Vocabulary

Position должность, opening position – вакансия

application 1) заявление, заявка, обращение, просьба; written application – письменное заявление;

application for the position– заявление о зачислении на должность; application to smb.– заявление на чье-то имя;

applicant – претендент, заявитель. 2) применение; to apply – 1) заявлять, обращаться; 2) применять

promising перспективный, многообещающий

effort усилие, попытка; to make an effort – сделать попытку

creative творческий, созидательный

competitive конкурентноспособный, конкурирующий

responsibility 1) ответственность; to take responsibility – взять на себя ответственность; to decline all responsibility for smth – снять с себя всякую ответственность за что-то; 2) обязанность

obligation 1) обязательство; contractual (treaty) obligations – договорные обязательства; under (an) obligation to smb – обязанный кому-либо; 2) обязанность

skillful умелый, искусный, опытный

negotiation(s) переговоры, обсуждение условий; to conduct (to carry out, to hold) negotiations – вести переговоры

entrepreneur предприниматель, владелец предприятия

fair 1) честный, справедливый; 2) ярмарка

strength 1) сила; 2) достоинство

reliability надежность; to rely on (upon) smb. – полагаться на кого-либо, надеяться

tension напряжение

reference 1) ссылка; 2) рекомендация, отзыв

environment окружающая обстановка, окружение, среда

Work in pairs: Some interviewers give candidates a hard time by asking them difficult questions – like the 16 questions below. Can you think of three more questions you might be asked at an interview? Add them to the list. What would your own answers to each of the questions be?

1. Tell me about yourself.

2. What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?

3. We have a lot of applicants for this job, why should we appoint you?

4. Which is more important to you: status or money?

5. How long do you think you’d stay with us if you were appointed?

6. Why do you want to leave your present job?

7. Why do you want to work for our company?

8. What would you like to be doing ten years from now?

9. What are you most proud of having done recently?

10. What is you worst fault and what is your best quality?

11. Don’t you think you’re a little young/old for this job?

12. Are you a team player?

13. What are you long-range goals?

14. What excites you about the job you’re doing now?

15. How would you rate your present boss?

16. Tell me about your past employers. (Try not to be negative)

DOs and DON’Ts for job seekers

Do learn ahead of time about the company and its product. Do your homework.

Do let as many people as possible know you are “job hunting”.

Do stress your qualification for the job opening.

Do mention any experience you have which is relevant to the job.

Do talk and think as far as possible about the future rather than the past.

Do assume an air of confidence.

Do try to be optimistic in your attitude.

Do try to overcome nervousness and shortness of breath.

Do answer questions honestly.

Do have a good resume.

Do recognize your limitations.

Do make plenty of applications.

Do indicate your flexibility and readiness to learn.

Do be well-groomed and appropriately dressed.

Do shake hand firmly.

Do arrive prepared. (Don’t forget your resume, pen, references, and portfolio.)

Do express yourself clearly.

Do be positive and tactful when disagreeing.

Do make eye contact with the person(s) interviewing you.

Don’t keep stressing your need for a job.

Don’t discuss past experience which has no application to the job situation.

Don’t be untidy in appearance.

Don’t mumble or speak with a muffled voice.

Don’t hesitate to fill out applications, give references, take physical examinations

or tests on request.

Don’t arrive late and breathless for an interview.

Don’t write incorrect information on your CV to make it look better.

Don’t slouch. Sit straight in the chair, and maintain good posture. You should feel comfortable, but not too comfortable!

Don’t interrupt.

Fit for hiring? It’s mind over matter

A growing number of companies, from General Motors Corp to American Express Co., are no longer satisfied with traditional job interviews. Instead, they are requiring applicants for many white-collar jobs – from job executives down – to submit to a series of paper-and-pencil tests, role-playing exercises, simulated decision-making exercises and brainteasers*. Others put candidates through a long series of interviews by psychologists or trained interviewers.

The tests are not about mathematics or grammar, nor about any of the basic technical skills for which many production, sales and clerical workers have long been tested. Rather, employers want to evaluate on intangible* qualities: Is she creative and entrepreneurial? Can he lead and coach? Is he flexible and capable of learning? How will he function under pressure? Most important, will the potential recruit fit the corporate culture?

Ten years ago, candidates can win a top job with the right look and right answers to questions such as: “Why do you want this job?” Now, many are having to face questions and exercises intended to learn how they get things done.

They may, for example, have to describe in great detail not one career accomplishment but many – so that patterns of behavior emerge.

