English for Job Interviews
One-to-one preparation for job interviews in English, with experienced British teachers. We work through the questions you will be asked, the answers that show you at your best, and the way to talk about yourself without sounding rehearsed. Online across the UK, face-to-face in London.
Tell us when your interview is and what the role involves, and we will match you with a teacher who can help you prepare in the time you have.
Who English for Job Interviews lessons are for
English for Job Interviews at PS English is for non-native English speakers preparing for an interview in English, in the UK or with a UK-facing employer. Most of our students are professionals who already speak English well and use it every day at work, but who find the interview format itself unsettling: the formality, the pace, the questions about yourself, the unspoken UK conventions, the moment your strongest material has to come out under pressure. If your everyday English is fine but the thought of an interview in it is not, you are in the right place.
Whether you are applying internally for a promotion, moving between UK employers, or interviewing with a UK company from abroad. The English you use day-to-day is not the same as the English you need in a thirty-minute interview, and we work through the gap.
If you have moved to the UK recently and are now interviewing here for the first time, the unspoken rules can feel as hard as the language. We work through both: the conventions of a UK interview and the English you need to navigate them.
Final-year students, recent graduates and postgraduates preparing for graduate scheme interviews, internships, or first professional roles. Often the technical English is strong but the "tell me about yourself" answer is not.
Returning to work after a career break, or interviewing for the first time in many years. The format has changed, the questions are different, and the language for talking about your experience needs refreshing.
What you work on in English for Job Interviews lessons
Every English for Job Interviews lesson at PS English is built around a real interview, ideally one you are actually preparing for. We do not work through a fixed list of common interview questions or a generic course on interview technique. In your first lesson, your teacher looks at the role you are applying for, the company, the format of the interview, and the parts you are most worried about, then plans the lessons that follow around the gaps that matter. Most students focus on some combination of the areas below.
The opening "tell me about yourself" answer is the question almost every interview starts with and the one most non-native speakers get wrong. We work on a structured, two-minute answer that introduces you, signals what you are good at, and connects directly to the role, in a way that sounds natural rather than recited.
The English for describing what you have done at work without sounding like a CV read aloud. The phrases that turn a list of responsibilities into a short story with a result on the end. The way to be specific without sounding boastful, which is a particularly UK convention.
"Tell me about a time when..." questions follow a recognisable shape in UK and international interviews, and the language for answering them follows a recognisable shape too. We work through the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result), and the small phrases that signal each part of the answer cleanly.
The questions about weaknesses, gaps in your CV, why you left your last role, why you want this one, and why you should be hired over other candidates. The language for answering these honestly, briefly and without sounding defensive.
The two or three questions you ask at the end of the interview do as much work as any of your answers. We work on the questions that show you have understood the role, the language to phrase them well, and the questions to avoid.
Most first-round interviews in the UK are now online. We work through the small things that make a real difference on a video call: how to handle the awkward pauses, how to recover when the connection lags, where to look when you want to sound confident, and the language for the moment your camera or microphone fails.
How English for Job Interviews lessons at PS English are different
Every lesson is one-to-one
There is no group of fellow students rotating through practice questions, no shared video session where you watch other people interview, no platform marketplace where you pick a tutor from a long list. You work directly with an experienced British teacher who has prepared many candidates for interviews in English, and the entire lesson is built around your interview, not a generic syllabus.
Your teacher knows the UK conventions
UK interviewers ask in a particular way, value particular kinds of answers, and notice particular kinds of mistakes. Some of this is language; some of it is the unwritten rules. Knowing what a British interviewer is listening for is as useful as knowing what to say, and that is the kind of knowledge a UK-based teaching team brings that an international tutoring platform usually does not.
Lessons can move quickly when they need to
Most interview visitors have a date in their diary and a finite amount of time to prepare. We usually need about a week to get you started, though faster turnarounds can often be arranged. From there we can run an intensive block of lessons in the run-up to your interview, with mock interviews built in, and adjust the schedule around your actual interview rounds as they happen. You are not committing to a fixed course; you are buying time with a teacher who can shape the preparation around your timetable.
I had two weeks before a final interview for a senior role at a UK company. My English at work is strong but I had never been interviewed in it before. My teacher rebuilt the "tell me about yourself" answer with me in the first lesson, and then we did three mock interviews in the second week. By the time I walked into the real one, I had heard most of the questions before. I got the offer.
How it works
Book a free consultation
Tell us when your interview is, the role you are applying for, and the parts you are most worried about. We will match you with a teacher who has prepared candidates for similar interviews, at a time that suits you.
Meet your teacher
Your first lesson is a real lesson, at a discounted price of £20 for 60 minutes online. Your teacher looks at your current level, your interview format and your timeline, and agrees a focused preparation plan with you. No commitment, no pressure.
Start your preparation
When you are ready, book a block of lessons online or face-to-face in London. We can run an intensive block in the run-up to your interview, mock interviews included, and adjust the schedule as your real interview rounds unfold.
