English for Specific Purposes for technologists

Employment and interview

BASIC EMPLOYMENT

Employment. Job hunting

Learn the active vocabulary of the Lesson and be ready to use it in your further work:

Job hunting – пошук роботи;

turning point – зворотній пункт/момент;

regardless – не залежно від;

voluntarily adv – добровільно, за власним бажанням;

resume n – резюме;

take into account (took, taken) – брати до уваги;

consider v – розглядати, обговорювати; вважати;

skills n – навички;

put your skills and talents to their best use –

використовувати свої вміння найкращим чином;

weed out v – очистити;

responsibility adv – відповідати (за щось);

pleasure n – задоволення;

temphasize v – надавати особливого значення;

truly adv – правдиво, безперечно;

enjoy v – любити (про справу);

gather v – збиратись;

draw on (drew, drawn) v – викликати (діяти);

slant v – ухилятись;

involve v – затягувати;

commit v – здійснювати;

accomplishment n – виконання;

hinder v – заважати, робити перепони;

accept v – приймати до уваги.

Read and translate the text:

JOB HUNTING

Job hunting is a turning point in your life, regardless of whether or not you are doing it voluntarily. Getting ready to write your resume is the stage when you take into account who you are and where you hope to go. The most important step in writing your resume is the preparation. In the planning stage, you carefully consider what new directions you can take or how you can put your skills and talents to their best use. It is time to weed out those job responsibilities in which you take little pleasure and to think of ways to emphasize the tasks you truly enjoy. It is also a time to gather enough basic material about yourself so that you can draw on the information to write any number of resumes slanted to various job possibilities.

The first step in the self-analysis and preparing your resume involves the gathering of facts. Although much of this information may seem too elementary to write down, committing it to paper makes you think about your accomplishments, as well as your strengths and weaknesses, and how they will help or hinder you on any job you accept.

Such soul-searching is not pure self-indulgence. It will help you sort out the kind of job you want and the kind of job you might best avoid, either because you will not be happy doing it or because you won' t do it especially well.

The work sheet of your resume should combine a mixture of questions: some will uncover basic facts about yourself; others will help you to think about your job needs, wants, and capacities.

Several of the questions will never make it to the final form of your resume. They are important, however, because they will contribute to the tone and attitude of your resume.

Think carefully before you answer these questions and create your resume. Make your answers as honest as possible. This work sheet is your personal property, and no one else needs ever see what you have written.

The appearance of your resume is enormously important. It depends in large part upon the type of resume that you write. How your resume looks depends, to some extent, on the kind of resume you write.

GRAMMAR EXERCISES

I. Answer the following questions: 

1. Why is job hunting a turning point in your life? Explain your answer.

2. What is the most important step in writing a resume?

3. What is the planning stage of writing your resume?

4. What is the first step in the self-analysis and preparing your resume?

5. What questions should the work sheet of your resume combine?

6. Why does no one need else ever see what you have written?

7. Why is the appearance of our resume enormously important? What do you think? 

II. Read the questions and check the meaning of the words in bold:

1. Do your parents have 9 to 5 job or they work flexitime?

2. Do students take a gap year before going to University when they finish school?

3. Do your parents often work overtime?

4. Is their job rewarding? What are its challenges?

5. Are there many unemployed people in your country?

6. Would you like to work for a company or be self-employed? Why?

7. Do you have any work experience?

8. What qualifications do you need for your future job?

9. What age do people retire in your country?

III. Read the text below and choose the best option from: A, B, C, or D:

YOUNG PEOPLE AND EMPLOYMENT

Very often young people get their first work 1) ... at school. There are various jobs 2) ... for them: animal caretakers, waiters, shop assistants etc. Usually this is a 3) ... or part-time job during their school holidays or at weekends. It is a good way to 4) ... some  money and maybe gain some useful 5) ... . Although it’s tempting to spend your holiday time working and earning money, it’s not a good idea to forget about your education.

Most young people get a job when they finish their education. And they need to begin thinking about 6) ... choices in secondary school. Nowadays 7) ... are looking for quite a lot in their potential employees. They should have 8) ... , an impressive CV and preferably have some relevant work experience. In general, jobs that 9) ... university qualifications are usually better paid. Some people stay with the same company for their entire career; others move around to different jobs with a range of companies. If you stay with the same company for a long time you may have better chances to get a/an 10) ... .

