French B1 Reading Practice: A Job Interview
At B1 the interesting part is no longer what happened, but what someone thinks and fears. This text mixes narration with hypothesis and opinion.
L'entretien
Sarah avait postulé sans vraiment y croire. Quand l'agence l'a rappelée, elle a mis quelques secondes à comprendre de quel poste il s'agissait.
L'entretien avait lieu le jeudi suivant. Elle avait préparé des réponses, mais dès les premières minutes, elle a compris que la conversation ne suivrait pas son plan. On ne lui a presque pas parlé de son diplôme ; on voulait savoir comment elle réagissait quand un projet échouait.
Elle a raconté un échec réel, celui d'un lancement qu'elle avait mal préparé deux ans plus tôt. Pendant qu'elle parlait, elle se demandait si elle n'était pas en train de se saborder.
Le recruteur a hoché la tête. « C'est la première réponse honnête de la journée », a-t-il dit.
Sarah est sortie sans savoir ce qu'elle devait espérer. Si elle obtenait ce poste, il faudrait déménager, changer d'habitudes, recommencer. Elle s'est rendu compte qu'elle en avait envie.
English translation
Sarah had applied without really believing in it. When the agency called her back, it took her a few seconds to work out which job they meant.
The interview took place the following Thursday. She had prepared answers, but within the first few minutes she understood that the conversation would not follow her plan. They barely spoke about her degree; they wanted to know how she reacted when a project failed.
She described a real failure, a launch she had badly prepared two years earlier. While she was speaking, she wondered whether she was sabotaging herself.
The recruiter nodded. "That's the first honest answer of the day," he said.
Sarah left without knowing what she should hope for. If she got the job, she would have to move, change her habits, start again. She realised that she wanted to.
Why this is B1
B1 readers can handle several tenses in the same paragraph and follow an implied meaning. This text uses the plus-que-parfait for events before the story, a conditional for what would follow, and a hypothetical si clause, while the point of the story is left partly unsaid.
Grammar you will meet
- Plus-que-parfait: elle avait postulé, elle avait préparé
- Conditional in reported thought: la conversation ne suivrait pas
- Si clause with imparfait and conditional: si elle obtenait, il faudrait
- Être en train de for an action in progress
- Se rendre compte que
Words worth keeping
- postuler — to apply (for a job)
- un entretien — an interview
- un échec — a failure
- se rendre compte — to realise
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