well-paid

low-paid badly paid

steady lucrative
job

temporary full-time

permanent part-time

indoor
unskilled outdoor

skilled voluntary

work
routine manual

everyday daily
day-to-
day

to get / find work

§ to be offered work / a job
§ to make a living as a …
§ What do you do for a living?
§ to get a higher position /to be promoted /to achieve something
§ to apply for a job
§ to be a workaholic (to love work too much)
§ to be someone’s opposite number (to be a rival)
§ to be dog-tired from work /to be bushed from work
§ a heavy workload
§ to be underpaid
§ opposite:to be overpaid
§ to hammer out a deal/to work out a deal/to sign a contract/to close a contract
§ opposite: to back out of a deal

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 1

 to do shift work (nights one week, days the next week)
to be on flexi-time (to have flexible working hours)
to work nine-to-five (regular day work)
to work full-time
to work part-time

to go/be on strike
to get the sack (to be thrown out of a job)
to be fired (more formal)
to be made redundant (thrown out, no longer needed)
to be laid off (more informal than made redundant)
to give up work
to be on/take sick leave
to take early retirement (to retire at 55)

paperwork /desk work /office work /secretarial work

handwork /manual work
teamwork (to work together in a team)

good, hard, productive, motivated fast, slow, professional, average, unemployed, voluntary,
migrant, seasonal … worker
worker /employee
colleague /coworker /teammate /workmate

Example:
I lost my job. I was no longer needed. à I have been made redundant.

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 2

a. You never have time! I think you are obsessed with work.
b. I have no fixed working time.
c. I have a job interview tomorrow.
d. I was late so often, I lost my job.
e. I’m not working since I have a baby.
f. My boss told me, I’m going to get a higher position!
g. He’s only 57, but he’s enjoying life on a pension.
h. One week I work at night and the next week at day.

ANSWERS
a. You’re a workaholic.
b. I’m on flexi-time.
c. I apply for a new job.
d. I have been fired/ I got the sack.
e. I am on maternity/paternity.
f. I’m promoted.
g. He has taken early retirement.
h. I do shift-work.

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 3

FCE SPEAKING PART 1 / PART 4 – TOPIC: WORK

1. What would be your ideal job?

My ideal job is to do something that always brings something new to life, not a repetitive monotonous
work. I am good at my responsibilities, but I also expect some pleasant moments at my workplace.

2. Describe the job you would most like to have. You should say:
• what this job would be
• where you would work
• which qualifications you would need and
• explain why you would like to have this job most.

I must admit that I have achieved one of my passions a little bit late in life. Seems like I have always
wanted to become a chef in a nice high-end restaurant. Eating food is great, isn’t it? But the process of
cooking food and the skill it requires to have is what I find even more intriguing and fascinating.

I could probably enjoy working and being trained in fine dining restaurants or some cruise ships that offer a
variety of international dishes. I would like to get to know different cultures all over the world through
food. I think it is one of the aspects that distinguishes countries.

To be able to be a chef, I need to have education in culinary arts. I also need to undergo a training in
various restaurants to be able to apply the knowledge and information I obtained at school. A chef is
a highly creative person, since one of his/her responsibilities is to arrange food with a final touch and think
of its overall appealing look on the plate.

The kitchen is the only place I have ever felt like I really belong to. I love its heat and the pressure,
apparently.

3. Which jobs are the most respected in your country?

In my opinion, there are highly-skilled professional positions such as in the fields of law, medicine, and
engineering. Usually, parents encourage their children to undertake such careers, because working in these
domains, one always has a nice salary and bright perspectives in life. I specifically respect doctors, since
they are not only hard-working professionals but also people who dedicate their lives to helping others.

4. Some people say it’s better to work for yourself than be employed by a company. What’s your
view?

On the topic of self-employment, I agree with a Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. For young people, it is wiser
to first seek a secure position at a smaller company, because at big ones recent graduates frequently get lost
in the large system and routine of endless repetitive tasks, ending up unnoticed. At a family-owned
enterprise, on the contrary, it is easier to seize opportunities and take initiatives. As one grows, it is
important to focus on learning and developing hard skills. When there is a subjective border of learning

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 4

reached, one might reconsider the career choice in favour of a more responsible place at a bigger
corporation or even the difficult path of entrepreneurship.