They may face questions such as: ”Who is the best manager you ever worked for and why?” or “What is your best friend like?”. The answers, psychologists say, reveal much about a candidate’s management style and about himself and herself.

The reason for the interrogations is clear: many hires* work out badly. About 35 per cent of recently hired senior executives are judged failures, according to the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina, which surveyed nearly 500 chief executives.

The cost of bringing a wrong person on board is sometimes huge. Searching and training can cost from $5000 for a lower-level manager to $250, 000 for a top executive. With the pace of change accelerating in markets and technology, companies want to know how an executive will perform, not just how he or she performed. “Years ago, employers looked for experience – has a candidate done this before?” said Harold P. Weinstein, executive vice-president of Caliper, a personnel testing and consulting firm in Princeton, New Jersey. “But having experience in a job does not guarantee that you can do it in a different environment.”

At this point, most companies have not shifted to this practice. But human-resource specialists say that white-collar testing is growing in popularity. What has brought so many employers around to testing is a sense of the limitations in the usual job interview. With so little information on which to base a decision, “most people hire people they like, rather than the most competent person,” said Orv Owens, a psychologist in Washington, who sizes up executive candidate. Research has shown, he said, that “most decision makers make their hiring decisions in the first five minutes of an interview and spend the rest of the time rationalizing their choice.”

Besides, with advice on how to land a better job about as common as a ten-dollar bill, many people are learning to play the interview game.

*a brainteaser: a problem which is fun to solve.

*intangible: smth. That can not be felt or described.

*a hire (US); a recruit (GB): someone who starts to work for a company.

THANK-YOU LETTERS

After you have gone on a job interview, it is important to send a thank-you letter within 48 hours. You should send a separate letter to each person with whom you have interviewed who might take part in making the final decision to hire you. For example, if a Personnel Director, the Department Manager, and the Regional Manager interview you, send letters to each of them.

Образец благодарственного письма (thank-you letter)

Mrs. Lori Roberts

Director of Personnel

Johnson Corporation

Austin, Texas 78777

Dear Mrs. Roberts

Thank you for your time and attention during my interview with you last week. I

appreciated the opportunity to discuss my qualifications and aspirations with you.

I hope that all questions were answered to your satisfaction, however, I would be

happy to supply any further information you may need.

I am very interested in the growth potential of the position we discussed, and I

hope you will consider me as a serious candidate.

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

Jeanne Nguyen

1730 Green Street

Austin, Texas 78776

(512) 554-1730

Письменный отказ от предложенной работы:

I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept the position, since I have another, more attractive one. – С сожалением сообщаю вам, что не могу занять эту должность, так как получил другое, более привлекательное предложение.

I feel that my experience in this field would not be used to its full capacity in above position. Therefore I have to decline. – Чувствую, что мой опыт работы в этой области не будет использоваться в полной мере, поэтому вынужден отклонить предложение.

* * *

FINDING AND KEEPING YOUR JOB IN THE UNITED STATES

In earlier chapters, we described what it is like to work in the United States and how to find a job in the United States. We also gave you a lot of information about your special needs as a non-native speaker of English, immigrant, or foreigner. Now you will be very busy looking for and keeping a job. This last chapter reviews some of the most important parts of this book. Read this chapter often so you will remember how to find and keep your job in the United States.

• Remember that only 13.5% of people find their jobs through want ads. Be sure you include at least two other important methods: (1) using your network of friends and family members and (2) contacting employers directly.

• Many employers will want to see your official papers. Have them ready.

• Job applications give two kinds of information about you: (I) the information related to the questions and (2) how well you can follow directions and be neat and careful. The second kind of information may actually be more important.

• Before you go to a job interview write down several statements about yourself. Have an English-speaking person correct them, and practice repeating them. Try to say them clearly. Try to memorize them.

• Make sure your resume is complete, clear, and perfect.

• In some ways, Americans are more formal than you think. If an employer offers you a job, ask the employer for a written contract or a written letter that offers you the job. Many people turn down a job with one company because another company offers them a job orally, with a handshake. Later, they learn that the latter company really has no job for them.

• Be very careful how you dress. Look at how other people with your kind of job dress. Do not dress "better" than your boss!

Unfortunately, not many employers like clothing that is "different. If your culture or religion requires you to wear special clothing of to cover your head, do your best to dress like an American, without breaking your customs. Sometimes, the choice will be difficult. Perhaps, after working for a while, you can discuss this problem privately with your boss.