Related lessons
The tone, vocabulary and small phrases of professional English. The voice you want to bring into the interview room, before any specific interview preparation begins.
Find out moreUseful if your interview involves a presentation task, an assessment centre exercise, or a senior-round panel where you are expected to present a piece of work.
Find out moreMany interviews come from networking conversations, and many job-search journeys involve more networking than interviewing. The English for the conversations that lead to the interview.
Find out moreThe wider business English picture. The everyday English of work, which feeds into every answer you give about your experience in an interview.
Find out moreFrequently asked questions
How do I prepare for a job interview in English?
The honest answer is that preparing for a job interview in English is not very different from preparing for one in any other language. You need to know the role and the company, you need a clear two-minute introduction, you need three or four worked examples of your experience that you can adapt to whichever behavioural question comes up, you need an honest answer to the difficult questions about weaknesses or gaps, and you need a small set of intelligent questions to ask at the end. The language piece sits on top of all of that. If English is not your first language, the risk is not that you cannot answer the questions, it is that under pressure your English flattens out, your sentences shorten, and the best parts of your story do not come across. Preparation for an interview in English is therefore as much about voice and confidence as it is about content, and that is what one-to-one lessons in the weeks before the interview are for.
How do I introduce myself in English in an interview?
"Tell me about yourself" is the question almost every interview starts with and the one most candidates underprepare for. A strong answer in English follows a recognisable shape, runs for about two minutes, and does three things in order. First, place yourself: a sentence on who you are now (your current role, your years of experience, the area you work in). Second, the relevant arc: two or three sentences on the path that led you here, picking the moments that matter for the role you are applying for. Third, the bridge: one sentence on why this role, at this company, makes sense as the next step. The trick is to make all of that sound natural rather than recited. We work on it line by line, until the answer fits in your mouth and you can deliver it without it sounding like a script.
What are good answers to common interview questions?
The answer depends entirely on the question and the role, but the underlying principle is the same: a strong interview answer in English is specific, structured and short. Specific means real examples with real numbers and real outcomes, not generalisations about how you "always" do something. Structured means the listener can follow the shape of your answer without having to work for it (most behavioural answers fit the STAR structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result). Short means around ninety seconds, not five minutes. Candidates who give long, unstructured answers lose UK interviewers faster than they realise. We work on the discipline of saying the right amount, in the right order, and stopping. That part is often harder than the language itself.
How do I speak well in a job interview when English is not my first language?
Three things make the biggest difference. Pace. Most non-native speakers speed up under pressure, which is exactly when their English becomes hardest to follow. We work on slowing down, pausing between sentences, and resisting the temptation to fill every silence. Specificity. Vague answers feel evasive in UK interviews, even when they are not. Real numbers, real names of projects, real outcomes land far better than careful generalisations. Recovery. Every interview has a moment where you mishear a question, forget a word, or lose your thread. The candidates who do best are not the ones who never have those moments; they are the ones who recover from them cleanly. We work on the small phrases that buy you a second ("That is a good question, let me think about that for a moment") and the language for politely asking the interviewer to repeat or rephrase a question.
What are some good interview tips?
Five that we come back to most often in lessons. One, prepare the first answer thoroughly. The "tell me about yourself" answer sets the tone for the rest of the interview, and a strong opening buys you confidence for the harder questions that follow. Two, prepare three or four worked examples of your experience that you can adapt to whichever behavioural question comes up. You will not be able to predict the exact questions; you can predict the kinds of stories you will need to tell. Three, be specific. Real numbers, real outcomes, real names of projects. Vague answers feel evasive even when they are not. Four, ask two or three intelligent questions at the end. Not "what is the culture like" but something specific that shows you have understood the role and thought about it. Five, do a real mock interview before the real one. Reading about interviews is not the same as practising them out loud, and the gap between the two is exactly where one-to-one lessons make the biggest difference.
How quickly can I start lessons before my interview?
Usually within a week. Tell us your interview date when you book your consultation, and we will match you with a teacher who has time in their diary to prepare you. A week is the typical turnaround; if your interview is sooner than that, say so when you book, because faster turnarounds can often be arranged.
Do you do mock interviews?
Yes. Mock interviews are part of how we prepare students for real ones. Your teacher will run the mock in the format your real interview is in (online or in person), ask the kinds of questions you are likely to be asked, and give you specific feedback on the answers afterwards. Most students do at least one mock before a real interview, and many do two or three in the week before. We can also record the mocks if you want to review them later.
Do you offer lessons online or only in London?
Both. Lessons are available online across the UK and face-to-face in London. Most interview-preparation students choose online because it fits around the rest of their job-search work; visitors who prefer to be in the room with the teacher come to us in London. The same teachers, the same approach, either way.
Face-to-Face Lessons in London How much do English for Job Interviews lessons cost?
Lessons are priced per hour, and you can book in blocks of ten or twenty. Full details on the Pricing page.
See our pricingReady to start preparing?
Tell us when your interview is and what the role involves, and we will match you with a teacher who can help you walk in ready. Your consultation is free, with no commitment either way.