1 Why are 'Passenger Pushers' necessary on the metro in Japan?
2 Why does the writer describe chewing gum as a 'menace?
3 Why did Harrods employ special shop assistants on the escalator?
4 Why were sewage works a problem in Berkshire?
5 Why was Miss King successful?
6. Use the table below to classify these words from the text that often go together.
| VERB + NOUN | VERB + ADVERB | VERB + ADJECTIVE |
| Offer a job |
Complete the sentences with collocations from Exercise 6 in their correct form.
1 My grandfather________________as a miner for forty years.
2 I was________________________as a waiter in a fast-food restaurant but I _________________because I can't stand the smell of hamburgers!
3 I_____________________to understand the instructions of my new digital camera and had to ask a friend to help me.
4 The number of cars in our city has________________________ in the last few years.
5 That suitcase is broken and now it doesn't _________________.
WORK AND EMPLOYMENT
LISTENING
1. Work in pairs. Discuss. How do you think companies use the things in the pictures below to motivate staff?
2.Listen and check. Which other ideas do they talk about? Which ideas do you think are the best?
Listen to three employees describing what they are doing. Tick the activities they mention.
watching a film
choosing a CD
fishing
studying
waiting for a customer
having a massage
hecking emails
making coffee
B Listen again. Answer the questions.
1 What is the 'agreement' between the two shops?
2 What does the company pay for?
3 Why can the woman start work at I p.m.?
Read and translate the text
The Changing Face of Work
In the 70s and 80s, most managers expected to continue working until retirement at sixty or sixty-five. But now, the situation is changing. Since the beginning of the 1990s, many managers in their forties and fifties have lost their jobs.
Sometimes, the reason for making managers redundant is a company way-out or restructuring. Also, the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s caused many redundancies.
But it is also true that fixed-term contracts are becoming more popular, and many companies prefer younger managers.
The result is that large numbers of unemployed managers are still looking for work now. And, for those who are over fifty years old, it's not certain that they will find full-time employment again.
What can a manager do in this situation? One important lesson is that every manager must be ready for change. You know that you are going to the office tomorrow morning, but you can't be certain that your job will exist a year from now.
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2. Answer the questions:
1. Is it easy for young people to find jobs nowadays?
2. What activities does looking for a job involve?
3. What questions do you think you will be asked at an interview?
4. II" you manage to secure a good job would you like to stay in it for life? Why?
3. Read an extract from the book "Understanding Britain" by Karen Hewitt and answer the questions following the text.
Looking for a job
In Britain when a pupil leaves school at sixteen or later he or she must find a job. To achieve this goal school leavers without special qualifications will probably visit a Job Centre or look through local newspaper advertisements. School careers officers also can offer advice. But ultimately it is up to the boys and girls themselves to find work.
Graduates from universities and other colleges are in the same position except that they are older and arc looking for different kinds of work. Usually they start their search near the beginning of their third (i.e. final) year in college. The professional work many of them seek normally requires further specialized training, so the first step is to get a place on a training course - and a grant or some other funds to pay for the course. Probably the first stage will involve some kind of exam and an interview - necessary procedures for choosing which applicants shall be given places on the course which may lead to a job in the end. (Such courses are essential for librarians, computer programmers, social workers, accountants and many other kinds of qualified workers.). Certain organizations take graduates directly and train them while they are working - for example the BBC. A recruitment committee has to read through the papers and select maybe eight or ten applicants for interview. At the interview they will be asked their reasons for wanting the job, and have to answer questions about their academic career, 238 other activities and - often - questions which seem to have no point but which are intended to reveal their personality, skills and general suitability for the job.
Eventually someone will be selected. If the fortunate candidate is not happy with all the conditions of the job (pay, hours of work, pension rights and so on) he doesn't have to accept it - but once he has signed the contract he cannot leave the job without giving notice (of maybe three or six months) and he cannot be thrown out of the job without notice and without good reason.
Today graduates can expect to make dozens of applications for jobs and get short-listed for interviews two or three times before they find satisfactory work. Some of course know exactly what they want and manage to find the right job first time, but more often graduates can spend months searching, meanwhile earning enough to pay the rent by washing dishes or some other short-term work.
Having found your job, you certainly do not expect to stay in it for life - or even more than a few years. Whether they are working in private industry or in the state sector, people assume that if they want more money or more responsibility they must expect to move from one employer to another or from one area of work to another. Promotion up the steps of the ladder within a firm certainly happens, but the advantages to both employer and employee - stability, familiarity with the work, confidence, loyalty to the firm and its workers - must set against the advantages of bringing in "fresh blood", new challenging ways of approaching the work (avoidance of intrigues and resentment among those already in the organization about the promotion of one over the other) and the hard work that can be expected from someone new in the job who has to "prove" himself or herself. In practice promotions are usually a mixture of "within-house" and from outside. Consequently, employees who want to improve their position start looking for other jobs within few years of securing their first one.
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(from . . 238)
4. Answer the questions:
1. What steps do school leavers in Britain take to find a job?
2. What makes it more difficult for college graduates to find employment?
3. What can be done to bridge the gap between the completion of education and the start of employment?
4. What information do interviewers try to get during the interview?
5. What obligations do the employer and the employee assume once the contract has been signed?
6. How long do people usually stay in the same job? Why?
7. Does loyalty to the company give employees an advantage over those who are new in the job?
8. Why are employers interested in bringing in "fresh blood"?
5. Compare the British assumptions and experience with the Ukrainian ones. Mark the main similarities and differences covering the following points:
starting one's search for a job
the methods involved
selection of applicants
mutual commitments of employers and employees
changing jobs
promotion prospects
6. Read Richard A. Moran's advice on how to make a successful career. Do you agree with all of this? Does it apply to any job or only the ones in business? Give your reasons.
Always know who your client or customer is - no matter what your job is.
Never take a problem to your boss without some solutions. You're getting paid to think, not to whine.
If you tell a racist joke, be prepared to be fired.
As Henry Ford II said. "Never complain, never explain". Be courageous in your business perspectives.
Treat your time as if someone is paying for it - someone is.
Maintain a sense of humour and inject it when appropriate.
Return calls within 24 hours. Never leave one unanswered.
Be comfortable around senior managers, or learn to fake it.
If you even think you're vulnerable, you should probably find another job.
Develop a point of view about success - your own and your organization's.
Read your job description but never be restricted by it. Do what needs to be done.
Maintain a 3-year rolling career plan.
Always have an answer to the question, "What would I do if I lost my job tomorrow?"
Never apologize for an idea that didn't work - but always admit a mistake.
Being good is important, being trusted is essential.
Become known for building ideas, not for finding fault.
VOCABULARY
1. employ v
employer n
employee n
employment n
full employment
unemployment unemployment benefit
unemployed adj
2.interview v
to interview for a job / a course of study
interview n
interviewer n
interviewee
3.recruit v
recruitment n
4.goal n
to achieve a goal;
long-term / short-term / ultimate goal
5.train v
to train for the diplomatic service;
trainee n
training n
in-house training
a training college
6.manage v
to manage a firm;
managing director
to manage without smth
manager n
human resources manager
management n
managerial adj
7 promote v
to promote smb to smth;
to promote international understanding
promotion n
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to get one's promotion
8 skill n
skill at / in smth
skilled adj
skilful adj
skilfully a
9. seek (sought) v
to seek (for) employment;
to seek power/wealth/justice/reelection
10. confident adj
to be confident of success
confidence
with confidence
to take smb into your confidence
confide v
to confide in smb; to confide to smb that...
11. select v
selection n
careful selection;
to make a selection from smth
selective
adj
