So you landed a job interview in Spanish ? How exciting ! It’s amazing you got this opportunity. But be careful, this is only the first step. The most difficult part is yet to come: proving to the interviewer that you are the right person for the job. And if that seems simple in your native language (whatever that may be), believe me, it’s a whole different ballgame in professional Spanish (like with any other foreign language). To really prepare for your job interview, here are 5 tips to keep in mind. And for a bonus: some questions that you could be asked. Good luck!

how to prepare for a job interview in spanish

Before getting started, a job interview in Spanish is called entrevista de trabaja. The term is relatively straightforward. A simple interview is more often called conversación. Another important term to keep in mind is resume, which is called CV or currículum or currículo.

5 Tips to Pass your Job Interview (with flying colors) in Spanish

All job interviews are conducted in relatively the same way. At least, the questions that are asked are all similar. I’m talking about the well-known: “Tell me about yourself,” “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?,” or “Can you tell me your greatest strength and your greatest weakness?” We’ll list some of these questions in the second part of this post. For now, let’s focus on some tips that will be very helpful in preparing for your job interview in Spanish.

1. Look over the Company’s Website with a Fine-toothed Comb

This first one makes sense, right? It’s not necessarily evident to everyone. Honestly, my brother recently went in for a job interview convinced that he already knew the company: turns out, he had researched a company with the same name but the work they did was totally different. In any case, we highly recommend that you study the company you applied for on their website, LinkedIn, or any other platform they use. You can find interesting information about the job’s requirements, about personnel that work at the company, about the person who will conduct your interview, and more. Go in knowing what you’re talking about: them!

This info search can then help you to think of a couple of good questions to ask them at the end of the interview (it’s always good to have questions to ask at the end of an interview). Note that when I said it’s important to study the company, while doing so, you can also pick up as much information as possible in the target language.

2. Master your Resume

Have your resume ready in your mind, along with your letter of motivation. Studies, internships, previous experience, travel… You need to be able to explain all aspects of your resume in Spanish, especially the parts that are likely to interest your future company. This will allow you to respond, without thinking, to the employer’s potential questions or areas of clarification. What’s more, this allows you to connect your experience with the proposed responsibilities of the job.

3. List the Qualities you want to Promote/Highlight

Like we said before, the question “Can you tell me your greatest strength and weakness?” often comes up during job interviews. Even if this question is simple for you to respond to in your native language (whatever that may be; though I doubt it because this question is never simple), think about a response that is adjusted to the language of the interview. This will allow you to once again connect your personality with the proposed responsibilities of the job.

4. Come up with Responses that are Clear, Concise, and Precise

The problem with doing an interview in a foreign language is that we can quickly lose our cool, start to stutter, look for words, etc. To avoid this type of situation, the goal is to come up with responses that are clear, concise, and precise for all the questions that they could ask you (See Tip 5 below).

Your speaking needs to be coherent, complete, and match with your personality. In addition, by coming up with your clear and precise responses, you will also show your professionalism and your ability to focus on what is important (two important qualities that you can mention!)

5. Study the Common Questions

I’ll repeat it again: study (and learn) the common questions used in job interviews as well as your responses. Even if you have to learn them by heart, or at least learn the key words by heart. You can also list and learn the relevant vocabulary for the job so that you don’t have to search for your words during the interview.

 

Sample Questions : Get Out Your Notes !

Of course, your interviewer could ask you other questions. Of course, they might not ask you THESE questions. But working on them allows you to train yourself for your job interview in Spanish, and prepare your vocabulary.

Hablenos de usted = Tell me about yourself

The question we’ve been waiting for. Here you have two possibilities: you can either summarize your career and connect back to your resume (which you memorized beforehand), or you can create a more personal response, and in this case anticipate another common question during the interview, “Why should we choose you?”

¿ Por qué elegir este oficio / este trabajo ?  / ¿ Por qué quiere este trabajo exactamente ?

Why did you choose this company / this job? Why exactly would you like this job position? This is where you will understand why it was important to study the company you’re interviewing with. You can respond either by making reference to the job post itself and to the job description, or you can reference your willingness to travel and showcase what you know about your (future) host country.

¿ Por qué cree que deberíamos contratarlo ? = Why should we hire you?

This is a hard but essential question. Here, you need to convince your interview that you are the best person for the job. You need to highlight your skills (which you previously listed out).

¿ Cuales son sus expectativas salariales ? = What are your salary expectations?

Show them you know the figures too… More seriously, to respond well to this question, you have to do research about your host country. The cost of living isn’t the same in Peru or Spain for example. Your salary expectations need to be in line with your host country’s standards.

¿ Donde se ve en 5 anos ? = Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Via this question, your interviewer will know if you are someone who is ambitious or not. Show them that you want to evolve.

 

For Further Information

Was this article helpful? For further information, and to best prepare for your job interview in Spanish, check out the MosaLingua app to learn Business Spanish. It has all you need to get started on your profession Spanish. Available on iOS (iPhone and iPad),  Android (smartphones and tablets), and the Web (PC and MAC).

And if you want to apply for a job in Spanish, don’t miss our article on how to get started writing your resume in Spanish.