En la entrevista de trabajo, la candidata explica su experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado.

In the job interview, the female candidate explains her experience in internships and volunteer work.

Breakdown of En la entrevista de trabajo, la candidata explica su experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado.

• en: in
• y: and
• de: of
• su: her
• la experiencia: the experience
• .: period
• ,: comma
• explicar: to explain
• la entrevista: the interview
• el trabajo: the job
• la candidata: the candidate
• las prácticas: the internships
• el voluntariado: the volunteer work

Questions & Answers about En la entrevista de trabajo, la candidata explica su experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado.

Why is it en la entrevista de trabajo and not something like a la entrevista de trabajo?

In Spanish, en is the normal preposition to express what happens in/at an event or place:

• En la entrevista de trabajo = in/at the job interview
• En la reunión = in/at the meeting
• En la fiesta = at the party

Using a would suggest movement towards the interview (going to the interview), not what happens during it:

• Voy a la entrevista de trabajo. = I’m going to the job interview.
• En la entrevista de trabajo explico mi experiencia. = In the interview I explain my experience.

You could also say durante la entrevista de trabajo (during the job interview), but en is more concise and completely natural here.

What does de mean in entrevista de trabajo? Why not something like one single compound noun like English job interview?

Spanish often uses noun + de + noun where English uses a compound noun:

• entrevista de trabajo = job interview
• contrato de trabajo = work contract / employment contract
• oferta de trabajo = job offer

Here de shows a relationship between the two nouns. It can mean things like:

• type/purpose: entrevista de trabajo (an interview for work)
• content: clase de español (class of Spanish)

So entrevista de trabajo literally is “interview of work,” but idiomatically it is job interview.

Why does it say la candidata and not una candidata?

• la candidata = the candidate (a specific one that the speaker and listener can identify)
• una candidata = a candidate (an unspecified candidate, one of several, not previously identified)

In this sentence, la candidata suggests:

• we already know who she is, or
• she is the main/only candidate being talked about in this context.

If the sentence were introducing her for the first time, you might see una candidata instead, depending on the wider context:

• En la entrevista de trabajo, una candidata explica su experiencia…
  = In the job interview, a candidate explains her experience…

But as written, it sounds like we’re talking about a particular candidate already known in the situation.

Why is there no ella? Could we say ella explica?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context or from the verb ending.

• (Ella) explica su experiencia.
  The verb explica already tells you it’s he/she/it (3rd person singular).
• Because we also have la candidata, we clearly know who explains.

You could say:

• En la entrevista de trabajo, ella explica su experiencia…

but in this exact sentence it would sound slightly redundant, because la candidata already identifies the subject. Pronouns like yo, tú, él, ella are used when:

• you want to contrast (e.g. yo explico, pero él no explica)
• you want to emphasize the subject
• the subject would be ambiguous otherwise

Why is it explica instead of está explicando?

Both are grammatically possible, but they don’t feel exactly the same.

• La candidata explica su experiencia…
  This is simple present. In Spanish, simple present is very commonly used to describe what happens in a scene or in a habitual/typical situation.

• La candidata está explicando su experiencia…
  This is present progressive and focuses more on the ongoing action at this exact moment.

In Spanish, the simple present often covers situations where English prefers is explaining:

• En este vídeo, la profesora explica el pretérito.
  = In this video, the teacher explains / is explaining the preterite.

So explica here is natural, neutral narration of what (typically) happens in that interview context.

Does su experiencia mean her experience or could it also mean his experience?

Su is ambiguous in Spanish: it can mean his, her, its, your (formal), their depending on context.

In this sentence, we have la candidata, which is clearly feminine, so:

• su experiencia = her experience.

But grammatically, in other contexts su experiencia could also be:

• his experience (de él)
• their experience (de ellos / de ellas)
• your (formal) experience (de usted / de ustedes)

To avoid ambiguity, you can use de + pronoun/noun:

• la experiencia de ella = her experience
• la experiencia de la candidata = the candidate’s experience

Here, though, context (la candidata) makes it clear that su = her.

What exactly does en prácticas mean? It looks like “in practices,” which sounds odd in English.

In Spain, prácticas is a common term for internships / work placements / training periods (often for students or recent graduates).

• Hacer prácticas = to do an internship / placement
• estar en prácticas = to be an intern / to be on a training placement

So experiencia en prácticas means experience in internships / work placements, not “experience in (some) practices” in the English sense of “ways of doing things.”

It’s a very common expression in Spanish (Spain), especially in CVs or job interview contexts.

Why do we use en in experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado? Could we also use de or sobre?

Here en shows the field or area where the person has experience:

• experiencia en ventas = experience in sales
• experiencia en enseñanza = experience in teaching
• experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado = experience in internships and volunteering

Alternatives:

• experiencia de prácticas y voluntariado
  This is possible, but less standard; it can sound more like “experience consisting of internships and volunteering,” so it’s more about the type of experience.

• experiencia sobre voluntariado
  sobre tends to mean “about/on (a topic),” more like knowledge or written work on a topic:

  • un trabajo sobre voluntariado = a paper about volunteering.
    So experiencia sobre is unusual.

In this context, experiencia en is the most idiomatic to say “experience in the area of…”.

Why is experiencia singular even though there are two things: prácticas y voluntariado? Shouldn’t it be experiencias?

Spanish often uses a singular abstract noun to refer to a person’s overall experience in several related areas:

• mucha experiencia en ventas y marketing (a lot of experience in sales and marketing)
• poca experiencia en administración y contabilidad (little experience in administration and accounting)

So su experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado means:

• her overall experience in the fields of internships and volunteering.

If you said sus experiencias en prácticas y voluntariado, it would sound more like you are talking about separate, individual experiences (specific episodes or stories), which is not usually what’s meant in a job-interview summary.

What’s the difference between voluntariado and voluntario / voluntaria?

• voluntariado (noun, usually uncountable)
  = volunteering / volunteer work in general

  • Hizo mucho voluntariado en la universidad.
    She did a lot of volunteering at university.

• voluntario / voluntaria

  • as a noun: a volunteer (a person)
    
    • Fue voluntario en una ONG. = He was a volunteer in an NGO.
  • as an adjective: voluntary
    
    • trabajo voluntario = voluntary work

In the sentence, voluntariado refers to the activity/field of volunteer work, which matches the idea of experience in an area: experience in volunteering.

Is the word order fixed? Could we say La candidata explica su experiencia en prácticas y voluntariado en la entrevista de trabajo instead?

Yes, that alternative is grammatically correct:

• En la entrevista de trabajo, la candidata explica su experiencia…
• La candidata explica su experiencia… en la entrevista de trabajo.

Differences are mostly about focus and style:

• Starting with En la entrevista de trabajo puts the context/time/place in focus: In the job interview (that’s the setting; now we say what happens).
• Putting it at the end (…en la entrevista de trabajo) gives it slightly less emphasis; it sounds like an extra detail added after the main information.

Spanish word order is fairly flexible, but fronting en la entrevista de trabajo is a very natural way to set the scene.