[Music]
hey there I'm Emma
from English in this lesson we're going
to get down to business knowing some of
the idioms used in a professional
context is going to help you to sound
more relaxed and natural in the
workplace and of course help you to
understand what the heck everyone else
is talking about
so today I've got five useful idioms for
you that are commonly used in a
professional context a business context
and that means they're perfect and
fantastic to use in an interview as well
so stay tuned now I always tell my
students one of the best ways to learn
and remember English idioms is to link
them to a memory or an experience in
your life that way when you think about
the idiom or you hear it somewhere you
connect it with the personal moment in
your life and experience and when you
think about the experience it helps you
to think about the idiom as well now you
don't have to learn and remember every
idiom in English but you should learn
some common ones that you can actually
use to talk about your life I'm going to
tell you a story my first job out of
university was with a huge corporate
company I was an intern I thought it was
gonna be photocopying and stapling and
getting cups of tea for my boss but at
the time that I started my department
was really understaffed they just didn't
have enough people to manage the
workload so I really got thrown in the
deep end within weeks of starting I was
writing reports and I was making
presentations to the management team
which was kind of cool but a bit scary
so in this idiom the deep end is
referring to the deepest part of a
swimming pool where often your feet
can't touch the ground so if someone
throws you or pushes you into the pool
that's a bit of a shock isn't it you
can't feel the ground so you're thrown
in the deep end when you're put into a
new or a difficult situation without any
preparation and this often happens in
the workplace doesn't it
Sarah's been so stressed lately she
started a new job last month but they've
really thrown her in the deep end I'm
not afraid of being thrown in the deep
end I think it's the best way to learn
now I don't want to throw you in the
deep end on your first day but do you
think you could make a presentation to
the CEO by the end of the week a similar
idiom is to be out of one's depth and it
has a similar meaning because it's an
uncomfortable place again thinking about
the deep end of your swimming pool your
feet can't touch the ground and you have
to swim to keep yourself alive right my
brother loves the company that he works
for but he feels a little out of his
depth in the finance team now when you
start a new job maybe a new role or a
position in your company or you start
working for a new company it usually
takes some time to learn the ropes so
this means to learn the basic tasks that
allow you to do your job well and
efficiently you know like how to use the
photocopier how to use the company's
email system who to call if your
computer won't start
who you report to and which meetings you
need to attend all of the simple things
that take a week or two to get used to
when you start a new job how's the new
job it's going well I'm still learning
the ropes but my colleagues are really
great you'll also hear people say I'll
show you the ropes which means that
they'll show you how things are done the
standard normal way that things are done
so note that if a person has been
working at their job for over a month
this idiom isn't really relevant anymore
because they've already learnt the basic
tasks they need to do their job
now once you've had your job for a while
it might be time to focus on climbing
the corporate ladder so this idiom talks
about the progression of roles through a
career starting with an entry-level job
an internship or a position straight out
of university but over the years you get
promotions you switch companies you
become known in your industry your you
work your way up to better and better
opportunities you get paid more you have
more responsibilities you'll be a
manager and then one day maybe even the
CEO so this progression is called
climbing the corporate ladder tim
climbed the corporate ladder quickly he
became a partner at the company by the
time he was 26 but James has never been
interested in climbing the corporate
ladder I feel inspired by women who
climb the corporate ladder and raise a
family at the same time amazing people
who think outside the box are usually
pretty valuable employees because they
think creatively and they solve problems
in non-standard ways so they think
outside or beyond the normal or standard
way of thinking which often leads to
really interesting creative solutions to
problems we need to think outside the
box and find a different solution
Steve's probably the most creative guy
on the team he's always thinking outside
the box now in Australia you'll often
hear this expression as thinking outside
the square it's the same thing a you the
type of person who thinks outside the
square last one a steep learning curve
now this is a brilliant idiom to use
during a job interview so was the last
one actually but this one is a brilliant
idiom to use during an interview or a
speaking exam so use it when you're
reflecting or thinking about some of the
challenges that you've overcome in the
past so it could be relating to work or
even life experiences so it's used when
someone has to learn something really
quickly usually just by giving it a shot
by doing their best and then learning
from their mistakes
so using this idiom to describe an
experience that you've had helps to show
that you're not afraid of hard work
or challenges and that you're willing to
build new skills and overcome problems
so it's a really handy one to have for
many international students studying in
an english-speaking country can be a
steep learning curve going from employee
to business owner was a really steep
learning curve for me it's still steep
actually I'm only about here so that's
it
six new business idioms for you I'm sure
that you can think of some others as
well that relate to jobs and business so
if you can pop them in the comments
below and share them with everyone and
of course I always always love to see
you actually using the English that I
teach you so take a moment right now to
write a sentence using one of the idioms
that you've learned today and add it to
the comments I'll check it for you but
you'll also get to see how the idioms
are being used in lots of different
examples from all of your peers once you
do that then come over here keep
practicing with me try out this lesson
here or maybe even that one make sure
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