* Pay attention to your grooming. Americans think it is very important for people to take a shower and use underarm deodorant and mouth-wash every day,

* Americans prefer leaders who are democratic rather than authoritative. If your job requires you to be a leader or supervisor of other employees, students, colleagues, clients, patients, etc., do not talk to them in a demanding way.

• Be careful about giving gifts to your employers. People think that you are trying to get special treatment. Ask co-workers about gift-giving customs. .

• Always continue to improve your English. Take an English class at night or get a private teacher. Study independently, too.

• If your supervisor corrects or reprimands you, do not quit or get angry. Try to learn the cause and make corrections. *

• Be on time-always.

* Pay attention to how close you stand to other people. Anglo-Americans do not stand as close to others as, for example Latin Americans do. To learn, watch others.

• Learn to socialize and mix with Americans. It is not a good idea for you to talk or eat only with people who speak your native language. Try to be friendly with everybody, even if they are not too friendly to you.

• Pay attention to how people use names and titles with each other. If your colleagues call the boss by his or her first name, you should too.

• Pay attention to how others eat at work. If others eat in a restaurant, you should eat with them sometimes. If your cultural background requires you to follow a special diet, follow the advice we gave for dress: Be flexible, but don't force it. Try not to eat foods with strong odors. If your special food looks very different from American food, make sure it will not be offensive to others.

• Ask questions if you are confused or unsure about how to do something. Do not pretend or hide. It is better to ask a question than to make a big mistake.

• Take breaks as others do. If you work in a factory, do not begin before your co-workers begin and do not try to work faster than

others work.

* Do not talk negatively about others. Do not repeat stories about other people's personal lives.

Final suggestion: Always remember that getting and keeping a job in the United States can be difficult for anyone. It may be more difficult for you. Learn from your mistakes and never give up. You, too, can be successful in the United States. Others agree: "The non-native speaker working in an English-speaking culture communicates effectively by adapting to local conventions regarding time, space, and grooming. Even conversational skills and good working relationships can be established in the absence of perfect English" (Barnes, 1982:17).

UNIT 4

STRATEGIES FOR KEEPING YOUR JOB

Find the job that’s right for you!

Nearly 50% of all workers have jobs they aren’t happy with. Don’t let this happen to you! If you want to find the right job, don’t rush to look through the ads in the newspaper. Instead, sit down and think about yourself. What kind of person are you? What makes you happy?

According to the psychologist John Holland, there are six types of personalities. Nobody is just one type, but most people are mainly one type. For each type, there are certain jobs that might be right and others that are probably wrong.

1. The Realistic type is practical and likes working with machines and tools.

2. The Investigative type is curious and likes to learn, analyze situations, and solve problems.

3. The Artistic type is imaginative and likes to express himself/herself by creating art.

4. The Social type is friendly and likes helping or training other people.

5. The Enterprising type is outgoing and likes to persuade or lead other people.

6. The Conventional type is careful and likes to follow routines and keep track of details.

If you think about who you are, you can make the right job decision. Liz is a good example. Liz knew she wanted to do something for children. She thought she could help children as a school counselor or a lawyer. She took counseling and law courses – and hated them. After talking to a career counselor, she realized the problem was that she’s an Artistic type. Liz studied film, and she now produces children’s TV shows – and loves it.

Based on the information in the article, check the job you feel would not be a good choice for each personality type.

1. Artistic: actor, computer programmer, photographer, songwriter.

2. Conventional: accountant, bookkeeper, inventor, secretary.

3. Enterprising: painter, manager, politician, salesperson.

4. Investigative: detective, model, psychologist, researcher.

5. Realistic: carpenter, factory worker, mechanic, reporter.

6. Social: doctor, nurse, writer, teacher.

Talk about these questions.

1. Which personality type are you most similar to? What kinds of jobs do you think would fit your personality?

2. Can you think of someone who has the wrong jobs for his or her personality? Explain why?

Strategies for keeping your job.

After six years with the company, Bob Congers lost his job. Bob hadn’t done anything wrong. On the contrary, he was a good worker, but his company was cutting its workforce. Workforce cutbacks were a common occurrence in the early 1990s. In response, career experts developed strategies for holding on to a job:

Make sure everyone knows you. Being a good worker is sometimes less important than making sure that people know you’re a good worker. Volunteer for new responsibilities, push your ideas, and generally make yourself visible.

Learn everything that could help you do your job better. If the company buys new computers, learn how to use them. If learning more about marketing could help you, take a short course in marketing.

