Simulation exercises
- 6 min reading
- 24 min activity
Time to put everything together. In the workshop, this session uses simulations: realistic situations where you try out what you have learned. Here you do two. First a job interview by video call, then a conflict with a colleague. There is no single perfect answer. Read the coach notes, and try again to discover other paths.
- Answer typical first-job interview questions: about yourself, a gap in your CV, a foreign diploma, your language level and your availability.
- Handle a conflict with a colleague using SBI feedback and active listening.
- Decide what you will do differently in a real situation.
Simulation 1: The job interview
Lina, 24, from Syria, lives in Rotterdam. She studied pharmacy for two years in Aleppo but could not finish. In the Netherlands she learned Dutch up to B1 level and volunteers at a food bank every Saturday. Today she has a video interview for a job as a customer service assistant at a company that sells medical supplies. The interview is in English, because the company has international customers.
Be honest and short. Say what you did in that time: courses, language learning, volunteering, family care.
Say what you studied, what you can do, and what you have done about recognition.
Use the CEFR levels (A1 to C2) and give an example of what you can do.
Be clear about days, hours and fixed commitments, like a language course.
Video interview: customer service assistant
Mr Jansen interviews Lina by video call. Choose her answers.
A study in Sweden sent fictional job applications to employers. Employers did not mind long unemployment in the past when it was followed by work. But for low- and medium-skilled jobs, they did react to current unemployment of nine months or more. So say what you are doing now: a course, volunteering, an internship. To check how a foreign diploma compares, find your country's information centre in the ENIC-NARIC network. In Germany, the official portal is "Anerkennung in Deutschland". In the Netherlands, IDW compares foreign diplomas with Dutch levels.
EU law protects you against discrimination in hiring because of ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation or sex. Questions about your religion, a pregnancy or plans to have children usually have nothing to do with the job. You can answer politely: "I prefer to focus on my skills for this job."
Simulation 2: A conflict with a colleague
Ibrahim, 22, from Senegal, is a kitchen assistant in a restaurant in Milan. He starts at 7:00. For two weeks, the prep station has been dirty every morning: knives in the sink, open boxes without labels. Marco, a cook, usually works the evening shift and closes the station at night. This morning Ibrahim lost 20 minutes again. Today Marco also works the lunch shift, and he arrives at 11:00.
The prep station
Ibrahim wants to solve the problem with Marco. Choose what he says.
After the simulations
My simulation notes
Take three minutes to think about what you practised.
Ask a friend to be the interviewer. Use the five questions from the simulation and two of your own. Record your answers on your phone and listen to them once: what is already clear, and what could be shorter?
In short
- Prepare short, honest answers with facts for the typical interview questions.
- For a CV gap, a foreign diploma or your language level: say what you did, what you can do and what you are doing now.
- In a conflict: a private moment, SBI, listening to the other side, then a joint solution with a check-in date.
Sources
- Eriksson, S., & Rooth, D.-O. (2014). Do employers use unemployment as a sorting criterion when hiring? Evidence from a field experiment. American Economic Review, 104(3), 1014-1039.
- ENIC-NARIC Networks (n.d.). ENIC-NARIC: recognition of foreign qualifications.
- Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) (n.d.). Anerkennung in Deutschland: information portal of the German government for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications.
- IDW (n.d.). Credential evaluation of foreign diplomas.
- Europass (n.d.). Common European Framework of Reference for Language Skills.
- European Commission (n.d.). Non-discrimination.