English for a job interview

“Good morning. My name is Kavita Sharma.”

Give your name.

मेरा नाम ___ है।

say it as: My name is / Priya · anywhere

“I am from Nagpur, and I moved here for this role.”

Say where you come from.

मैं ___ से हूँ।

say it as: I am from / Indore · anywhere

“Nice to meet you. Thank you for making the time.”

What you say when you meet somebody for the first time.

आपसे मिलकर अच्छा लगा।

say it as: Nice to / meet you · anywhere

“I like solving problems that nobody has looked at yet.”

Say what you enjoy doing.

मुझे ___ करना पसंद है।

say it as: I like / reading in the morning · anywhere

“I'm interested in moving towards the client-facing side.”

Say what you would like to learn about or get involved in.

मुझे ___ में दिलचस्पी है।

say it as: I'm interested in / learning data analysis · anywhere

“I prefer a role where I can see the result of my work.”

Say what you generally like better.

मुझे ___ ज़्यादा पसंद है।

say it as: I prefer / working in a small team · anywhere

“I don't know that tool, but I have used something similar.”

Say honestly that you do not have the answer.

मुझे नहीं पता।

say it as: I don't / know · anywhere

“Thank you for taking the time to meet me.”

Thank somebody for a specific thing they did.

___ के लिए धन्यवाद।

say it as: Thank you for / helping me · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you.”

Thank somebody with more weight than "thanks".

मैं ___ की सच में क़द्र करता/करती हूँ।

say it as: I really appreciate / your help · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“I'd like to work somewhere I can keep learning.”

Say what you want — politely. The grown-up version of "I want to".

मैं ___ करना चाहूँगा/चाहूँगी।

say it as: I'd like to / apply for this · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“I'm hoping to grow into a role where I manage a small team.”

Say what you want, while admitting it is not certain.

मैं ___ करने की उम्मीद कर रहा/रही हूँ।

say it as: I'm hoping to / finish by Friday · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“When I was at my last company, I handled three accounts on my own.”

Anchor a story in a period of your life.

जब मैं ___ था/थी, तब ___।

say it as: When I was in college, / I worked part-time · anywhere

“I used to handle only billing, and then I took over the whole desk.”

Say what was true before but is not any more.

पहले मैं ___ करता/करती था/थी।

say it as: I used to / work in a call centre · anywhere

“I've never managed a team, but I have trained two new joiners.”

Say that something has not happened in your whole life so far.

मैंने कभी ___ नहीं किया।

say it as: I've never / been to Delhi · anywhere

“I've been leading the team since March.”

Say what has been going on up to now, and still is.

मैं ___ करता/करती आ रहा/रही हूँ।

say it as: I've been / working here for two years · anywhere

“Could I ask what the team looks like?”

Ask permission politely.

क्या मैं ___ कर सकता/सकती हूँ? (विनम्र)

say it as: Could I / ask you something · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“I tend to plan first and then move quickly.”

Say what you generally do — your usual way, not a rule.

मैं आम तौर पर ___ करता/करती हूँ।

say it as: I tend to / wake up early · anywhere

“I'm looking for a role where I can use my writing.”

Say what you are trying to find.

मैं ___ ढूँढ रहा/रही हूँ।

say it as: I'm looking for / a new job · anywhere

“It depends on the team — some projects need a plan, some need speed.”

Say that the answer is not fixed — it changes with something else.

यह ___ पर निर्भर करता है।

say it as: It depends / on the budget · anywhere

“The reason I left my last job is that I had stopped learning.”

Attach a reason to what you just said, clearly.

मैं ___ इसलिए ___ क्योंकि ___।

say it as: The reason I applied / is that I want bigger projects · anywhere

“What tends to happen is that the first version teaches you what the real problem was.”

Describe the usual pattern of events, based on experience.

आम तौर पर होता यह है कि ___।

say it as: What tends to happen / is that the last week takes as long · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“Let me think about that for a second.”

Ask for real time, rather than answering badly now.

मुझे इस पर सोचने दीजिए।

say it as: Let me think / about that · anywhere

“That's an interesting question. I would say my biggest weakness is that I take on too much.”

Buy three seconds after a hard question — and mean it.

यह दिलचस्प सवाल है।

say it as: That's an interesting / question · anywhere

“I'd say my strongest skill is getting people to agree on something.”

Give an answer while marking it as an estimate rather than a fact.

