Interview English Live: Foreign Trade Salesman

Practical English Interview Example: Foreign Trade Salesperson

Mr. Ning learned from a friend who worked at IBM that there was a vacancy for a foreign trade salesperson there. Now Mr. Ning is interviewing Mr. Henry, the company's manager in Beijing.

l: good afternoon, sir.

h： good afternoon. please take a seat.

l: thank you.

h： are you feeling satisfied? i am henry hudson.

l: yes. nice to see you, mr. hudson.

h: to start with, tell me about your education, please.

l: all right. i graduated from shanghai institute of foreign trade three years ago. i majored in international trade.

h: very well. i see from your resume that you have been working for an import and export company in beijing since your graduation from college. what is your chief responsibility there?

l：i am responsible for exporting light industrial machinery to some asian and european countries.

h： have you traveled a lot in your work?

l: yes. i have traveled dozens of times abroad. i have been to such countries as thailand, singapore, japan, indonesia, burma, the netherlands, denmark, italy, germany and england to do business.

h： Are you single or married?

l：i‘m still single. Nowadays many young people in china are not in a hurry to get married. they‘d rather secure their careers before they settle down in a family.

h: that’s the kind of man we are looking for.

our promotion work entails much travel. so we need employees without family burdens yet. now tell me if you have a good command of both written and spoken english.

l: when i was at college, i passed band six of college english test. i also passed business english certificate test. all the foreign businessmen i‘ve dealt with say my english is quite good.

h: may i ask why you want to change jobs?

l: because I wish to get a more challenging opportunity at a foreign capital company.

h： why are you interested in this company?

l: A friend of mine works here, and he told me about your company, so I became interested. i think working in this company would provide me with a good opportunity to use my knowledge.

h: what do you know about this company?

l： This company is one of the biggest manufacturing companies in the world. there‘re a lot of branches in all parts of the world with the head office in the u. s. a. ibm co. ltd. was set up in Beijing in 1992. it has established branches in shanghai, guangzhou, shenyang, shenzhen, nanjing, wuhan and xi‘an. it deals in business machines.

h: do you know what gmfnt stands for?

l: of course. it stands for general most-favored-nation treatment.

If one nation enjoys this kind of treatment, it is accessible to tariff preference for imported goods from another nation.

h： now I‘m going to ask you a few professional questions. what is the first thing to do in international trade?

l: asa buyer, you first have to make an inquiry. and as a seller, you have to make an offer.

h: can you name some terms of payment?

l: of course. Irvocable letter of credit, confirmed letter of credit, and transferable and divisible letter of credit are common terms of payment in international trade.

h: you are right. we’ll notify you of our final decision within one week.

l: thank you, mr. hudson, for your interview with me. you can email your decision to me. i hope to see you again. ;