English for customs officers

II. Make phrases by matching an item from each column.

III. The third paragraph in the text uses the word «eventually». This is a false friend in many languages. Tick ( ) the one correct meaning of «eventually» from the choices below.

IV. Complete the sentences with the words in the box. All the words are used with «career».

1.You can … a good career for yourself as a lawyer. But you'll have to work a lot. For the next few years you'll have to … your career, not your social life.

2.If you have children, you'll need to take a career … But don't worry – your skills are always in demand, and I'm sure that your career will … when you're in your forties.

3.Changing from financial consultant to yoga teacher is a very drastic career … It means that your career in finance will …

4.He's a bright young man with a very … career in front of him. I'm sure he'll move up the career … very quickly.

5.She achieved a lot in her … career. She took advantage of the many career … available in IT project management and went right to the top of her profession.

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V. Complete these memories by putting the verbs into the correct form: past simple, past continuous or past perfect.

I remember that occasion very well - it was while I 1. … (work) at Omnitel. It was in the afternoon – I 2 … (just / finish) lunch – and I 3 … (write) I 4 … (get) an SMS on my mobile phone – it was from a headhunting agency, inviting me to call them. I 5… (be) very surprised because I 6 … (not / contact) any agencies like that. Anyway, I 7 … (wait) until no-one 8 … (listen) and then I 9 … (call) them. I'm sure they 10 … (wait) for my call because they were immediately very friendly. They said they 11 … (already / find out) a lot about me by doing a Google search on my name, and that they 12 … (want) to have a meeting with me.

Study the following words and word combinations from the text.

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TEXT 9.2. YOUR JOB

I work for a medium-sized, family-owned business. We offer specialized services to the construction industry. I personally specialize in lighting installations inside buildings - my background is in electrical engineering. I'm responsible for the initial contact with the client – I visit them at their offices and discuss their needs. My role is to talk to the architects and the developers, to try to persuade them of the importance of modern lighting design inside a building. I show them how it can create a good working atmosphere and add to a company's image. I explain our track record in this field and show them a portfolio of other lighting installations that we've done.

Once the initial contact has been made and the client is ready for a detailed proposal, I take a back seat for a while. Somebody else looks at the detailed specifications for the installation and then another colleague researches the cost of the labour and materials. Those two people work under me, and I supervise their work quite closely. Finally our legal department draws up the proposal. I oversee the whole process and sign off the proposal before it's sent to the client. There are a number of other people that I liaise with on a day-to-day basis. We have an Office Manager who handles incoming calls, organizes my schedule and keeps on top of the filing and administration. And then outside the company I have close contact with the architects and with the project management team responsible for the whole construction. I report to the Head of Business Development, and she reports directly to the CEO, so there are not many layers in the company and it's not at all bureaucratic. My work is challenging, of course, because it involves both a sales function and a technical function – and every project is different. But the atmosphere in the office is great. It's very informal and I'm on first-name terms with everyone, even the CEO.

So that's me. Now about my wife. Well, she works for a large, multinational bank with its head office in Switzerland. It's a back-office function – she works in the loans department. Her job involves checking the credit history of companies who want to borrow money, and then assessing the risk of the loan. She deals with both small and medium enterprises. She's doing well – she was promoted last year. Now she's in charge of a small team of four people, so there's a management dimension to her job as well; it's not simply number-crunching.

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Describing your job

Adjectives to describe jobs

fascinating, rewarding, satisfying, stimulating, boring, dull, repetitive, routine, uninteresting, challenging, demanding, hard, hectic, tiring, tough.

Collocations with «task»

approach / get down to / tackle a task / carry out / I do / I get on with / perform a task / complete / fulfil / succeed in (doing) a task / assign somebody / give somebody / set somebody a task / be tasked with doing something.

Collocations with «work»

I work for ... (a company) I'm working on . . . (a project)

I work with / alongside .. (colleagues) I work on my own

I work from home

to be in work / out of work

to be off work (because you're ill)

I leave for work / I get to work at 7.30 a.m., I go to work by train

EXERCISES

I. Find a word in the text opposite that matches each definition below. The words appear in order.

1.(two words) the things that a person or organization has done in the past which show how well they have done …

2.(phrasal verb) prepares a written document (eg a list, plan, contract) …

3.be in charge of a group of workers and check that their work is done satisfactorily (= supervise) …

4.(phrasal verb) officially agree to something …

5.exchange information so that everyone knows what is happening …

6.(two words) the process of working with a lot of numbers and calculating results …

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II. Underline the correct words in italics.

