English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 36: Talking about your work
Alexander Carpenter works 1 sales, and he’s a regional manager. He 2_____ the north-west region and he’s 3_____ for a small team of five other sales people. His job 4_____ a lot of travelling within the region, and he’s in contact with his team on a day-to-5_____ basis. It’s not a nine-to-6_____ job: Alexander has to do a lot of 7_____. Fortunately he can 8_____ a lot more money by doing this, and his working 9_____ are quite good. After income 10_____ he makes £60,000 11_____ year. Recently his wife had a baby, but the company gave him extra time 12_____ to be with her after the birth.
Kelly Bradbury is a financial adviser for a bank. She specialises in mortgages, which means that she 13_____ people who want to buy a flat or a house. At the moment Kelly spends a lot of her time 14_____ with young people who are trying to buy a property for the first time, which is not easy. She works 15_____ hours – 9 am to 5 pm – and she doesn’t have to 16_____ overtime.
Answer the questions about working conditions in your country. If possible, compare your answers with someone else.
People can ask what job you do in different ways; you can answer in different ways.
A: What do you do?
B: I work in sales / marketing / a bank, etc.
A: What do you do for a living?
B: I’m a doctor / hairdresser, etc.
A: What’s your job?
B: I work for Union Bank / Fiat / Sony, etc.
James and Emma are business consultants [people who help others in a particular area]. They advise people who want to set up [start] a business, especially in health and fitness. James deals with the marketing [does the work in marketing; syn handle], while Emma is responsible for [in control of; syn in charge of] products [things that people make/produce] such as towels, equipment, beauty products, etc.
I have a lot of work to do. (NOT I have a lot of works to do.)
She advises me. (NOT She advices me.) BUT She gives me advice. (NOT She gives me advise.)
My job involves a lot of travel. OR My job involves travelling. (NOT My job involves to travel.)
Amy is a manager in a veterinary surgery. She runs [organises or controls] the day-to-day [happening every day] business of the surgery and is in charge of a small team: three receptionists, an accounts manager and a secretary. Her work involves a lot of admin [short for administration] such as buying food, medicine and equipment; she also handles any complaints that customers make. [when customers complain / say that something is wrong or is not satisfactory]
* What do you have to do exactly?
Most workers are paid [receive money] every month; this is called a salary. Your income is the total amount of money you receive in a year. This might be money from one job; it might be money from two jobs. We can express this in different ways:
My income is about £25,000. OR I earn/make about £25,000 a year [every year]. Some of that income you can keep, but some goes to the government; in the UK this is called income tax, e.g. I lose 20% of my income in income tax.
A salary is money paid to professional people, e.g. doctors or teachers, and to office workers for the work they do, and is usually paid into a person’s bank account every month. Wages are usually paid for each hour/day/week of work to people who do more physical jobs, e.g. building or cleaning.
Most people work fixed hours [always the same], e.g. 9 am to 5.30 pm. We often call this a nine-to-five job. Other people have to do/work overtime [work extra hours]. Some people get paid for overtime; others don’t. Some people have good working conditions, e.g. nice offices, paid holidays, extra time off [not at work] for a new mother and father when a baby is born, etc. There is also a minimum wage [an amount of money workers receive, and employers cannot pay less than this].
* the situation in which people work or live
The words you need to communicate with confidence. Vocabulary explanations and practice for elementary level (A2) learners of English. Perfect for both self-study and classroom activities. Quickly expand your vocabulary with 60 units of easy to understand explanations and practice exercises.
The words you need to communicate with confidence. Vocabulary explanations and practice for Upper-intermediate level (B2) learners of English. Perfect for both self-study and classroom activities. Quickly expand your vocabulary with over 100 units of easy to understand explanations and practice exercises.
The words you need to communicate with confidence. Vocabulary explanations and practice for advanced level (C1 to C2) learners of English. Perfect for both self-study and classroom activities. Quickly expand your vocabulary with over 100 units of easy to understand explanations and practice exercises.