- And this reminds me of a joke where a guy
goes to an interview, and the interviewer asks,
"What's your greatest weakness?"
And he says, "I'm too honest."
The interviewer looks confused and says,
"Well that's not a weakness."
And then the guy says...
(energetic music)
Hi, this is Jack from To Fluency and welcome to this lesson
where you're going to learn
many, many English phrases
related to jobs and work.
We're going to get specific on things
like gossip in the office, taking time off,
to be fired or to be laid off, what questions people ask
at interviews, and how to talk about your job, in general.
To help you with this,
I have left the phrases in the description,
which I think you're going to find really useful,
and like always, I have added subtitles
so you can turn those on if you prefer.
And I've also left some similar lessons
in the description, too.
So without further ado, let's get started.
Let's start with the most common question here,
and it's this.
"What do you do"? "What do you do"?
Now this is focused on work. "What do you do"?
You might hear people say things like, "I'm a teacher,"
or "I'm an attorney," or "I'm a student,"
or "I currently go to university."
You can also ask the question,
"Do you know what Robert does?"
"I have no idea what he does. Do you know what he does"?
"Yeah, I think he works in marketing."
"I think he works in marketing."
Or if you're talking about two people,
"They both work in healthcare."
To say, "I'm a housewife," it's a little bit outdated now,
but you'll hear people say, "I'm a stay-at-home mum,"
or "I'm a stay-at-home dad."
So to be a stay-at-home dad, for example,
is where the dad stays at home and looks after the children,
and usually this happens while his wife goes out to work.
So you can be a stay-at-home mum or a stay at home dad.
Now, if you don't have a job,
you can say, "I'm currently unemployed."
"I'm currently unemployed,"
or "I'm between jobs at the moment."
"I'm between jobs at the moment."
Now when people ask me, "What do you do?"
so it's a little bit confusing.
But at the moment I say, "I create educational content.
"I have my own business and I create educational content."
So in my case, I have my own business.
If I just say that, then people will ask more questions.
And then, usually, people do ask a lot of questions
because what I do is quite unique.
Now, sometimes a company is going to reduce their workforce,
and there are two main ways to do this.
You can lay people off or you can fire people.
So there's a difference
between I was laid off and I was fired.
To be laid off is when the company
needs to reduce their workforce, so they lay people off.
And in the UK, you can also say "to be made redundant".
For example, "I was made redundant last month."
"Unfortunately, I was made redundant last month."
But if someone is sacked or fired,
then this means that they have done something wrong,
or their performance at work
isn't good enough to continue working there.
Now here's a true story.
I was sacked from my paper round when I was 13,
and the reason was because I was sick the week before,
so I couldn't do my paper round.
And then, the post office, where it was,
they hired someone else to do the paper round for me,
and they preferred that person.
So I was sacked from my paper round when I was 13.
Let's talk about the timing of jobs and when people work.
So the phrase here is to start at and to finish at.
For example, he starts work at five o'clock
in the morning on Mondays.
He has to go, apparently because he starts work
at five o'clock in the morning on Mondays.
Now you can ask the question,
"When do you finish work today?"
Or you might hear people say,
"What time do you get off today?"
"What time do you get off today"?
- Now listen to this mini conversation.
"I've got a few meetings tomorrow, so I'll be back later."
"Can you cancel them"? "No."
So to be back late means to return from work late.
I'll be back late tomorrow.
Personally, I prefer to work first thing in the morning.
So I like to wake up, have a little cup of coffee,
have some water, and then open my laptop and start working.
What about you? What time would you ideally start work?
I love my job because now we're gonna talk
about people's opinions about their job.
So I love my job means I love my job.
You might hear people say,
"Oh, I hate my job at the moment."
"I hate my job at the moment."
Or "My job's all right." "My job's all right."
And we can use conditionals here too because you can say,
"I would love my job if I had a better boss,"
or "If I had a better boss, I would love my job."
Holidays and vacations also play a big role here.
So you might hear people say,
"I'd love my job if I had a bit more time off."
"I'd live my job if I had a bit more time off."
Now speaking of time off, let's talk about this now
because it varies by country, and time off
means holidays or vacations where you don't go to work.
Now in the UK, employees are entitled
to 28 paid vacation days, in addition
to the eight bank holidays, and a bank holiday
is when the nation celebrates a special day,
for example, Christmas and my favorite day, Boxing Day.
Now, do you know which country
has the most paid vacation days?
I'll give you the answer in three, two, one. Kuwait.
Kuwait has 35 paid vacation days
and 13 bank holidays.
In the U.S., there's no mandatory paid vacation leave,
but most companies offer 10 days paid vacation,
if you are full time.
