Interview for Transport Manager Position

INTERVIEWER: As you know, I’m Alison Weston, manager of Coolbox, and this is Mr Bruno Dufour, operations manager for our French partner STM. We’re taking advantage of him being here this afternoon to help us with the French part of the interview. Moreover, if you get the job, you’ll be working with him quite a lot.

CANDIDATE: Bonjour.

BRUNO DUFOUR: Bonjour.

INTERVIEWER: So, you’ve applied for the Transport Manager position that was advertised in last month’s issue of Translog magazine.

CANDIDATE: That’s right.

INTERVIEWER: Could you briefly run through some of your past experience.

CANDIDATE: Um, well, as you can see from my CV, I did a transport and logistics course at Eurotrans Institute straight after my A-Levels, which included a two-month work placement in a company. At the end of my course, they offered me a job as a transport planner, and I accepted.

INTERVIEWER: What sort of company was it?

CANDIDATE: It was a messenger company that specialized in small parcels.

INTERVIEWER: And what did you do exactly?

CANDIDATE: I was in charge of organizing the rounds, collections, and deliveries, managing the staff schedule, and, of course, dealing with clients.

INTERVIEWER: How many clients did you have, and how many people worked for the company?

CANDIDATE: Uuh, we had approximately a hundred clients, thirty drivers and twenty-five vehicles.

INTERVIEWER: And how long did you hold this post?

CANDIDATE: I was in that company for four years.

INTERVIEWER: Why did you leave?

CANDIDATE: Um, it was a small company and I wanted to work internationally to use my language skills.

INTERVIEWER: OK. Now what was your next job?

CANDIDATE: It was in a much bigger company whose main activity was two thirds B to B and one third B to C in England and in Europe.

INTERVIEWER: What did you transport?

CANDIDATE: I was mainly responsible for detachable car parts. We had a big market for them.

INTERVIEWER: Now, what was the difference between this job and the one you had before?

CANDIDATE: Firstly, I was in charge of very important English and foreign clients and I dealt with all the customs and transit documents. I also had more independence and responsibility as I managed a small team of five or six people.

INTERVIEWER: So tell me, why did you leave this company?

CANDIDATE: Oh, I didn’t leave it, it left me.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, do you mean they terminated your contract?

CANDIDATE: No, no, no, not at all. Following difficulties in the car industry, we lost a major contract and the company never recovered. It started with some redundancies, went to voluntary liquidation, and so I found myself made redundant.

INTERVIEWER: So, you have international experience, which of course interests us. Now, have you any questions you’d like to ask.

CANDIDATE: Yes, loads of them. I’d like to know about the fleet size, the type of goods you transport, the number of customers, the size of team I’ll be working with, information about working conditions, oh, and I wanted to know if you use the truck tracking systems.

BRUNO DUFOUR: Truck tracking?

INTERVIEWER: Yes, of course. Listen, I suggest you have a little interview with Mr Dufour first and I’ll meet you again afterwards and we can discuss all that. Alright?

CANDIDATE: Fine. And then you can tell me more about Coolbox and how you first started?

INTERVIEWER: Absolutely.

The Job Interview – Questions

Alison Weston, manager of Coolbox, is interviewing a candidate for a job.

1. What position is the candidate being interviewed for?

2. Where was the job advertised?

3. What did the candidate study at Eurotrans Institute?

4. What did the course include?

5. What job was he offered?

6. What sort of company was it?

7. What were his duties?

8. How many clients did the company have?

9. How many drivers worked for the company?

10. How long did he remain in this post?

11. Why did he leave?

12. What was his next job?

13. What did they transport?

14. What was he mainly responsible for?

15. Who did he deal with in this job?

16. How did this job differ from the previous one?

17. Why did he leave this job?

18. What does the candidate want to know?

The Job Interview - Vocabulary

apply for (a job) poser sa candidature pour un poste

advertise passer une annonce

issue numéro

briefly brièvement

run through résumer

logistics logistique

course cours, stage, formation

A-Levels équivalent du baccalauréat au Royaume Uni

work placement stage

duties fonctions

transport planner planificateur de transport

messenger company société de messagerie

parcel colis

in charge of responsable de

round tournée

delivery livraison

manage diriger

staff personnel

schedule emploi du temps

deal with s’occuper de

approximately approximativement

driver chauffeur

hold (a post) occuper, tenir (un poste)

skills compétences

B to B business to business

B to C business to consumer

mainly principalement

responsible for responsable de

detachable car parts pièces detachées d’automobile

foreign étranger

customs documents documents douaniers

terminate mettre fin à

contract contrat

car industry industrie automobile

recover se redresser

redundancy licenciement (économique)

go into voluntary liquidation mettre la société en liquidation volontaire

to be made redundant être licencié (pour raisons économiques)

fleet parc (de véhicules)

size taille

goods marchandises

truck tracking systems système de suivi de camions