1.A job that is challenging / demanding is difficult, but also interesting because you have to use a lot of skill; a job that is challenging / demanding needs a lot of your time and attention, but isn't necessarily either difficult or interesting.

2.The phrase «my line manager» / «my boss» could be a little informal, particularly if that person is present (eg. being introduced by you), so instead we can say «my line manager» / «my boss».

3.The word colleague / coworker is more common in Europe; the word colleague / coworker is more common in the US and Asia.

4.The word counterpart / opposite number refers to someone with the same job as you in another organization; the word counterpart / opposite number may have the same meaning, but is also commonly used for someone in your own organization who has the same job but in a different place (eg. a different country).

III. Complete 1–3 with endings a–c.

IV. Match left to the right to make a phrase.

V. Underline the correct words in italics.

1.I work for / on / to a family-owned business.

2.I specialize in / on I lighting installations.

3.My background is for / in / with engineering.

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4.I'm responsible about / for / of the initial contact with the client.

5.My role is for / in / to talk to the architects.

6.Somebody else looks at / on I the detailed specifications.

7.There are a number of other people that I liaise from / to / with on a day-to-day basis.

8.I report for / to / under the Head of Business Development.

9.My wife works in / on / to the loans department.

10.She deals of / on / with both small and medium enterprises.

11.She's in charge from / of / to a small team.

12.I'm working for / on / to an interesting project.

13.I'm a journalist – I spend a lot of time working at / for / on my own, from home / from the home.

14.My brother is off work / out of work – he's been unemployed for two months. My sister is off work / out of work today – she's got a bad cold.

15.Every morning I leave for work / the work at 7.30 a.m. I arrive to

/get to work at about 8.45 a.m. I'm at / in work until 6 p.m.

16.Her job involves checking / to check the credit history of companies.

VI. Write a tick ( ) if the sentence is grammatically correct.

a.I'm responsible for this.

b.I'm the responsible for this.

c.I'm the person responsible for this.

d.This is my responsible.

e.This is my responsibility.

VII. Go round the class and interview three people. Ask them why they work (or study). Fill in the following table:

Why do you work?

for work's sake for the fun of it to earn a living

to support a family out of keen interest to gain authority for self-fulfilment

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If you were unemployed would you take a job in:

What jobs would you hate to do and why?

(use: it would drive me mad, it would be so boring, it would be too much responsibility for me, it would be like a form of torture, it would be too repetitive, etc.)

Study the following words and word combinations from the text.

TEXT 9.3. WHAT ARE YOUR CAREE MOTIVATORS?

Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

It involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something.

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Your career motivators are what energize and motivate you when you think about what you want to accomplish or work towards in your career. They are concrete descriptions of how you want to engage in your work. They are not job titles and they are not general words or phrases like «fulfillment, financial security, happiness, work/life balance» etc. Understanding what motivates you can help you find a career direction.

There are three types of career motivators:

1.Core career motivators: Core career motivators are what you want to spend your time doing. These include competencies (skills, knowledge and attributes) that you want to develop, specific things you want to create, or passions and causes that you want to pursue.

2.Work environment motivators: Work environment motivators are things that are important for you in your workplace. These include aspects of the physical environment, the work culture, the way work is structured (e.g. hours, schedule, etc.), and how you like to work with others (e.g. as a leader, support person, expert advisor, etc.).

3.Lifestyle motivators: Lifestyle motivators are what your career allows you to do in other areas of your life. This could include money, time, travel, relationships, and other parts that make up your work/life balance.

All three types are important, but your core motivators will be most helpful in pointing in a career direction. It can take time to uncover your own motivators, and it can be tricky to separate what you really want from what you feel you «should» want. It's a good idea to revisit them from time to time.

Sample motivators

•I want to manage information about people (not technical or financial) in a social service or educational setting (core motivator);

•I want to design and manage service-oriented systems, processes and procedures to make systems run more efficiently and help people (core motivator);

•I want to be recognized for making others' lives easier (core motivator);

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•I like being in a structured work environment where I have to respond to things that happen unexpectedly (work environment motivator);

•I want to balance the time and energy I use while earning my living with the time and energy I devote to my passion for competitive marathon running (lifestyle motivator).

EXERCISES

I. Complete the following Career Motivator Worksheet.

CAREER MOTIVATOR WORKSHEET

Rank the following interests in order of their importance to you.

Now use your rankings to answer these questions:

1.What interests and activities energize you?

2.What are the skills that you really enjoy using?

3.What kinds of activities engage you so completely that you get wrapped up in them and lose track of time?

4.What kinds of subject or knowledge areas are you drawn to?

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