In the EF EPI 2025 profile, Ukraine scored 526 points compared to the global average of 488. At the same time, within Ukraine’s overall score, reading scored 544 points and speaking scored 477. The country looks decent in the table but is noticeably weaker in the skill that recruiters hear first.
This explains a familiar scenario. A candidate reads documentation, corresponds with clients, and honestly lists B2 on their resume. At the interview, they’re asked a simple “Tell me about a difficult decision” and start crafting their answer as if they were taking a written exam. They have a thought. They have enough words, too. The sentence finally comes out after the room has already become awkward.
The index is useful for comparing large groups. But EF itself warns: the data comes from people who voluntarily take online tests, so the sample isn’t representative of the country’s entire population. It’s a barometer of a specific audience. It’s not a census of every adult.
Another pitfall lies in the average score. It combines reading, listening, writing, and speaking into a single score. This is convenient for a country. For a job opening, it’s almost useless. An analyst might be brilliant at reading reports but slow at explaining conclusions. A sales manager might be good at keeping a conversation going but overlook the details of a contract. An identical overall score does not make them interchangeable.
It is precisely this gap in skills that explains why the score isn’t mentioned in a job interview. A job interview tests the ability to speak quickly under pressure, to elaborate on an example, to ask for clarification when a question is unclear, and to stay on track after being interrupted. No country’s ranking in the table will perform these tasks for a candidate.
In the My English by Business Language summary, national self-assessment is presented alongside the EF EPI profile. This combination is important: 43.8% of adults in the 2023 Razumkov Center study said they knew no English at all, while the international index reflects motivated participants in online testing. Both figures are accurate within their own contexts. They cannot be combined into a single portrait of the “average Ukrainian.”
For a candidate, a brief written response to a real job-related question is more useful than yet another generic test. Listen to yourself and note three things: where your train of thought stalled, where a word was accurate but came too late, and where your example fell apart due to a lack of structure. That’s already a working profile. The letter next to your name will say less.
A failed interview also doesn’t always mean a person needs a language course. The reason could be a weak professional example, lack of product knowledge, anxiety, or a confusing question from the recruiter. A language course won’t fix any of these.
Before your next interview, don’t try to “brush up on your English” in one evening. Record a single answer about a difficult decision and remove everything from it that doesn’t help explain your choice. That’s exactly what the recruiter will hear once the rating is left at the door.
My English by Business Language
