School of Advancement

Department of English & ESL

COMM 131 & COMM 130 Pre-course Writing Sample

Reading: “Subtle Job Interview Red Flags That Job

Interviewers Notice”
Fall 2022

Student Name _______________YOUR NAME__Matthew Tam

___________

Student Number ________________YOUR STUDENT

ID#_____301274340___________

Professor’s Name _____Andrew Perkins__________________

Section Number sec __402____

Today’s Date ___________September 7th, 2022

_________________________________

You have 2 hours to do this assignment. The suggested reading time is 20

minutes, and the suggested writing time is 70 minutes, including time spent
editing and proofreading.

ALL student answers should be submitted in ONE separate

Word document (.doc or .docx).

Save your Word file with completed and clearly marked sections A, B, C, and
D. Place your name and student number in the file name. Then, upload your
Word file, with your answers, to the assignment folder created by your
professor.

Instructions: Read the passage “Subtle Job Interview Red Flags That Job
Interviewers Notice”. Work on the reading comprehension exercises, and then
complete the paragraph writing assignment.
Suggested reading time: 20 minutes

“Subtle Job Interview Red Flags That Job Interviewers

Notice” By Peter Harris

Seasoned job interviewers can tell a top performer from a weaker candidate
just by listening to the way that they describe their past accomplishments. Here
are some things that recruiters and hiring managers will be on the lookout for that
can be deal breakers in your job interview. [1]

Your choice of words

I had a candidate who hedged all of the accomplishments he had listed in his
resume with the word ‘basically’. I basically worked on this. I was basically
responsible for that. It was such an odd word for his story that I started to ask
more probing questions, and it turned out that he had indeed greatly
exaggerated his achievements. ‘Basically’ was the red flag that sparked the
suspicion. [2]

Your verb tenses

Mark Murphy, author of Hiring for Attitude, and CEO of Leadership IQ,
conducted a study tracking 20,000 new hires that revealed high performing
employees speak in the past tense 40 per cent more often than low performers.
For your next job interview, remember what you’ve accomplished in the past,
think about how it can be related to your interviewer’s business, and explain how
you did it and what the results were. Employers like concrete, relevant examples
from your past. Talking about works-in-progress or what you plan to do next is
less impressive. [3]

Your use of pronouns

According to Murphy, “high performers are 60% more likely to speak in first
person during the interview, while low performers are 400% more likely to refer to
second person (you, your). ” Murphy told AMA, “High performers use a lot of first
person pronouns (‘I did…’). On the other hand, a person who has nothing to
share or who wants to hide something (like a bad attitude) will use absolutes

and speak in a fluffy way using a lot of adverbs and a lot of future tense verbs
and far more second and third person pronouns. You’re going to hear a lot more
‘he/she did’ than you will ‘I did…’ from low performers.” [4]

Beware especially of the ‘we.’

Many people are uncomfortable talking about themselves and will fall into the
habit of ‘group speak’. For example, “When I was at ABC Corp. we totally
realigned the way we tracked our sales and our customer follow-up process.
This led to a 30% boost in sales. ” Overuse of the word ‘we’ can give the
impression that you were just in the right place at the right time. The company
was successful and accomplished things while you were there – not necessarily
because you were there. [5]

For your next job interview, be sure to talk about your specific contributions
and accomplishments to the team’s success. It’s okay to take full credit for your
work without being boastful. That’s what interviews are for. Remember, it is
often true in life that how you say something can be as important as what you
say. This is especially the case in a job interview which is all about creating a
positive first impression. [6]

(Adapted from “Subtle job interview red flags that employers notice” in the Toronto Star - October 1st, 2015.)

Glossary:

a red flag (title) a negative signal or message

recruiters (paragraph 1) people who choose others for a job

hedged (paragraph 2) to be indirect or to avoid discussing

odd (paragraph 2) to be strange

related to (paragraph 3) connected to

fluffy (paragraph 4) to be soft and light

an Impression (paragraph 5) an image, a perception

ALL student answers should be submitted in ONE separate
Word document (.doc or .docx).

Save your Word file with completed and clearly marked sections A, B, and C. Place
your name and student number in the file name. Then, upload your Word file, with
your answers, to the assignment folder created by your professor.

In your answer document, please clearly indicate which part and questions you
are answering (e.g. “Part D, #1”).

Part A: Vocabulary

Fill in the sentence blanks with appropriate words. These words are found in the
box located below. These words can also be found in the article you just read for
this test. Not all words will be used. Words should only be used one.

When choosing words, please understand that you may need to change the word
form in order to accurately complete each sentence.

subtle seasoned probing conducted absolutes

realigned tracked boost credit boastful

1. They tracked the bear all the way up the mountain and into the cave.

2. The electrician was absolutes sure that she knew what the problem was.

3. Going to the Centre for Academic English regularly can help to boost your
grades.
Part B: Comprehension, True OR False

Read the statement below. It comes from the reading.

a) If the statement is true, circle “True” = 1 mark.

b) If the statement is false, circle “False” = 0.5 mark.

Then, correct the false statement to make it true = 0.5 mark. (Rewrite the
sentence in a way that makes it “True”.)

1. Interviewers think it is positive to talk about other people’s success at their

job.

True or False?

Your answer:

Interviewers think it is positive to talk about their own success at their job. This
is because it tells them if the person in the interview is a high performance or
low performance person.

Part C: Comprehension Questions

Answer the following questions in 1, 2, or 3 grammatically correct sentences.

Use your own words. Do not copy from the reading.

1. Study paragraph 3 in the essay. What is the main idea that is being
discussed in this paragraph? Remember to use your own words when
answering this question.

The main idea in the third paragraph is to guide people how to do better in their
next job interview. By telling more about yourself of how does your past
accomplishment be related to the new business. Talk more about the past
instead of the future. That is how the employers would love to hear.
2. Study paragraph 5 of the essay. The first sentence says “Many people are
uncomfortable talking about themselves and will fall into the habit of ‘group
 speak’.” What is the author trying to say with this part of the paragraph?
Explain your answer. Remember to use your own words when answering
this question.

The author trying to say that if people using the word “we” too often in a
interview will only gives the employer an impression that u are success in the
company because of the right place and right timing, basically a luck. With
using more on first point of view, it gives more feelings to people that the
company are successful because you were there.

In your answer document, please clearly indicate which part and question you
are answering (e.g. “Part D, #1”).

D. Paragraph Writing

Choose ONE of the following topics and write 5-7 sentences. Remember to write
in complete sentences and to use correct verb tenses.

• Indent the first sentence of your paragraph.

• Begin each statement with a capital letter and end it with a period. If it is
a question, end it with a question mark.
• Use signal words, such as first, then, after, finally.
• Develop your paragraph with three points.
• Use correct paragraph form. Use a variety of sentences: simple,
complex, and compound sentences.

Your topic: (1 or 2) # __1___

1. What are some activities that you can do before an interview to help you
be more successful in the interview?

OR

2. What are the biggest problems that you experience when you have a job
interview?