Work and jobs – B2 English Vocabulary

Work and jobs

In this Pre-advanced Vocabulary Lesson about Work and Jobs, you will learn various terms and phrases associated with employment and the workplace. Explore the pictures below and read the definitions and sentence examples.

Nouns and phrases

A 1 nine-to-five job is a full-time job that you do during normal office hours, and a 2 demanding job is a job that demands a lot of attention, energy, and hard work.

• Tom has a nine-to-five job with a bank in the city.
• Jane has a demanding job that leaves her with little time for herself.

A 3 dead-end job is a job that leads nowhere, with few prospects of promotion or career advancement. In contrast, a 4 steady job is a reliable job that guarantees you regular hours and income.

• It sounds like a dead-end job. You should look for something more stable.
• Joe has a steady job with an insurance firm.

If a person is 5 out of work, they are currently unemployed. If someone works 6 shifts, they work during different scheduled periods in the day or night.

• John is currently out of work and is searching for a job.
• I’m working the night shift tonight; I start at 8 p.m. and finish at 6 a.m.

If a person works or does 7 overtime, they work for more hours than they are contracted to work, usually for extra money. Working long hours can often result in 8 burnout. When you suffer from burnout, you become exhausted and ill after working too hard for an extended period.

• I’m doing a lot of overtime this month because we’re very busy at work.
• Jean’s demanding job left her suffering from burnout.

9 Perks and benefits are words that are similar in meaning, as they both refer to the privileges that a job provides you with. Benefits are things like insurance or tax payments that most employers cover, while perks are additional advantages such as free passes or tickets for transport, entertainment venues, etc.

• My job offers basic benefits, such as insurance and healthcare.
• One of the perks of working for a gym is free membership and use of all its facilities.

If you have 10 job security, you are in a job that is reliable and from which you are unlikely to be dismissed.

• This position offers no job security, and I worry about the future.

A 11 bonus is money you receive on top of your annual salary, usually for achieving good results.

• After receiving record sales, Henry was given a well-deserved bonus.

12 Maternity, paternity, and sick leave are all types of extended absences from work. Maternity and paternity leave refer to the time men and women, respectively, take off after the birth of a child, while sick leave is an absence from work due to illness or an accident. If you are sick and you can’t go to work, the doctor gives you a 13 sick note (or doctor’s note) saying that you need to stay off work.

• Alice is on maternity leave as she just had a baby last month.
• After his awful car accident, Peter was on sick leave for a year.
• The doctor gave me a sick note for two weeks.

A 14 job vacancy refers to a position that a business is currently trying to hire someone for, while an 15 apprenticeship is an arrangement in which a person works for a fixed period of time to learn a skill by working under others qualified in that profession. Employers will only hire people if they have suitable 16 qualifications, and qualifications are certifications, such as diplomas and degrees, that qualify a person to do a particular job.

• I’m currently looking for work, so I asked the manager if there were any job vacancies.
• Mike is doing an apprenticeship with a local insurance company.
• Although Mary has little experience in this field, her qualifications are impressive.

Verbs and verb phrases

When a person 1 does work experience or does an internship, they work in a job for a short period of time to gain experience in a specific trade, and when a person 2 has experience in something, they have either held a similar previous position or done something entailed in the job description before.

• This summer, I’m doing work experience with a local newspaper.
• When hiring staff, we look for those who have experience in similar roles.

When people 3 talk shop, they talk about work outside working hours or when they are not at their workplace.

• I wish you wouldn’t talk shop all the time; we’re not at work now!

When you 4 clock in at work, you arrive at work and start working at the beginning of a day or shift. Clock off has the opposite meaning, and when you clock off, you stop working and leave your workplace once your day or shift has ended.

• I usually clock in at 7 a.m. and then clock off around 3:30 p.m.

If you have to 5 meet a deadline, you need to complete a project or assignment within the required time. Meeting deadlines can sometimes be stressful, leading you to 6 be snowed under, which means that you feel stressed about dealing with so much work and meeting those deadlines. When this happens, it’s important to know how to 7 switch off, or relax and stop thinking about work.

• I had to work late because I needed to meet a deadline.
• With half the office off sick, we’re completely snowed under with work.
• With a job as stressful as mine, it can be very hard to switch off.

If a person 8 is sacked or fired from a job, they are dismissed from their job because they have done something wrong, whereas when you’re 9 laid off, you lose your job because your employer is struggling financially or is closing down. 10 Being made redundant also means losing your job; however, when you’re made redundant, you lose your job because a person is no longer needed to fill that position.

• The employee was sacked after several customers complained about his rudeness.
• If the company closes down, many people will be laid off.
• Now that we have self-checkout tills, many cashiers are being made redundant.

When you 11 are promoted in your job, you are given a position with more responsibility within a company, and when you 12 take early retirement, you stop working for good before the normal age.

• I hope to get promoted to assistant manager soon.
• I’d love to take early retirement and stop working when I’m fifty years old.

When you 13 resign from a job, you leave a job, either because you’ve found another one or for other reasons, while if you 14 step down, you resign from a position of authority in a company. Before you can actually stop working, you must 15 hand in your notice, and when you hand in your notice, you inform your employer in advance of your intention to leave your job.

• Greg resigned from his job because he was moving abroad with his wife.
• I wonder who will replace the CEO when he steps down next year.
• When Tim handed in his notice, his boss said he was sad to see him go.

When you are ill and can’t go to work, you 16 call in sick, which means that you inform your workplace, usually by phone, that you are ill and unable to attend work.

• Jane wasn’t feeling well this morning, so she decided to call in sick and rest at home.

After completing the exercises in this lesson on Work and Jobs, you can use the unit’s Vocabulary Flashcards to revise and help you memorize the terms.