LISTENING

1 Listen to five people talking about relatives or friends. Match the speakers (1–5)
to the characteristic each person associates their person / people with (A–H).
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Speaker 3
Speaker 4
Speaker 5

A being very resourceful

B having to do things to the letter
C being spontaneous
D being sensitive and moody
E being patient
F being conscientious and assertive
G being very bossy
H being self-sufficient
5

2 Listen to an interview with an AI expert about jobs and personality types.

Tick (
) A, B, or C.
1 Martin says that asking job-seekers to fill out surveys ________.
A provides the most accurate assessment of their personality traits
B could transform their employment opportunities
C does not provide specific enough results for the changing jobs market

2 According to Martin, when people conduct any activity online, they ________.
A risk their personal security
B reveal clues about their personality
C practise skills that will be useful in future jobs

3 Martin’s study showed that people who practise sports ________.

A dislike repetitious tasks
B tend to have good organizational skills
C are more capable of thinking in abstract terms

4 According to Martin, the Vocation Map ________.

A became popular surprisingly quickly
B turned out completely different from what they had predicted
C revealed some results they couldn’t have predicted

5 Regarding the Vocation Compass, Martin admits that ________.

A it isn’t completely accurate
B the technology is not yet sophisticated enough
C he hasn’t dared to try it for himself yet
5

Listening total 10
KEY

1 Speaker 1: F
Speaker 2: H
Speaker 3: A
Speaker 4: B
Speaker 5: C

2 1 C
2 B
3 B
4 C
5 A
Listening 1

Speaker 1 This my grandfather, Wilson, whose family lived on the east coast of Scotland. His
father, uncle, and four elder brothers were all fishermen, who went out to the North
Sea for days at a time to catch fish to sell at the markets. From an early age, Wilson
was desperate to go out to sea but his father wouldn’t allow it. However, Wilson was
both stubborn and quick-thinking. When he was 14, he sneaked onto their boat and
hid just before it was about to leave the harbour. After several hours at sea, he went
up on deck and offered to help with the nets. His father was angry at first but Wilson
insisted he should be allowed to work with the others. He was so hard-working that
he was part of the crew from that day on.

Speaker 2 Aww, I love this photograph of my Aunt Penny and Uncle Robin. When they met, both
of them had jobs in the banking industry. But then they got married : and the
honeymoon changed their lives. They stayed on a small farm in Wales, and just loved
the peace and quiet. Then as they were leaving, the owner told them that she was
selling it. Well : they went with their gut feeling and offered to buy the farm there and
then! They had no experience of farming at all! Anyway, they certainly made a
success of it because by the time I knew them, they were producing all their own food
– they grew fruit and vegetables, and kept chickens, goats, and a herd of dairy cows
: They never went to the supermarket. It was great!

Speaker 3 This is a photo of my friend Helena. We met when we were studying at art college.
The thing I really admire about Helena is the fact that she is so down to earth : and
she seems to have the ability to do almost anything. She’s just so creative. She can
repair, reuse, or make things with the most unexpected materials. We shared a flat
for a while and she wouldn’t throw anything away – everything was used, even things
like old bottles, cards, and clothing full of holes. She spent most of her time making
things and selling them online. They were popular because people wanted something
unique and interesting that no-one else could buy. She made a lot of money too.
Basically, she funded her studies by selling ‘junk’ :

Speaker 4 Ah, now this is a photograph of my mother-in-law. When we first met, I was really
shocked. She was very house-proud and umm: I suppose it’s fair to say she came
across as a bit of a control freak. She was always so thorough about how things
should be done, and consequently, I found visiting really stressful. She was always
cleaning and making sure things were in order – she even ironed my socks! And she
was a bit bossy too, if you offered to help with anything. However, I managed to hold
my own. Well : I’m kind of used to it now and our relationship is quite good, but it’s
been a challenging process getting to this point :

