Interview Skills 8 - Discussing Salary and Benefits

Hello English learners and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

Hi everyone.

My name is Kathryn and today we have another episode of our interview series lessons.

That's right.

Today we're taking a look at a very important aspect of an interview.

We're talking about salary and money.

That's right.

So this is the end of the interview and we're starting to talk about details of the job.

Let's check this out.

Listen to the dialogue one time and when we come back we'll be talking more about what's

going on.

OK.

Well, I'm sure you have a number of questions to ask me regarding the position.

Yes.

Well, Miss Childs did give me an overview of the position over the phone but there were

some details I'd like to clarify.

Well, feel free to ask me anything and I'll try to fill in the details.

Could I first ask about the remuneration package?

Yes, of course.

That's quite an important point, isn't it?

As a junior sub-editor, we offer a starting salary of HK$150,000 per annum.

This doesn't include a generous housing allowance also.

I understand.

And are there other bonuses included?

Well, apart from full health insurance, we do offer a company staff bonus scheme linked

to readership numbers.

But we could go through all the details of that at a later date.

Well, Mr. Parsons, I am flexible when it comes to salary.

The opportunity to work in Hong Kong with your company is the most important thing for

me.

Excellent.

Well, what other questions do you have, Rebecca?

All right, we're back so let's take a look at a couple of words and phrases on Language

Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

OK.

So, this first phrase is a set phrase.

That means these words often go together.

The phrase is remuneration package.

That's right.

A remuneration package.

Rebecca said, could I first ask about the remuneration package?

So what's an easier way to say this, Marco?

I guess basically the salary.

That's right.

But a package means that it's not just money.

It's also some of the benefits or the bonuses.

So this is a way to describe how a person is paid in general.

That's right.

So in the remuneration package that Rebecca is being offered, Mr. Parsons said that she

would get a starting salary of $150,000 per annum.

OK.

So this phrase, starting salary, is another fixed phrase.

We have a lot of these today.

That means these two words go together.

Starting salary.

So salary is easy.

It's the amount of money you make either per month or per week or per year.

But what is a starting salary?

How is that different?

Well, basically that's the money that you would start earning in the company.

But obviously with time it could change and you can get more money.

So this means that you will start making this much money, but it's possible that in the

future you will make more.

This is the starting salary.

That's right.

And well, of course, as we said, it's $150,000, Hong Kong dollars, per annum.

So now we're specifying how often you're getting this money per annum.

So if it were per month, this might be a lot of money.

That's right.

But this is how much money she will earn per year, per annum.

This comes from Latin.

That's right.

So per year.

So this is the remuneration package she's getting.

Not only is she getting $150,000 per annum, she's also getting a housing allowance.

OK.

So many of us had allowances when we were children.

This means the money that your parents gave you each week, $5 or $10.

Well a housing allowance is a little bit different.

It means the money that your company gives you per month or per year to pay for your

apartment or your house.

That's right.

So obviously the company is saying that, look, we're going to give you a certain amount of

money for you to pay for your house.

You don't have to really pay for your house.

We'll pay for it.

So basically it's a benefit.

It's a part of this remuneration package.

You get a salary and you get money for your house.

It's a pretty nice deal.

That's right.

And well also she's getting health insurance and she is also being offered a company staff

bonus scheme.

OK.

Bonus scheme.

A bonus is something extra.

It's on top of what you normally get.

But a bonus scheme indicates that the bonus changes according to how well you do.

That's right.

So obviously he's specifying that the bonus scheme is linked to readership numbers.

So let's say for example Marco sells newspapers.

Marco, you sell on a good week a hundred newspapers.

If you sell a hundred fifty, you get a bonus of ten dollars.

But if you sell two hundred newspapers, you get a bonus of fifty dollars.

That's right.

This is a scheme.

The numbers change.

Very good.

So all of this that we've just talked about, to be clear, is our remuneration package.

We're talking about a salary.

We're talking about housing allowance, health insurance and even a bonus scheme.

So a package can include these things and much, much more.

CEOs get bigger remuneration packages.

They do.

And if you have children, sometimes a part of your package is education costs for your

children or a car or computers, things like that.

That's right.

So a lot of great stuff there talking about salaries and a little bit of negotiating it.

Why don't we go back, listen to the dialogue again and we'll be back in a bit.

OK.

Well, I'm sure you have a number of questions to ask me regarding the position.

Yes.

Well, Miss Childs did give me an overview of the position over the phone, but there

were some details I'd like to clarify.

Well, feel free to ask me anything and I'll try to fill in the details.

Should I first ask about the remuneration package?

Yes, of course.

That's quite an important point, isn't it?

As a junior sub editor, we offer a starting salary of one hundred and fifty thousand Hong

Kong dollars per annum.

This doesn't include a generous housing allowance also.

I understand.

And are there other bonuses included?

Well, apart from full health insurance, we do offer a company staff bonus scheme linked

to readership numbers.

But we could go through all the details of that at a later date.

Well, Mr. Parsons, I am flexible when it comes to salary.

The opportunity to work in Hong Kong with your company is the most important thing for

me.

Excellent.

Well, what other questions do you have, Rebecca?

