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Chapter One

English and your Career


After finishing this Chapter you will know:
1.1 What is a career? 1.2 How to make a career plan? 1.3 Matching Job title 1.4 Personality test regarding career and personal life 1.5 Ten ways to improve career 1.6 Meeting & Greeting people 1.7 Selected terminology that you must know about career 1.8 A job interview 1.9 Exercise 1.10 A case study

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1.1 What do you mean by career?


In general terms career means "An occupation or profession that you plan to pursue for your lifetime or part of your life Example: Career of an engineer, doctor, professor. Some people know exactly what they want to do when it's time to enter the job market. Others may have a wide range of interests and aren't so sure. There are also some employed people who are not sure if this is the career they want. With so many choices and opportunities, it's sometimes difficult to pick a career path. You might be in any of the above situations. But, whatever situation you might be in, achieving success in todays job market requires the ability to communicate in English.

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Now, please pay attention to the following situations: I. Recently, a career counselor at a major Canadian university found that deficiency in English language skills is a real obstacle for many of their recent graduates.

II.

A prospective employer from a large financial institution complained about the cover letters from recent graduates. They were so poorly written that the company would not even think about hiring any of these applicants. In both the situations, whatever students have learned in their educational institutions doesnt pay off because of poorly written English. So, it is quite apparent that the need for correct English speaking and writing skill starts from the beginning of any ones career. The most difficult situations for people struggling with business English are, in order of importance: making telephone calls, socializing with colleagues, participating in meetings, writing emails, and answering questions. These are critical requirements in almost any work situation. Fortunately, there is a range of ways to improve your business English skills.

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Since you have chosen this course, I am sure you want to do best in your career. Right? Now lets think deeply and try to answer these questions A How ambitious are you? Do you have a career plan? Where do you want to be in 10 years? Which of the following you would prefer to do? Work for only one company during your career. Work for several different companies. Work for yourself
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B What should you do to get ahead in your career? Choose the four most important tips from the list below. Find a friend and try to compare your idea: Change companies often Use charm with your superior Attend all meetings Go to your companies social functions Be energetic and enthusiastic at all the time Be the last to leave the work every day Find an experienced person to give you help and advice Study for extra qualification in your free time

All of the above are important points that you need to pay attention to. Does your fellow colleague or friend share the same views with you?

1.2 Steps for Career Plans


You can use the five step planning process whether you are:

Still at university; An university leaver; An adult adding on skills; An adult changing your job or career. Career plan is one of the best weapons for deciding your own future. Via evaluating lifestyles, interests, passion, skills, personality, strengths, weaknesses etc., this plan will show you the best way to achieve your career goals in the future. Making a career plan is not really difficult. The key to success is grasping five steps as follows:

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Step 1: Self assessing At this step, self-assessment questions will help you to understand yourself more thoroughly. Such questions take various forms, but the most common ones are as follows: Is a high salary important to you? What types of jobs do you enjoy doing? What makes your job important to you? How do you describe yourself? What skills have you had? What training courses have you attended (or wish to attend)? Step 2: Specifying career goals You need to specify long-term and short-term career goals in your ideal jobs. However, it is critical that they should correspond to your interests, passion and capabilities. Only when you do activities you love and are good at, can you attain true achievements in your jobs.

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Step 3: Researching jobs After specifying your goals, you should find out the jobs ideally suited to your demand and interests. Visiting recruitment websites can help you to find out the jobs available on the job market at the moment as well as current hiring demand. Additionally, you should extend your network on social networking sites such as Caravat.com. Ask your friends who work in the industries questions such as: What are their responsibilities and duties? What skills are essential to their jobs? How are promotion prospects? To make this task easier, you need to update your profile, which lists employment and educational background, expertise and professional achievements.
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Step 4: Comparing and making decisions The critical moment has come! This is the right time for you to make a list of your most favorite jobs and grade them according to the criteria such as values, interests, personality, skills . The job which gets the highest marks will be your top priority. If that ideal job is your current one, from now on, you can invest all your effort in getting promoted! On the contrary, you should take changing jobs into consideration (probably moving to other departments). Step 5: Making action plans You ought to specify much-needed knowledge and skills to attain your goals with level of priority and deadlines. In addition, you should confidently state to your manager that you are ready to take more responsibilities. Conversely, if you are still looking for your ideal jobs, update your old resumes or create new ones. After that, you should keep track of job information and research career advice section on newspapers or recruitment websites to grab new career opportunities and hone your skills in finding jobs. Have you ever heard of the saying If you fail to plan, you plan to fail? Obviously, a career plan will help you to see clearly goals and actions you need to take to decide your own career future. Therefore, you should invest
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considerable time and effort in making this plan! This is surely one of your wisest investments in the New Year! If you are interested you can Go to this website link and take a career quiz: http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/postsecondary/careerplan ning/program/wizard.html

