BUSINESS ENGLISH TALKING ABOUT WORK AND JOBS

A.      What do you do?

To find out what someone’s job is you say ‘What do you do?’ Here, Kerstin talks about her job:

‘I work for a large European car maker. I work on car design. In fact, I run the design department and I manage a team of designers; 20 people work under me. It’s very interesting. One of main responsibilities is to make sure that new model designs are finished on time. I’m also in charge of design budgets.

I deal with a lot of different people in the company. I’m responsible for co – ordination between design and production. I work with managers at our manufacturing plants.’

Note:

In charge of   + noun/ verb + ing

Responsible for + noun/ verb+ ing

Responsibility + infinitive or –ing

Example:

1.               One of my responsibilities is to make sure ………

2.               One of my responsibilities is making sure ……….

B.      Word combinations with “work”

if you work or have work, you have a job. But you don’t say that someone has a work. Work is also a place where you do your job

Here are some phrases with “work”

Hi, I’m Frank. I work in a bank in New York City. I leave for work at 7.30 every morning. I go to work by train and subway. I get to / arrive at work at about nine. I am usually at work till six. Luckily, I don’t get ill very much so I’m not often off work.

The economy is growing fast and more people are in work than ever before. The percentage of people out of work has fallen to its lowest level for 30 years.

You don’t say, for example, I’m at the work or I’m going to the work

C.      Types of job and types of work

A full-time job is for the whole of the normal working week; a part-time job is for less time than that.

You say that someone works full-time or part-time.

A permanent job does not finish after a fixed period; a temporary job finishes after a fixed period. You talk about temporary work and permanent work.

Exercises

Pierre is talking about his work. Correct what he says.

I work for a French supermarket company. (1) I work about the development of new supermarkets. (2) in fact, I running the development department and (3) I am manage for a team looking at thhe possibilities in different countries. It’s very interesting. (4) one of my main is to make sure that new supermarkets open on time. (5) I’m also charged with financial reporting. (6) I deal at a lot of different organizations in my work. (7) I’m responsible of planning projects from start to finish. (8) I work closely near our foreign partners, and so I travel a lot.

Complete the text with one of the best prepositions available in the passage above

Rebecca lives in London and works in public relations. She leaves home for work at 7.30 am. She drives ________ work. The traffic is of ten bad and she worries about getting _______ work late, but she usually arrives ______work at around nine. She finishes work quite late, at bout eight. ‘Luckily, I’m never ill’, she says. ‘I could never take the time ______ work.’ She loves what she does and is glad to be ________ rowk. Some of her friends are not so lucky; they are _____ work.

ANSWER KEY

I work for a French supermarket company. I work on the development of new supermarkets. In fact, I run the development department and I manage a team looking at the possibilities in different countries. It’s very interesting. One of my main responsibilities is to make sure that new supermarkets open on time, I am also in charge of financial reporting.

I deal with a lot of different organizations in my work. I’m responsible for planning projects from start to finish. I work closely with our foreign partners, so I travel a lot.

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