Homework

Exercise A- The phrases below all include the word, “career”. Match them to their correct meanings. Use a good dictionary to help you.

1) career ladder a) something you do in order to progress your job

2) career move b) period of time away from your job to, for example, look after your children

3) career break c) series of levels that lead to better and better jobs

4) career plan d) chances to start/improve your career

5) career opportunities e) ideas you have for your future career

Exercise B- Complete these sentence with the verbs from the box.

make climb take have decide offer

1) Employees in large multinationals ________ excellent career opportunities if they are willing to travel.

2) Some people _________ a career break to do something adventurous like sailing around the world.

3) One way to __________ a career move is to join a small but rapidly growing company.

4) In some companies it can take years to ___________ the career ladder and reach senior management level.

5) Certain companies ___________ career opportunities to the long-term unemployed or to people without qualifications.

6) Ambitious people often ____________ on a career plan while they are still at school or university.

Exercise C- Look at the groups of words below. Cross out the noun or noun phrase which doesn’t go with the verb in each group.

1) make a fortune 4) do research

progress a mistake

a living a job

a training course your best

2) get progress 5) take a pension

a promotion time off

the sack early retirement

a nine-to-five job a break

3) earn a bonus 6) work flextime

a part-time job anti-social hours

money overtime

40 thousand ($40,000) an office job

Exercise D- Make sentences using the phrases in Exercise C. For example, “You can make a fortune with a career in computers”.

Tara Fashions Exercise for Business Communications Introductory Lesson (Pg. 27 Ex. B of Course Book)

Tara Fashions is a relatively new fashion merchandiser who sells new and innovative clothing worldwide. Its main office is located in Cordoba, Spain though the company has many offices located all over the world. Tara Fashions has its largest number of stores located in Spain and other European cities although they also operate in large cities located in North America, South America, Asia, and North Africa.

In total, Tara Fashions operates in 57 countries and has 25 stores located in Spain and another 42 stores located in other European cities. The number of stores that operate outside of Europe is approximately 52. Most of Tara Fashions customers are people who belong to the middle class or upper middle class income levels of various countries. Tara Fashions does not target the middle class or lower class levels of the market though some of their consumers do in fact belong to these classes. Most people who choose to purchase clothing from Tara Fashions are those who are extremely fashion conscious and want to wear the latest fashion trends from Europe.

In addition, Tara Fashions does not have a distributor. Instead the company chooses to distribute its clothing only through its own stores. It does not sell its clothing to retail companies. Tara Fashions is the producer and final distributor of its own clothing.

Tara Fashions is a relatively new company that has only been in business for the past ten years now. The annual net profits of the company average around $12,000,000 a year but recently there has been a sharp increase in production costs so the annual profits of the company have suffered. Last year’s annual net profit for the company was only $9,000,000 as a result of these changes in the marketplace and a high turnover rate. Due to changes in the employment market and a surge of older employees retiring Tara Fashions also recently encountered a record high turnover rate for the company. The turnover rate for employees was approximately 10 percent. Due to these factors, company profits also suffered this past fiscal year.

Tara Fashions is aware that it will face many more changes in the marketplace but it is a company with various strengths. The company has found itself to be sustainable and popular among consumers for the past ten years and has built a reputation as being one of the most fashionable clothing producers in the world and many of the companies’ consumers are extremely loyal to the clothing Tara Fashions produces. Tara Fashions has also managed to secure one of the cheapest material distributors in the world and has limited its production costs more so than other companies. In addition, Tara Fashions has been able to make multiple deals with transportation companies that have enabled them to ship more goods to their stores with less expense being incurred to them.

In the future, Tara Fashions plans to extend its product line and start producing clothing accessories as well. The company is particularly interested in producing such items as belts, purses, and jewelry. The company plans to sell these new products in their stores along with their clothing products.

Questions for the Class to Answer about Tara Fashions:

1. Where is the head office?

2. What does it sell?

3. Who are its customers?

4. Annual Turnover?

5. Annual Net Profits?

6. Number of stores in total?

7. Number of stores in Spain?

8. Number of stores in other European cities?

9. Company Strengths? Future Plans?