Swedish 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.
Intervjun
Sara hade sökt tjänsten utan att egentligen tro på det. När rekryteraren ringde tog det några sekunder innan hon förstod vilket jobb det handlade om.
Intervjun ägde rum torsdagen därpå. Hon hade förberett svar, men redan efter några minuter förstod hon att samtalet inte skulle följa hennes plan. Nästan ingen frågade om hennes utbildning; de ville veta hur hon reagerade när ett projekt misslyckades.
Hon berättade om ett verkligt misslyckande, en lansering som hon hade förberett dåligt två år tidigare. Medan hon pratade undrade hon om hon höll på att sabotera sig själv.
Rekryteraren nickade. "Det är dagens första ärliga svar", sa han.
Sara gick därifrån utan att veta vad hon borde hoppas på. Om hon fick jobbet skulle hon behöva flytta, ändra sina vanor, börja om. Hon insåg att hon ville det.
English translation
Sara had applied for the position without really believing in it. When the recruiter called, it took a few seconds before she understood which job it was about.
The interview took place the following Thursday. She had prepared answers, but after only a few minutes she understood that the conversation would not follow her plan. Almost nobody asked about her education; they wanted to know how she reacted when a project failed.
She talked about a real failure, a launch she had prepared badly two years earlier. While she was talking she wondered whether she was sabotaging herself.
The recruiter nodded. "That's the first honest answer today," he said.
Sara left without knowing what she should hope for. If she got the job she would have to move, change her habits, start over. She realised that she wanted to.
Why this is B1
B1 readers can hold several time layers in one paragraph. The text uses the past perfect for what happened earlier, skulle for a future seen from the past, and a conditional om clause, while the point of the story is only implied.
Grammar you will meet
- Past perfect: hade sökt, hade förberett
- Skulle for a future in the past: samtalet skulle inte följa
- Conditional om clause: om hon fick jobbet skulle hon behöva
- Hålla på att for an action in progress
- Utan att + infinitive
Words worth keeping
- söka en tjänst — to apply for a position
- en intervju — an interview
- ett misslyckande — a failure
- inse — to realise
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Next B1 text: Swedish B1 Reading Practice: The Train That Never Came