Make sure you know everything about the company. And use this knowledge. If you find out that sales is becoming the most important department, try making a move to sales.

Be positive. People who find things to complain about are a lot less popular than people who find things to praise.

Improve your speaking and writing skills. Having good ideas isn’t enough. You need to be able to communicate your ideas.

Impress your boss. You can often impress your boss by arriving early and working late and by dressing in a businesslike way even if others dress casually.

In the end, it all comes down to one basic strategy: make yourself so valuable that the company won’t want to lose you.

According to the article, which employee fits each description? Check the correct name. What information helped you determine this?

1. The employee whose job is least likely to be cut:

1. Alice, who is always bringing problems in her department to her boss’s attention.

2. Betty, who is always finding something good to say about her department.

3. Carol, who always keeps her opinions about the department to herself.

2. The employee whose job is most likely to be cut:

2. Albert, who puts his extra time into doing his job well.

3. Bill, who puts his extra time into training in new areas.

4. Carl, who puts his extra time into taking on different responsibilities.

Talk about these questions.

1. Are the strategies given in the article useful for places where you’ve worked or places you’ve heard about? Would you follow these strategies?

2. Which of the strategies seem most important? Which seem least important?

3. What other strategies can you think of for keeping a job?

UNIT 5

EMPLOYMENT

Read the text and translate it

Have a nice day

(Employee loyalty in service firms)

Hotel, shop and restaurant chains, which employ thousands of people in low-paid, dead-end jobs, are discovering that high labour turnover rates resulting from the indiscriminate hiring of “cheap” workers can be extremely costly. Cole National declared a “war for people” in an effort to recruit and keep better staff.

Employees were asked: What do you enjoy about working here? In the past year, have you thought about leaving? If so, why? How can we improve our company and create an even better place to work? Employees replied they wanted better training, better communications with their supervisors and, about all, wanted their bosses to “make me feel like I make a difference”. Labour turnover declined by more than half; for full time sales assistants, it declined by about a third.

Marriott Corporation, a hotels and restaurants group, has also decided to spend more money on retaining employees in the hope of spending less on finding and training new ones. In one year, it had to hire no fewer than 27,000 workers to fill 8, 800 hourly-paid job slots.

To slow its labour turnover, Marriott had to get a simple message accepted throughout its operating divisions: loyal, well motivated employees make customers happy and that, in turn, creates fatter profits and happier shareholders. Improved training of middle managers helped. So did a change in bonus arrangements.

At the same time, Marriott became more fussy about the people it recruited. It screened out job applicants motivated mainly by money: applicants which the company pejoratively described as “pay first people”. Such people form a surprisingly small, though apparently disruptive, part of the service-industry workforce. Marriott found in its employee-attitude surveys that only about 20% of its workers at Roy Rogers restaurants and about 30% of its workers at Marriott hotels regarded pay as their primary reason for working there.

Many middle managers in service industries are more comfortable coping with demands for more money than with demands for increased recognition and better communications. They will have to change their ways. Surveys say that when 13, 000 employees in retail shops across America were asked to list in order the 18 reasons for working where they did, they ranked “good pay” third. In first place was “appreciation of work done”, with “respect for me as a person” second.

Highlight any useful vocabulary you’d like to remember in the passage.

Too old at 30

I’m contemplating applying for my fifty-first job. It’s been a long time since I wasted stamp money this way. In fact, when I reached the fiftieth without success I decided to abandon job-hunting and got out my pen to scratch a living instead.

But there’s another wildly exciting job in the paper today, “salary 12,500-16,000 pounds according to age and experience”. The good news is the pay, the bad news is that damning little phrase “according to age and experience” which means I won’t get the job.

It’s not that I have more age than experience – I’ve led an incident-packed existence. Unfortunately it’s not all related to a single-strand career structure. Journalist, temp, company director, wife and mother, market researcher, and now, at thirty-something, I’m trying to use my Cambridge degree in criminology.

I’m a victim of the sliding pay-scale. Employers can obtain a fresh 22-year-old graduate to train a lot cheaper than me. Yet I’m the ideal employee: stable, good-humoured, child-bearing behind me, looking for 25-plus years of steady pensionable employment.

Ageism is everywhere. It’s much more prevalent than sexism in the job market, or that’s how it seems from where I’m standing. Even the BBC is a culprit. Their appointments brochure says: “The BBC’s personnel policies are based on equal opportunities for all … This applies to … opportunity for training and promotion, irrespective of sex, marital status, creed, colour, race or ethnic origin, and the BBC is committed to the development and promotion of such equality of opportunity. Traineeships … are available to suitably qualified candidates under the age of 25.”

