When English learners are preparing for their next job interview, grammar is usually one of their biggest concerns.
But sometimes, worrying too much about perfecting your grammar can take up too much of your interview prep time. You should have a good grasp — or understanding — of the most important verb tenses… Then focus on telling your best stories.
So, how do you keep grammar simple?
Use the simplest verb tense possible to communicate the ideas you want to talk about. Don’t try to make your answers overly formal. Remember what business English is. It’s all about communicating your ideas quickly and easily.
In my workbook, you’ll find grammar templates for the four main verb tenses you’ll need to easily describe your work experiences.
The most useful verb tenses:
- Present Tense
- Simple Past
- Present Perfect
- Present Perfect Continuous
And if you feel comfortable with those four, some of my interview prep clients add past perfect.
Grammar Review Time: When to Use Each Verb Tense in an Interview
Let’s get into the main grammar rules!
The good thing is, you probably feel (at least mostly) comfortable with the simple present and simple past tenses already.
So, when you start preparing your professional introduction and interview answers… Think about which verb tense each story should be in.
Present Tense
What skills do you use every day? What are your current responsibilities?
If you don’t need to talk about the time spent learning a skill, or how long you have been responsible for a task — keep it simple in the present.
- “I write.”
- “We work together.”
- “I manage a team.”
Past Tense
The simple past tense is great for short, easy stories about tasks at past jobs, previous courses you completed, and past accomplishments.
- “I wrote blogs.”
- “We completed the project.”
- “I took a course.”
This is also perfect for confirming when events happened, or for simple STAR-method answers to behavioral questions.
Present Perfect Tense
The present perfect is used when you don’t need to be specific about when something happened.
Present perfect uses “I have“, “we have“, or “he/she/it has“, plus the past participle of the main verb.
- “I have never done that before, but I have done something similar.”
- “I’ve trained new employees in the past.”
* When in doubt, you can use the simple past.
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
The present perfect continuous is the verb tense to use if you have done something in the past and it is continuing through the present.
Present perfect continuous uses “I have been“, or “she has been” plus the present participle of the main verb.
- “I have been managing the team for this project.”
- “I’ve been reading a lot about this.”
- “I have been looking for a job like this.”
Practice, then forget about using “perfect” job interview grammar.
Progress over perfection. And remember that “out in the wild,” perfect grammar doesn’t exist! Native speakers make mistakes all the time.
The only time you need academic C1 grammar is for academic or formal industries, where your writing or speaking skills will be used in formal ways every day.
Practice relaxing while you practice your interview answers.
I understand the frustration of feeling like you can’t express yourself as specifically in English as you can in your native language. My own language studies make me feel the same way a lot.
But things tend to be much less stressful when we aim for connecting during the conversation, instead of perfection. Keep in mind that as you go through your interview prep checklist, the company research and industry information you’re reading will also help you get comfortable with the career vocabulary and grammar you’ll use the most often.
So keep your grammar as simple as possible — as long as you’re confident about the stories you’re telling, you’re doing great!
You can find all of my interview resources here, and you can purchase my interview prep workbook here — which includes some helpful grammar pages!