मैं कहूँगा/कहूँगी कि ___।

say it as: I'd say / about two weeks · anywhere

“I see your point, but I would want to check the data before deciding.”

Disagree with somebody without making it personal.

मैं आपकी बात समझता हूँ, पर ___।

say it as: I see your point, / but the timing does not work · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“What concerns me is whether the team has the bandwidth for it.”

Raise a worry without attacking anybody or blocking the idea.

मुझे जो चिंता है, वह यह है कि ___।

say it as: What concerns me / is that we have not tested it · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“I enjoyed the role. That said, I had stopped learning anything new.”

Turn the sentence around after agreeing with something.

फिर भी, ___।

say it as: That said, / we should still check with the client · anywhere

“I wouldn't necessarily say that it was a mistake, but I would do it differently now.”

Push back on something without calling it wrong.

मैं यह ज़रूरी नहीं कहूँगा/कहूँगी कि ___।

say it as: I wouldn't necessarily say / that it failed · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“What I mean is that I enjoy the planning more than the presenting.”

Say it again, more clearly, when the first attempt did not land.

मेरा मतलब है कि ___।

say it as: What I mean is / that we should test it first · anywhere

“It's not so much the salary as the kind of work I would be doing.”

Correct somebody’s idea of what the real issue is.

बात ___ की नहीं, ___ की है।

say it as: It's not so much the cost / as the time it takes · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“Could you elaborate on that part of the role?”

Ask somebody to say more, without saying "I did not understand".

क्या आप इस पर थोड़ा और बताएँगे?

say it as: Could you elaborate / on that · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“What I meant was that I led the planning, not the whole project.”

Repair something you said badly, without starting an argument about it.

मेरा मतलब यह था कि ___।

say it as: What I meant was / that we need one more day · anywhere

“I was responsible for closing the month-end accounts for three branches.”

Say what your job actually was — the interview sentence.

मैं ___ के लिए ज़िम्मेदार था/थी।

say it as: I was responsible for / training the new joiners · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“One example that comes to mind is a project where the requirements changed three times.”

Start a story when somebody asks "tell me about a time…".

एक उदाहरण याद आता है — ___।

say it as: One example that comes to mind / is when our biggest client threatened to leave · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“What I learned from that was that a plan nobody has read is not a plan.”

Close a story with the point, which is what the interviewer is waiting for.

उससे मैंने यह सीखा कि ___।

say it as: What I learned from that / was to ask for the deadline in writing · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“It seems to me that the role is really about coordination.”

Give a view while leaving yourself room to be wrong.

मुझे ऐसा लगता है कि ___।

say it as: It seems to me / that we are rushing this · polite — strangers, seniors, customers

“From my perspective, the hardest part of that project was keeping everyone informed.”

Mark a view as coming from where YOU sit — your role, your side of it.

मेरे नज़रिए से, ___।

say it as: From my perspective, / the bigger risk is the timeline · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“One of the things I like about your company is that the products are used by ordinary people.”

Pick out one specific good thing, instead of saying "it is nice".

___ में मुझे जो एक बात अच्छी लगती है, वह है ___।

say it as: One of the things I like about / this job / is that no two days are the same · anywhere

“Compared to my previous role, this one would let me work directly with clients.”

Put two things side by side and say how one differs.

___ के मुक़ाबले, ___।

say it as: Compared to last year, / the numbers are much better · anywhere

“On the one hand I like the stability, on the other hand I want to be stretched.”

Lay out both sides before you come down on one.

एक तरफ़ ___, दूसरी तरफ़ ___।

say it as: On the one hand it is cheaper, / on the other hand it takes twice as long · formal — writing, presentations, officials

“To begin with, the project had no budget and three people.”

Open a story or a list at the first thing.

शुरुआत में, ___।

say it as: To begin with, / nobody knew who was in charge · anywhere

“I realised that the team did not need another plan, they needed a decision.”

Say the moment you understood something — the point of most stories.

मुझे समझ आया कि ___।

say it as: I realised / that I had been solving the wrong problem · anywhere

“At that point, I asked for two more days and rewrote the whole approach.”

Mark the moment in a story where things changed.

उसी वक़्त, ___।

say it as: At that point, / I decided to call the client · anywhere

“Would you be open to discussing the notice period?”

Test whether somebody would consider something, before you propose it.

क्या आप ___ पर विचार करेंगे?

say it as: Would you be open to / starting in March · formal — writing, presentations, officials