Ageism is lagging behind sexism, racism, and handicappism because even the oppressed seem to accept the discrimination. The public and private sectors are obsessed with attracting young high-flyers. Yet there are many professions that would benefit from the maturity and stability the older entrant can bring. This is recognized by the Probation Service, for example, who welcome experienced adults looking for a second career.

The armed services and police, perhaps, could think about strenuous aptitude and fitness tests rather than imposing a blanket upper limit on entrants which is arbitrarily and variously fixed between 28 and 33. The administrative grade of the Civil Service assumes the rot sets in at 32.

My own pressing concern is to alleviate my guilt. I loved every minute of my university education, and I’m desperately grateful to the Government for financing me through this at a cost of over 10,000 pounds. But unless someone gives me a job, how can I pay them back in income tax?

Work in pairs. Decide whether statements 1 to 10 are true or false, according to the article.

1. The writer is over forty years old.

2. She gave up applying for jobs some time ago.

3. She has not had much experience of working for a living.

4. Employers think that someone of her age is too expensive to employ.

5. She needs a job so that she can support her family.

6. People don’t get as angry about ageism as about other forms of discrimination.

7. Employers are looking for bright, ambitious people of any age.

8. More mature employees would be valuable assets to many professions.

9. People in their thirties can’t get jobs in government departments.

10. She wants to “repay” the State for her university education.

Form questions of different types to the text.

Summarize the main idea of the text.

Read and translate the text.

Adding to the burden

Just as the British Chambers of Commerce warn grimly of a “manufacturing meltdown”, news emerges that Brussels is considering immerse new burdens on our smallest and most vulnerable companies.

Under proposals now before the European Commission, employers with as few as 20 staff will be forced to consult their workforces before taking major commercial decisions. Bosses would lose much of their independence on such issues as redundancies, production and sales. Real power would be in the hands of the unions.

Britain is playing a heavy price for the Government’s decision to sign the Social Chapter. That piece of folly has given the green light to EU employment commissioner, Padraig Flynn.

Even if his grandiose plans don’t come to fruition this time, the writing is on the wall. Brussels has learned nothing from the heavy unemployment which scars Europe. It still seeks to extend its influence through more controls and nitpicking regulations. And the tragedy is that there are still ministers who refuse to acknowledge what is going on under their very noses.

Bosses fear return of union power by Europe’s back door

More than a million British firms face a massive return of union power under new rules from Brussels. Each company with at least 20 employees could have to give worker consultation councils an unprecedented say in how it is run. Business leaders said last night the scheme was the biggest attack ever on their right to manage their own companies.

The threat is being drawn up by European Union employment commissioner Padraig Flynn and follows Labour’s decision to end the Social Chapter opt-out. Under the Europe-wide scheme, worker representatives could influence a wide range of crucial management issues including whether or not firms can merge with others, introduce efficiency drives, close plants and boardroom appointments.

The measure could be in force in three years – imposing the councils on 1.1 million firms, with 5.1 million employees – one fifth of the UK workforce. Business leaders fear it will mean endless meetings dominated by obstructive unions.

Ruth Lea, of the Institute of Directors, said: “It amounts to a major swing towards union involvement which could interfere with the ability of management to manage. The unions are regaining their power through the back door of Europe.” Labour is also opposed to the move, believing it should be one of subsidiarity, where member EU states can remain independent on certain issues. But removing the opt-out, won by the Tories under the Maastricht Treaty, means little can be done to stop Mr Flynn. The imposition of the works councils will give the lie to Mr Blair’s claim that the UK would be in a better position to influence EU affairs by signing up to the Chapter.

So far, Brussels has only gone as far as ordering multi-national companies with bases in more than one EU country to set up the councils. Before the Labour opt-in, large UK firms could choose whether to include British worker representatives on the Euro consultation panels. Now, they are required to do so – but fewer than 1,000 UK companies are involved.

Mr Flynn is intent on getting the “national consultation” regulations voted through the European council of ministers. He has already met resistance in Germany, where employers have refused even to discuss the issue. They are already pressing for domestic laws requiring works councils to be repealed because they need more flexibility and less regulation – the kind of freedom to manage that UK businesses now enjoy.

Summarize the main idea of the text in one or two sentences.

Read and translate the text in written form.