Talking about jobs and work

Talking about jobs and work

Office jobs

• Office jobs
• Many people work in an office. You can say you’re an “office worker”, or give the title of your job: a receptionist, an accountant, etc.
• Outdoor jobs
• There are also outdoor jobs. A farmer grows food, or looks after animals. A builder builds houses, and a postman delivers letters to your house.

Other places you can work

• Other places you can work
• I work…
• … in a factory … in a school … in a hospital … in an office block (a building where there are only offices) … on a farm … on a building site (where you are building houses or office blocks) … from home (“I work from home” = you have an office in your house)

Remember: when you say your job, use ‘a’ or ‘an’.

• Remember: when you say your job, use ‘a’ or ‘an’.
• “He’s a barman.” “He’s an actor.”
• You can also say “I work as a doctor / as an actor etc”.

Talking about the type of job

• Talking about the type of job
• If you don’t know the title of your job, you can talk about your industry or type of job.
• For example, “I work in … (industry / type of job)

Some typical industries:

• Some typical industries:
• publishing (creating books) education (teaching) construction (building houses) engineering (wide range, from building bridges to electronics) manufacturing (making things) banking (working in a bank) finance (money, investments) law retail (shops, etc) healthcare (doctors, etc) leisure (sports centres, etc)

For example:

• For example:
• Sonia works in finance. He works in publishing.

Some typical types of job

• Some typical types of job
• marketing sales IT logistics HR management consultancy
• For example:
• I’d like to work in IT. His dream is to work in management.

“I work for … (a person).” “My boss / manager is …”

• “I work for … (a person).” “My boss / manager is …”
• The people you work with are your colleagues (or “co-workers”).
• “We work in the …. department.”
• Your employer is the person (or company) who gave you the job. The person or people who work for the employer are the employees. (The word stress is on the final syllable: em – ploy – ee.)
• You can work in a team (with other people) or on your own. “I work on my own in a small office.”

Talking about how you work

• Talking about how you work
• full-time (for example, 5 days a week, from 9 to 5) part-time (for example, 2 days a week, or mornings / afternoons only) flexi-time (for example, from 10 – 6) in shifts (for example, only the morning, afternoon, evening or night)