.
Scene 8: The Assistant Director calls the candidate for a congratulation. (Ring! Ring! Ring! …)
Emily (17): Hello, Emily speaking, who’s there?
Celina (35): Hi, Emily. Celina here, Assistant Director from Scharffen Berger. Is
it convenient for you to have a phone right now?
Emily (17): Oh, hello, Celina. Yes, I’m always willing.
Celina (35): We have discussed about your profile carefully for the Sales and
Marketing Director and we decided that you will be our next member. Congratulations!
Emily (17): Oh, really? Oh god, I’m bursting with happiness.
Celina (35): Hold on, you will have many things to do. So, see you next Monday
at the office to start the probationary session, we will give detailed instructions for the job that day.
Emily (17): Thank you so much! I will be on time next Monday.
Celina (35): Okay, see you at the office! Have a good day! 19 REFERENCES
1. https://www.scharffenberger.com/pages/our-story-1
2. https://hbr.org/2021/11/10-common-job-interview-questions-and-how-to- answer-them 20