If you're part time, it can be difficult
to get those paid vacations.
A question you can ask here, especially to your husband
or wife, girlfriend/boyfriend, is
"Can you request Monday off?
"We need to do a few things on Monday."
"Can you request Monday off"?
which means can you ask to not work on Monday?
When I worked in the UK, I used to make sure
that I got my paid holidays in early, which means
that I requested to have certain days off work
because I had things like the Leeds Festival,
holidays with my friends,
and I also went to the World Cup in 2006.
Let's now talk about looking for new jobs
and also interviews and CVs.
If someone is trying to find a new job,
you'll hear them say, "I'm looking for work at the moment,"
or "I'm looking for a new job right now."
And when you find a job that you like, when you find a job
that you think, "Okay, this might be good for me,"
then the next thing to do is to apply for the job.
"I've applied for so many jobs,
"but no one has hired me yet."
"I have applied for so many jobs,
"but no one has hired me yet."
And "Should I apply for this job?
"Do you think I'll get it"?
"Should I apply for this job?
"Do you think I'll get it"?
And to get a job, in this case, means that they hire you.
Now when applying for a job in the U.S.,
you're sending your resume, which is your summary
of your work experience and your education.
But in the UK, you send in your CV.
- Curriculum vitae.
- And if the company likes you and they think,
"Oh, maybe this person is going to be a good fit
"for the job," to be a good fit, which means
this person's going to suit this job and do a good job,
then the next stage is where people get nervous.
And it's the interview. Here are some examples.
"I've got an interview for that job on Monday."
And "I'm a little bit nervous about this interview.
"Can you help me prepare"?
"I'm a little bit nervous about this interview.
"Can you help me prepare"?
Now there's some common questions when you go
to an interview, and one of them is just,
well, it's more of a statement, is
"Tell me about yourself."
And then, we have, "What is your greatest strength
"and what is your greatest weakness"?
Now here, a lot of people say things like,
"My greatest weakness is that I work too hard,"
or "I am too loyal."
And this reminds me of a joke where a guy
goes to an interview, and the interviewer asks,
"What's your greatest weakness?"
And he says, "I'm too honest."
And interviewer looks confused and says,
"Well that's not a weakness."
And then the guy says, "I don't care what you think."
More questions the person might ask you is
"What do you know about this company?"
because they want to see if you've done any research
and if you're really interested in that company.
"Well what do you know about the company"?
And "Do you have any questions about the job"?
"Do you have any questions about the job"?
Before talking about gossip, which I love, and idioms,
let's talk about the present perfect
and the present perfect continuous.
Because you can say both, "I've worked here since 2011,"
and "I've been working here since 2011,"
and they both mean the same thing.
They both have the same meaning.
Another example of the present perfect continuous
you might hear at the office, is
"I've been trying to reach Paul for a few days,
"but I can't get through to him."
"I've been trying to reach Paul for a few days,
"but I can't get through to him."
And something that people said
in the office where I used to work.
"You haven't brewed up for ages."
"You haven't brewed up for ages,"
which means you haven't made tea
for everybody for a long time.
(screen whooshes)
Ooh, let's talk about gossip now.
Here are some phrases you might hear at the office.
"Did you, uh, did you hear about Shannon in HR?
"She's, you know."
"Hey, got some gossip.
"Dave's gonna get fired." "I'm Dave."
Let's talk through some idioms now.
To be swamped. To be swamped.
To be swamped means that you're super busy
and you have a lot of work to do.
So you might hear people say, "I'm swamped at the moment.
"I can't do a new proposal."
"I'm swamped at the moment."
Game changer.
This is a game changer,
which means this is something significant
that's gonna make a big difference to sales
or whatever it is you're introducing.
So you might say, "This new app that we're gonna build
"will be a game changer."
And to think outside the box. To think outside the box.
This means to explore ideas that are creative and unusual.
A manager might say, "Come on, everybody.
"We need to start thinking outside the box."
Okay, so those are the phrases
that I think are really useful
when it comes to jobs and work, and like I said before,
in the description I'll have a link to similar lessons,
including a conversation my wife and I had about jobs.
So you can hear a more natural conversation
where we talk about jobs in the past, dream jobs,
and what we would like to do in the future.
And if you have enjoyed this,
then please like and share it.
Just copy the link or click the share button
and send it to a friend on WhatsApp, on Messenger
or whichever platform you use.
And while you're here, then click on a video on your screen
so you can watch more lessons with me.
Okay, I will speak to you soon. Bye-bye.
(upbeat music)
♪ Oh oh oh ♪