Speaking Part 2

Describe a situation when you were late

You should say:

• what the event was you were late for
• what the reason was for being late
• how you felt about it

and explain how you managed even after being late

Sample Answer:

Time is priceless and once you lose it, you are to pay heavily for the wastage of the moments. I missed a job interview for being late and I feel regret for that late even today

I was called for a formal interview at Unilever against the post of communications manager. I applied for the post about two months ago and they asked me to attend the written test first. I attended at the test and become one the tenth applicants who have passed the test. Then the authority told us to contact later and accordingly I received the latest email asking me to join at the formal interview. But unfortunately, I could not attend the interview in time and lost the chance to attend on the job

In Mumbai, traffic congestion is a common scenario. Many of the people have to get stuck in the traffic jam in the early hours of the morning every day and the scenarios are worst the central area where almost all the important offices are located. I started for the interview about one hour before of the mentioned time but could not reach in time there. At first, I stood in a bus queue and when the bus arrived I could not manage to ride as the bus was already packed with office going passengers. So, I failed to board in the bus and waiting for the next metro service will be late for me. Immediately I hired an auto to reach the Unilever office. I think my luck betrayed me on that day so that I could not go for the interview. I got stuck again in the middle of the road

Initially, I felt that my luck in not favouring me and losing the chance to appear on the interview was frustrating me as well. Thereby, I felt a deep sense of anger. Traffic congestion is a common scenario in India and the common citizens are the worst sufferers. They cannot go to their places at the right time. I did not have the idea how actually they felt when they missed their appointments. The delay on the interview taught me actually how the feelings of those people were. At last, I felt pity for me as I could not go to my current office in time and also made late for the interview at the same time

Finally, I appeared before the Unilever office building about one and a half hour later of the scheduled time. When I entered the interview room, I found that the interviews were going to be ended and when I informed the interview reception that I am one of the candidates, they allowed me to sit for the interview. But since I was late, they, in fact, did not show much interest and simply asked few questions about myself. With the behaviour and attitudes of the interview board members, I understood that I am discarded from the list.