1.3 Matching Job title


Now, lets find out if you know who is who in a company. Five people from different companies are attending a workshop on a public speaking. Match their job titles with their responsibility. Write the correct letter A-E for each job. Job titles 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. chief financial officer (CFO) Management consultant Personal assistant (PA) Quality manager Sales representative

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Responsibilities A. Visits customers, leaves samples and supports the customer service department. B. Is responsible for testing new product and deals with customers complaints. C. Interviews clients and gives them advice. D. Is responsible for the companys accounts, and controls money coming in and going out. E. Organizes meetings and deals with correspondence.

1.4 Personality test regarding career and personal life


We understand, working may not be fun all the time. Do you work or study too much? Or you know how to balance your work with your life?

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PERSONALITY QUIZ
HOW OFTEN

0 = never 1 = seldom / rarely 2 = occasionally 3 = frequently / often 4 = usually normally 5 = always /

1. Do you plan your days activity? 2. Do you sleep eight hours a night? 3. Do you find time to relax during the day? 4. Are you on time for appointments? 5. Do you spend more than one hour on lunch? 6. Do you see your friends at weekends? 7. Do you do exercise or sports during the week? 8. Do you read a magazine in the evening? 9. Do you wake up full of energy in the morning? 10. Do you laugh in a normal work day?

How to Interpret the Score:


41 50: well done! You find it very easy to relax. But be careful you are so relaxed that you are in danger of disappearing! Maybe you need to wake up and make sure people still know that you are there. 31 40: you find it quite easy to relax. People like being with you, because you are a positive presence. 21 30: you didnt find relaxing very easy and life is a bit difficult for you. 11 20: you didnt find relaxing easy at all thats why you struggle so much at home and work. 10 or below: youre making life hard for yourself and maybe for the people around you too. Your health may even be suffering. Relax!

TOTAL SCORE

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1.5 Ten ways to improve career


Now, read the following tips for getting ahead in your career: I. Make a list of your priorities. Outline your tasks for the day. You may be physically be at work, but are you there mentally? Are you really present? Delegating task is an important skill to master at any level Always look for opportunities to broaden your skills. For example, you can attend professional development seminars. Socialize with your colleagues. This will help you learn about what's happening in other departments. Create your own goals. Determine where you want to be professionally and what skills you need to reach that goal

II.

III.

IV.

V.

I.

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II.

Accept challenges that force you to try something new. Be clear about what you want. If you believe you deserve a promotion. Go ask for it. Take time off and relax. Attending to your personal life and doing things that make you happy will help your performance at work If you are disappointed by your current career, look for ways to transform your job into more of what you want. If it doesn't solve the problem, maybe it's time to look for a new position. If you follow this advice, you will significantly increase your opportunity to earn more money, get promoted sooner and move ahead faster.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

1.6 Meeting & Greeting people


Now, lets find out how good you are in greeting somebody. Here are some phrases you can use when you greet somebody. Lets see if you can choose the best responses.
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A
Good morning, my name's Rox Cox II. Hello, I'm Lother Muller III. Excuse me, are you Linda Gordon? IV. Hello, Ms Leonardi, How are you? V. Excuse me, is your name Brown? VI. Hi, George. Nice to see you again. VII. Pleased to meet you, Mr., Lehman I.

B
Not too bad, thanks. And you? II. No, I am not. III. Pleased to meet you, Ms Cox IV. How do you do Mr. Muller? V. Please, call me Peter. VI. Yes, it is. VII. Nice to see you too. I.

Not that difficult, right? Try to find a friend and practice saying the greetings and responses with him.

