Unit 1.

Work and jobs

Unit 2. Ways of working
Nine-to-five: used in reference to typical hours of work in an office, often to express an idea of
routine or predictability
Working hours
Clock in/out (UK also clock on/off): to record the time you arrive at/leave work on a special
machine
After hours: If you do something after hours, you do it outside normal business hours or the time
when you are usually at work
Day shift/night shift
(Work) round the clock: work all day and all night (to get work done)
Teleworking/telecommuting: working from home
Telecentre: a public building with computers, etc. that people can use as an office instead of
travelling long distances to work
COB (close of business): the end of the working day or the business day, especially on a
financial market
EOB (end of business): the end of the working day or the business day
Zero-hour contract: a term used to describe a type of employment contract between an
employer and an employee whereby the employer is not obliged to provide any minimum number
of working hours to the employee.

Unit 3. Recruitment and selection

Headhunt: to persuade someone to leave their job by offering that person another job with more
pay and a higher position => headhunter, headhunting
Application form
Situations vacant: the part of a newspaper in which jobs are listed
Situation/post/position: fml words used in job advertisements and applications
Background
Educational qualifications
Letters of application/covering letter
Psychometric tests: are used to measure an individual's' mental capabilities and behaviour.
They are designed to show your overall suitability for a particular role based on how you perform.
They show your personality characteristics and aptitude/cognitive ability.
In-house (adj/adv): Something that is done in-house is done within an organization or business
by its employees rather than by other people
Ex: (1) an in-house training scheme/course. (2) All our advertising material is designed in-
house.
 Unit 4. Skills and qualifications
Highly skilled/skilled/semi-skilled
Adept (at): very skilled or proficient at something >< inept (at): not skilled or effective
Companies look for people who are:
- self-starters, proactive, self-motivated, self-driven: good at working on their own
- methodical, systematic, (well) organized: can work in a planned, orderly way
- computer-literate: good with numbers
- numberate: good with numbers
- motivated: very keen to do well in their job
- team players/people people: those who work well with other people
- forward-looking (thinking), progressive: favoring innovation and development
- inquisitive: eager, willing to learn
- innovative, creative: introducing new ideas; original and creative in thinking
- dynamic, enthusiastic: positive in attitude and full of energy and new ideas
- well versed, well-informed, knowledgeable: knowing a lot about something
- well-spoken, articulate: speaking in an educated and refined manner

Unit 5. Pay and benefits

Perk: an advantage or something extra, such as money or goods, that you are given because of
your job
Salary, wage
Compensation, remuneration: formal words used to talk about pay and benefits (US:
compensation package, remuneration package)
Tip (v/n): to give someone who has provided you with a service an extra amount of money to
thank them; a bonus
Performance-related bonuses
Commission: a payment to someone who sells goods that is directly related to the amount sold,
or a system that uses such payments
Pension: an amount of money paid regularly by the government or a private company to a person
who does not work any more because they are too old or have become ill
Benefits package: things such as medical insurance that employees receive in addition to money
Fringe benefit: an extra benefit supplementing an employee's salary, for example, a company
car, subsidized meals, health insurance, etc.
Commensurate with = in proportion with (a salary that is commensurate with skills and
experience)
Professional opportunities and career growth
Share/stock: one of the equal parts that the ownership of a company is divided into, and that can
be bought by members of the public
Share options (BrE)/stock options (AmE): the right to buy the company’s shares at low price

Unit 6. People and workplaces

Payroll: (HR) a list of the employees of a company showing how much each one earns
Payroll: (HR, Economics) the total number of people employed by a company, or in an
economy
Payroll: (Accounting) the total amount of money paid to the employees of a particular company
A company’s activities may be spread over different sites
Head office/ Headquarters (HQ): a place from which an organization or a military operation
is controlled; the people who work there
Open-plan (office): An open-plan room or building has few or no walls inside, so it is not
divided into smaller rooms
Senior: high or higher in rank; older and more experienced than the other members of a team
Junior: someone who has a job at a low level within an organization
Technical support
Administraion (infmlly admin) is the everyday work supporting a company’s activities (the
arrangements and tasks needed to control the operation of a plan or organization) which is often
done by an administrator or administrative staff/assistant or support staff.
Administer = Administrate
Trade union (BrE) or Labor union (AmE) is an organization formed by workers in a
particular trade, industry, or company for the sake of protecting their rights, improving or
discussing their pay, benefits, and working conditions with employers.
When workers are not happy with pay or conditions, they may take industrial action:
- a strike, stoppage or walk-out: workers stop working for a time.
- a go-slow: workers continue to work, but more slowly than usual.
- an overtime ban: workers refuse to work more than the normal number of hours
In larger organizations there is a human resources department (HRD) that deals with pay,
recruitment, etc. This area is called human resources (HR) or human resource
management (HRM). Another name for this department is the personnel department

Unit 7. The career ladder

Work until reaching retirement: to work until peopl retire, or end their working life
Take early retirement, Retirement age
Career paths
Work your way up the career ladder: to work hard to get promotion
Demote = relegate: to lower someone or something in rank or position
Promote = advance = raise: to raise someone to a higher or more important position or rank
Elevate (fml): to raise sth or lift sth up; to make sb or sth more important or to improve sth
Be elevated to something (fml): to be given a higher rank or social position (Ex: Although
young, she was elevated to the peerage thanks to her talent, dedication and hard work)
Resign = hand in your notice: to give up a job or position by telling your employer that you are
leaving
Resign yourself to something: to make yourself accept something that you do not like because
you cannot change it (We resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to lose the game.)