IV. Match the words to their definitions:

V. Complete the text with the given words:

Nowadays in many countries around the world there is not enough _________ for every-body and many people are looking for a _________. If they are lucky enough to find one it is often___________ (only a few hours a day) not full time, or it is a _______________ job (only for a few months) not a permanent one. Many jobs involve working long ___________ and often the working ___________ (e.g. salary, holidays) are not good. To get a good job, it’s important to have __________ (e.g. a university degree) and some __________.

VI. Fill in the gaps with the adjectives:

1. If you want to work in advertising you have to be very ... .

2. Industrial computers can do ... and time-consuming jobs faster and more efficiently than people.

3. This week was very ... for our staff as we had to complete the project before the deadline.

4. Teaching is not very financially ... job as they do not get paid a lot.

5. Being a firefighter is very ... job as they always have to work in dangerous situations.

VII. When we speak about work we often use such words employment, job, occupation, profession, trade. They are synonyms but there is a difference between them. Read the explanation for these words:

VIII. Fill in the sentences with the following words:

1. Dave is looking for a ... . The restaurant where he worked closed down.

2. I had to fill out a form with my name, age, address, educational background and my ... .

3. She is a nurse by ... . But she works as a shop assistant.

4. I signed a contract of ... with a new company.

5. Although he is a gardener by ... , he decided to look for a ... as a taxi driver.

6. The ... rate for those who finished a course in this ... is not very high.

7. She has always wanted to be an interpreter and now she is the best in her ... .

IX. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Працівники, які працюють в нічну зміну, отримують вищу зарплатню. 2. Коли Майк був студентом він працював неповний робочий день, щоб оплатити навчання в коледжі. 3. Багато українців їде на роботу закордон. Зазвичай це тимчасова робота, однак вона дає гарний заробіток. 4. Він часто запізнювався на роботу і не виконував свої обов’язки належним чином, тому його звільнили. 5. Після того, як він запропонував нові способи збільшення прибутків компанії, він отримав підвищення на посаді. 6. Вона не задоволена своєю новою роботою, оскільки їй часто доводиться працювати надурочно. 7. В європейських країнах учні часто беруть “рік відпочинку” перед тим, як посуплять до університету.

X. Discuss the following questions and read the text:

1. Have you chosen your future profession? What is it?

2. Which factors influence your choice of future profession (if necessary add your ideas):

• high salary

• helping other people

• opportunity to travel

• fame

10 TOP PRESTIGIOUS JOBS IN THE US

The Harris Poll is one of the oldest and most popular poll agencies in the world. For almost 50 years it has analyzed every aspect of American life. Since 1977 it has been asking Americans about how prestigious they find various jobs.

Clearly, everyone has their own definition of prestige. But how do Americans define prestigious work? A quick glance at the latest poll results suggests that it requires a high level of education or a high level of public service.

According to the poll, for 88 per cent of respondents doctors have ‘a great deal of’ prestige. As Niall McCarthy from Statista says “Doctor is number 1 in the US due to financial aspects, as well as social reasons. They are intelligent, high-earning professionals who help other people a lot. In many situations they are seen as heroes”. Other prestigious jobs among the top 10 include military officer, firefighter, police officer, and nurse.

As we can see not many Americans associate prestige with fame or big money – actors (55%), politician (52%), bankers (38%) and real estate agents (27%) are very low on this list.

It’s interesting but if we ask parents which jobs they would encourage their children to choose, the figures are a bit different. In this case, engineers top the list (93%) with doctors, scientists, nurses and architects coming next. Many parents would also encourage their children to become teachers (81%), accountants (78%), firefighters (77%), business executives (74%), lawyers (69%), and military officers (65%). It seems that ‘most prestigious’ is not always exactly the same as ‘most employable’.

XI. For beginnings 1-6 choose the correct ending A-I. There are three options you do not need to use:

XII. Do your own survey to define the most prestigious jobs in your country:

— Ask your parents and at least ten friends to name the 5 top prestigious jobs in your country. Present the results of your poll in the class.

— Did your respondents name any profession from the 10 Top American Prestigious Jobs?