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1.7 Selected terminology that you must know about career.


a job, especially an important job the type of career, training, or education Background that someone has had used for talking about business compared Business to things that you do when you are not working a strong feeling of wanting to do call something, especially as a career a strong feeling that you must do a calling particular type of job, especially one that you consider morally good a job or series of related jobs that you do, career especially a profession that you spend a lot of your working life a career politician, soldier, teacher etc career adjective wants to be in their profession for a long time and to achieve success or power in it connected with the process of choosing a careers objective career a system for making regular progress in career structure your career by moving to a more important job or position each time the process of working with someone to collaboration produce something Appointment

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delegation

division of labor employment function gig incumbency occupational

off-site

the process of giving some of your work, duties, or responsibilities to a less senior person or a less powerful person the way that the work that needs to be done is divided so that different people are responsible for different parts of it work that you are paid regularly to do for a person or company someones job or particular responsibility a piece of work that you do for money, especially if you are self-employed an official position relating to, or caused by, your job a short trip for all the employees in a particular department or company, especially so that they can learn more about each other and how to work together better a job that needs a person to do it a job that is available any piece of work that someone produces the total work that a company has agreed to do in the future, which shows how safe its workers jobs are a situation in which someone has more than one job or position, especially in a

Opening Opportunity opus order book pluralism


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church a way of organizing your working life in which you work for several different portfolio working employers and do several different jobs at one time instead of working all the time for one employer Position a job in a company post a job, especially one with a lot of responsibility a period of time during which someone probation who has been given a new job is watched to see whether they can do the job well and stay in the position a job that you need special skills and profession qualifications to do, especially one with high social status professional relating to your work or career the process of obtaining the skills, professional qualifications, and experience that allow development you to make progress in your career in a way that is connected with your work professionally or career chances of success, especially in a job or prospects career work or duties done for a person or an service organization situation a job slot a job that someone has as part of a team
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of people start out used about someones career the period of time during which someone tenure has an important job or is an elected official a period of time during which a politician term or other official holds their job a job or type of work that someone is trade trained to do vacancy a job that is available for someone to do the experience and skills that you gain in work experience doing a particular job the period of time in your life that you working life work the amount of work that a person or workload organization has to do careerist very serious about ones career a an action or change of job that helps you good/smart/clever to be successful in your career career move

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Lets find out if you know the basic vocabularies associated with career: What do you call someone who ? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Employs people .. Is employed by a firm. Applies for a job Is interviewed for a job Is seeking (looking for) a job. Participates in something.. Has left university with a degree

1.8

A job interview
-How would you feel if you were asked these questions? How would you reply? -Can you tell me why you think you will be good at this job? -Why should we employ you? -you dont have much experience in this field, do you? -You have taken quite a lot of time out from work. Why is that?

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-You are quite a quietly-spoken person. Do you have problem asserting yourself? -Now, your last job. Did you choose to leave? -And what do you know about our company?

-So tell me what you did yesterday?

Prepare the answers and get ready before you face any interview Achieve real results, whatever stage your career is

1.9 A Sample Exercise


Lets, see how good you are in choosing the right word

1. At present, people generally retire/resign at the age of 65

2. I joined/applied for the company when I was 25 and have worked there ever since.

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3. What's the best way to pay/reward our employees for good performance?

4. About 700 staff where laid off/dismissed when the company lost the contract from Toyota.

5. We have educated/trained our staff to use of laser equipment.

6. All the big companies recruits/employs from top business school

7. I have one day off/holiday to attend a course at college

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1.10 Case

study: Find out who wins the Employee of the Year Award

The criteria for selecting the best employee should be: Make a significant contribution to company efficiency, profit, product development or stuff development. Deal with professional or personal problems successfully. Be a mentor or set a positive example to others. Represent the company values of healthy living.

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A
Ian Roger is 40 years old. He's production manager and he is based in Singapore. His responsibilities are to supervise projects and to Coordinate resources. His professional background is in engineering. Ian usually goes scuba diving at weekends and he also enjoys marathon running and cooking. He runs a sports club for local children and he raises money for their training.

B
Michelle Yong is 36. Shes a finance assistant shes based in Singapore. Michelle usually deals with Asia division accounts and sometimes does auditing for other division. She has a masters degree in business administration. In her free time Michelle likes painting, and she also does judo. Michelle suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and often works from home, but this does not stop her ambitious career plans.

C
Sarah Mullen is 31 years old and based in the head office in Dallas. As the companys internal and external communications manager. Sarah is also in charge of the companys successful new email system. She regularly works late to help colleagues or to attend external events. Sarah has a degree in journalism. Sarahs personal interest are writing detective stories, breeding Yorkshire terriers and showing her dogs in exhibitions.

D
Henry King is 57 and is the research and development manager. Henry is based in Dallas. He manages R&D of new product ideas, including the best selling new Chocolate chewing gum range. Henry is famous for always thinking of new ideas and projects. Henrys professional background is in food technology, and in his free time he enjoys visits to museums, at galleries and the theatre.

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