All right.

So now let's take a look at Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

So at the beginning of the dialogue, Rebecca is talking to Mr. Parsons about the job and

she says, you know, I don't really have that many questions, but when I talked to Miss

Childs about the job over the phone, there were some things she wanted to clarify.

So how did she talk to her?

She talked to her over the phone.

That's right.

So this is a really good phrase to specify that you received information or you did business

talking on the phone, not in person.

OK, so this is a bit strange because we use the preposition over.

You could also say I'm on the phone.

That means I'm talking on the phone.

But over the phone means by phone.

That's right.

Not by mail or email or in person.

But we communicate, we talk over the phone by phone.

So sometimes, for example, people will see a TV commercial with a nice item or device

that they want to buy and they will purchase this object, maybe a DVD player over the phone.

They will call up this number and order it.

Or you can say, you know, I'm really sorry, Marco, but I don't feel comfortable talking

about my banking details over the phone.

That's right.

OK, so that means on the phone.

So then Mr. Parsons said, feel free to ask me anything.

OK, feel free to ask me anything about the job.

OK, this is a phrase that I use all the time, and I think it's really important when you're

in a business context or a work context to say, listen, if you have any questions, feel

free to ask.

It means don't hesitate.

Don't be nervous.

If you have a question, just ask it.

That's right.

So feel free to ask.

Don't worry about it.

Just ask me.

It's a very good phrase to give someone or to make someone feel more comfortable.

Exactly, exactly.

All right.

And he said that I'll try to fill in the details.

OK, so this is an interesting phrase because fill in, you know, on a form, for example,

means put your name in a box or fill in some numbers.

But here the details, we think maybe maybe I don't know what the details are.

So to fill them in means to fill in gaps or some blanks.

So like, I don't know all the details.

Please tell me the information so that I will know them.

That's right.

So what he's basically saying is I know that you have an idea or a general overview of

how things are.

But if you ask me, I can tell you more specific things that fill in the details.

Or, for example, we're going to a party on Saturday night, but I don't know where the

party is yet.

How about on Friday?

I call you to fill you in on the details.

Very good.

OK, so those are the phrases that we've prepared for you today.

I think we've taken a look at a lot of great vocab.

Why don't we listen to the dialogue one last time and we'll be back to talk to you a little

bit more.

OK, well I'm sure you have a number of questions to ask me regarding the position.

Yes, well, Miss Charles did give me an overview of the position over the phone.

But there were some details I'd like to clarify.

Well feel free to ask me anything and I'll try to fill in the details.

Could I first ask about the remuneration package?

Yes, of course.

That's quite an important point, isn't it?

As a junior sub-editor, we offer a starting salary of one hundred and fifty thousand Hong

Kong dollars per annum.

This doesn't include a generous housing allowance also.

I understand.

And are there other bonuses included?

Well apart from full health insurance, we do offer a company staff bonus scheme linked

to readership numbers.

But we could go through all the details of that at a later date.

Well Mr. Parsons, I am flexible when it comes to salary.

The opportunity to work in Hong Kong with your company is the most important thing for

me.

Excellent.

Well, what other questions do you have, Rebecca?

Alright so talking about salaries and remuneration packages.

Now is this a common word to talk about remuneration?

Yes it is.

It basically means the way that you are paid for the work that you do.

So remuneration, it sounds like a big long word.

But in America I think we also just talk about salary or compensation.

Compensation packages.

Ok, so now when we talk about remuneration, we don't necessarily always talk about money

like in this case, right?

We can receive other benefits.

That's right.

And so a lot of times people think of the important parts of remuneration not just to

be the salary but also to be the benefits.

And so benefits are not the money, they are the other stuff.

They're health care.

We said earlier a housing allowance, even bonuses and things like that or education

for your children.

These are extras and these are a part of the package.

Now what would you prefer?

To have a good remuneration package like these other additional benefits with a low salary

or would you prefer to have a high salary with not many of these benefits?

Well I think that it's nice to get the benefits and a lower salary because often times at

a company, like a big company, the company can get really good rates on health care.

So if I have to pay for my health care with my big salary, maybe it will cost me more

money.

But if my company pays with the company rate, that means the amount that they pay, then

maybe they can help me pay for these things much cheaper.

And so in the end I make more money.

Yeah.

Actually I've heard some companies that offer great remuneration packages like if you have

children as you said they will pay for their education.

But many times they would even pay for their child care, like maybe a nanny.

Some of them, some of the managers would receive maybe a fuel bonus.

So they would get, I don't know, $200 extra a month for fuel for their car if they drive

to work.

So I think companies can get a little bit creative and it's not that much that they're

actually spending but you take it as to being a really good benefit.

Well that's right and it makes you more I think happy to work for that company because

you feel like they're taking care of you.

Not just they're giving you money, they're actually taking care of you and your family.

That's right.

So we're actually a little bit curious to know how remuneration packages work in your

company or maybe in your country.

That's right.

So please let us know.

You obviously don't have to tell us how much money you earn but if you want to tell us

how these things work, where you come from, our website is EnglishPod.com.

We'll see you there.

All right.

Bye.

All right so thank you very much.