5. What changes in employment have there been in recent years in your country?

There has been a rejuvenation of the “entrepreneurial spirit” in our country: more and more people become
involved in starting their own businesses. The “start-up” community is now more alive than ever, even
college students launch their start-up businesses while studying. Even though there is a high failure rate of
start-ups, people nevertheless are starting to take the risk and put their ideas into creation.

VOCABULARY
get promotion: someone who got promotion is given a more important job in the same organization
− Do they get promotion or change jobs?
Workload: the amount of work to be done by someone or something
− To cope with the increasing workload our staff has grown from about 350 to about 1,000, which
makes us by far the largest ombudsman scheme worldwide.
Career: an individual’s work and life roles over their lifespan.
− Most young people today , whatever their background , see school as a passport to a good career.
Workplace: any or all locations or environments where people are employed
− People with a job spend a lot of time at their workplace so a healthy workplace is vital to their
health.
Wage: a fixed regular payment, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, made by an employer to an
employee
− The basic state pension is just 15.9 per cent of the averagewage, compared to 18.4 per cent 57 years
ago.
blue-collar worker: relating to manual workers
− Workplace automation has eliminated many of the jobs that enabled blue-collar workers to join the
middle class.
white-collar worker: relating to those who work in an office
− White-collar workers are evaluated based on performance.
to take time off: to stop working for a short time
− Taking time off is one of the best ways to re-engage your mind and make yourself more
productive.
to take unpaid leave: if you take leave you stay away from work usually because of holiday or illness,
without getting paid
− Can he afford to take unpaid leave?
sick leave: Paid absence from work specifically to recover from illness.
− Sick leave is usually 1- 1 1/2 days per month.

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 5

WORD FORMATION
1. Work (noun) When getting home from work, the first thing you tell your partner is the best thing
that happened that day
2. to work (verb) Work on it in the morning before your work day.
3. Working (adjective)What is the most effective way to enhance working memory?
4. Promotion (noun) Promotions in Army are to higher ranks and not to a different organisation.
5. to get promoted (verb) Helping your manager get promoted is useless.
6. Pay (noun) Their average basic pay is approximately 300 pounds per month.
7. to pay (verb) People do pay for quality.
8. well-paid (adjective) Are astronauts well paid?
9. Employment (noun) A 2012 NASSCOM survey reveals that 83% of Indian engineering graduates
are unfit for employment.
10. unemployment (noun) To get a sense of the cause of unemployment, it helps to understand excess
capacity.
11. Employee (adjective) The best employees are multipliers who make others more productive, and
next are the adders (workhorses).
12. Employer (noun) My employers, the University of Bristol, own the intellectual property rights for
this article.
13. to employ (verb) I explained again : about my job description , custom and practice and my right to
do the work for which I was employed .
14. self-employed (adjective) There are lots of ways to describe being self-employed and it will totally
depend on the person that you’re speaking to.
15. Unemployed (adjective) I was unemployed for almost a year after graduating.
16. Earnings (noun) Sales and earnings are two different things.
17. to earn (verb) What is the best career advice for a software developer to earn higher total
compensation?
18. Qualification (noun) Colonel Spratt highlighted the importance of the qualification for people
planning a career in marketing.
19. to qualify (verb) Like student nurses, there are no jobs for them when they qualify.
20. Qualified (adjective) The English Department employs well qualified and experienced tutors and as
a result has always enjoyed a high success rate in examination results.

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 6

COLLOCATIONS

hard intellectual
arduous mental
challenging creative
complicated individual
intensive group
labour-intensive meticulous
physical experimental
delicate academic Adjective + work
monotonous commercial
repetitive educational
fascinating environmental
interesting scientific
paid building
unpaid construction
professional social
administrative research
clerical agricultural
office farm
secretarial building
managerial domestic
carry out get down to
do carry on
get done continue
have done complete
take on finish
undertake halt Verb + work
begin hold up
commence stop
lucrative 9-to-5
well-paid regular
badly-paid steady
full-time skilled Adjective + job
part-time unskilled

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 7

permanent manual
freelance indoor
voluntary outdoor
boring daily
dead-end day-to-day
menial temporary
routine
undemanding
search job + noun
advertisement
vacancy
application
interview
title
market
cuts
losses
opportunities
prospects
satisfaction
have Verb + a job
look for
apply fo
go for
find
get
land
take
lose
give up
pack in
resign from

ACADEMIA ELENA ARBONIÉS õ 8