Speaker 5 John Harrison was a good friend of my dad’s when I was young. My brother and I
thought John was absolutely brilliant. He used to come round at the weekend to chat
and tell stories. He especially liked Greek and Norse mythology. Although it was
obvious my mum was cringing at some of the scary bits, we absolutely loved it! You
never knew what to expect with John. He was a talented musician, and without any
warning, he would suddenly burst into song or take out his violin and play a tune. He
was always the life and soul of every party. I remember him once getting up and
dancing on his chair at the dinner table :
Listening 2

Presenter So, this morning I’m talking to Martin Fairway an expert in AI, or Artificial Intelligence,
about careers, and particularly, the way we will choose our careers in the future.
Martin, welcome.
Martin Thanks Dan.
Presenter So, Martin, inevitably, when we’re considering which career path to take, we all : of
course : hope for a job that will not only pay the bills, but also be personally fulfilling.
Martin Absolutely, job satisfaction is an important consideration. Traditionally, when you start
job-seeking, a careers adviser gets you to answer a set of questions in order to
ascertain your personal characteristics. The results are then used to match you with
a suitable occupation. However, this outdated method relies on long, very generalized
surveys – it doesn’t account for the fact that so many jobs are either changing or
disappearing as technology transforms employment. Technology just moves so fast
these days, and consequently, by next year there may be new jobs that we couldn’t
have predicted today.
Presenter Yes, I guess it’s going to be difficult for recruitment firms and careers advisers to keep
up with the pace.
Martin That’s right. But interestingly, some researchers have decided to explore how a data-
driven approach could be effective in matching people with a suitable industry or
profession, based on their online browsing data.
Presenter I see :
Martin One research team in the US recently figured that they could learn a great deal about
someone by analyzing them psychologically through their online activities and social
media use. We all leave traces of ourselves online : you know: in the language we
use, the types of posts we write, what we share and ‘like’. As a team, they wondered
if they could analyze this data and use it to find out the extent to which people doing
the same job shared the same personality traits.
Presenter That sounds like a great idea. So how did they conduct the study?
Martin Well, I don’t have all the details to hand but apparently, they identified around 100,000
Twitter users, all of whom included at least one job title in their online profile. Then,
using AI technology, they analyzed the personality characteristics that were evident
from the language in their posts – as I understand it, they wanted to determine
whether there were links between the occupations of the people whose personalities
had been identified as similar.
Presenter Ah, that’s very interesting:
Martin Yes, I mean, we all know that work is more fulfilling if it fits our personality, values,
and interests. But it seems the study helped them to go further and pinpoint which
occupations matched the different personality profiles. For instance, generally,
computer programmers and scientists were intellectually curious, they tended to have
a greater ability to think in abstract terms and symbols, and they favoured variety in
their work. Sportspeople tended to be highly organized and conscientious. And they
were less likely to mind repetitious actions, which is why they are so able to maintain
the rigorous routines and training they need in order to succeed.
Presenter So, I assume this means that similar jobs could be grouped together.
Martin Exactly. the research team used all of the data they had analyzed to create a
‘Vocation Map’ which shows the occupations in relation to others which suit people
with similar traits.
Presenter And you can explore this interactive map online, can’t you?
Martin Yes, it’s incredibly interesting. Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned was that
while many of the job-personality combinations seem fairly predictable, some of the
combinations that appear similar would probably not have traditionally been grouped
together. For instance, geologists, cartographers – map makers –, cereal grain
farmers, and technology professionals end up being grouped together because,
according to the AI algorithms, they share similar personality traits.
Presenter Mmm. So, what’s the outcome of this research?
Martin Well, the team has now designed something called a ‘Vocation Compass’. It’s a
system that could use our personal data profile to match our personality traits to
potential jobs. I understand that so far, it works with over 70% accuracy but even
when the system gets it wrong, it’s apparently still pretty close :
Presenter Really?
Martin Yes, it might point out a profession with a similar skill set. For example, it might
suggest that a paramedic becomes a doctor or something ...
Presenter So, what next?
Martin Well, I think the jobs industry needs to keep its nose to the grindstone and : [fade
out]