UNIT 1

Jobs and Career

1. What do your parents do for a living? Why did you decide to follow (not
to follow) in their footsteps?

2. Here is a list of jobs you might not know exist. What do you think they might
involve?

Professional cuddler, golf ball diver, online dating ghostwriter, hippotherapist,

professional bridesmaid, water slide tester, paper towel sniffer, face feeler,
line stander, bed tester, worm picker

3. Read the article and check your predictions. Rank the jobs from 1 to 11
starting with the most weird job.

Professional Cuddler
 
Yes, this is a real thing. You could be helping people who are struggling with
loneliness, depression, past trauma, medical problems, or who are simply in
need of an extra cuddle…from a stranger.
Successful professional cuddlers might build an established clientele and
develop repeat business or are open to one-off cuddles. You could be
carrying out multiple cuddling sessions per day. Earning anywhere between
$40 to $80 per hour, the hours are flexible and you could even work from
home.
 
Golf Ball Diver
 
Basically professional recyclers. Golf ball divers retrieve golf balls from bodies
of water in or around golf courses. The golf balls are then then cleaned up,
repackaged, and resold. You could be part of an organisation where you just
turn up, dive and earn 10 cents per ball. Or you could negotiate contracts to
work independently for golf courses.
It’s not glamorous work, often involving heavy lifting and diving into murky
waters filled with all kinds of hazards. The rewards? Well you could earn
upwards of $100 per hour; Glen Berger claims to have made over $15 million
throughout his career.
 
Online Dating Ghostwriter
 
How about working as a modern-day cupid? You could earn $900 a month by
writing profiles for people to post on their online dating site profiles. Not
everyone is great at writing and if you are, you could be helping your clients
to increase their chances of finding their perfect match.
 
Hippotherapist
 
The literal meaning of Hippotherapy is “treatment with the help of the horse”.
You’d be using the therapeutic benefits of horses and their movement to help
human patients to overcome speech, physical, or mental health disorders.
Experience with, and love of horses isn’t enough though. You’ll need to
qualify and become licensed as a physical therapist, occupational therapist or
a speech or language therapist before you can specialise in this field.
 
Professional Bridesmaid
 
Not a wedding planner, but similar. Not a celebrant but a major part of a
couple’s big day. Friend for hire, organiser, confident, non-complaining
member of the wedding party – if you get along well with people and want to
help a bride’s wedding day run smoothly, then this could seriously be a job to
consider.

Water Slide Tester

 
Water Slide Testers check to see if the water slides in resorts, theme parks
and hotels are both fun and safe.  Imagine how fantastic it would be turning
up to work every single day.

Paper Towel Sniffer

 
Odour Judges or Paper Towel Sniffers (there are people on LinkedIn with this
as their job title) are hired by paper towel manufacturers. You’d be sniff
testing products to check if they smell good (or not). Positions may be limited
though, and in order to be competitive you’ll need to have more than just a
good nose for business.
 
Face Feeler
 
Face feelers are also known as “sensory scientists”, which definitely sounds
more professional. In this job you’d be using your hands to feel the difference
in product testers skin both before and after they’ve used lotions, creams and
other products.
 
Line Stander
 
If you’re patient or perhaps you just enjoy people watching, and you don’t
mind being out of the elements, you could make line standing a side hustle
that could earn you money.
Once you’re hired you could find yourself lining up waiting for the release of a
movie, concert or sporting event tickets, the newest iPhone, games consoles,
or anything else.  You’d get paid to hold a space for someone else who’s too
busy or just doesn’t want to queue themselves. There are even websites and
apps available for booking these services if you want to sign up.
 

Bed Tester 

A temporary job usually, but one that’s surprisingly not competitive, is a

professional bed tester. Mattress and bedding manufacturers, bed designers
and luxury hotels could require your services. You could be paid to take naps,
testing out comfort levels, sleep quality, room conditions and other factors.

Worm Picker
 
Worm pickers work in the great outdoors “hunting” and collecting earth
worms. The worms could be sold directly to fishermen to use as bait, you
could be contracted by fishing companies to catch and package bait, or you’d
work for Universities or other institutions that use the worms for teaching and
research purposes.
No qualifications are required, but if you’re paid per thousand worms
collected, then there are definitely some skills and commitment required if
you’d like to make a living from this job.

4. Translate the following adjectives which could be used to describe different

jobs. Check the pronunciation of the words with your dictionary. Think of a job
that you can describe with each adjective.

challenging, monotonous, repetitive, rewarding/fulfilling, motivating,

demanding, tedious, dead-end, high powered.

5. Listen to the sentences and translate them. Listen to the sentences and
write them down. (EF, Adv, Sb, p 163, 1.10)

6. Read the dialogues.What to the phrases in bold mean? Translate the

phrases.

A: What do you do?

B: I do a job-share with a friend in a boutique … I enjoy it … I like working
with customers … unfortunately it’s only temporary work but one of the
perks of the job is I get a discount on the clothes …
A: Do you have any career plans yet?
B: Yes … I’d like to be my own boss one day … I’m interested in
programming and I’d like to create apps for myself or for other companies … I
know being self employed would be a challenge but the idea of doing
a nine-to-five job doesn’t appeal to me at all …
A: What do you see yourself doing in 10 years time?
B: I’d hope to be working … not a high-powered job … but I’m quite a
creative person so something where I can work with my hands would be
nice … as long as I’m not stuck behind a desk doing something boring  in a
dead-end job I’ll be happy …

7. Here are 10 factors that make people happy at work. Which factor do you
find the most important and which is the least important?

a. Being part of a successful team;

b. doing something rewarding;
c. doing varied work;
d. earning a competitive salary;
e. doing enjoyable work;
f. feeling that you are making a difference;
g. having a good boss or manager;
h. having a good work-life balance;
i. having friendly, supportive co-workers;
j. having your achievements recognised.

8. Read the sentences. Underline the stressed syllable in the bold words.
Listen and check. (EF, Am, Adv, SB 1.8). Translate the sentences into
Ukrainian.

3. I managed to get a challenging and motivating job.

4. I don’t have any qualifications or experience.
5. There’s no job security and I could be laid off.
6. I’ve had a very rewarding career in publishing.
7. The job has a competitive salary and excellent benefits.
8. It’s a stimulating work environment with good opportunities for
advancement.
9. The employees don’t enjoy the work, since its very monotonous.
10. After she retired, she did volunteer work at her local hospital.

9. Read the statements. Do you agree or disagree with them? Why?

11. Statistically there are more happy people at work than unhappy people.
12. Employees of bigger companies or organisations are happier than those
who work for smaller companies.
13. Men are generally happier than women with their work.
14. Full-time workers are happier than part-time workers.
15. People with hight positions in a company are happier than the people
below them.
16. The longer you stay in one job, the happier you become.
17. Workers over 55 are the happiest.

Pronunciation.
Partially agreeing.

10. Read the following dialogues and finish B’s lines. Listen and check
(Speakout, upper, pron, 2.6)

k. A: I think that film’s really good.

B: I suppose so, but….
b. A: I thought the food was excellent.
B: Fair enough, but …
c. A: I think it’s her best book.
B: I’m not sure. Personally, i think …
d. A: the programme was brilliant.
B: I agree to a certain extent, but …
e. A: The bus system in the city is great.
B: Up to a point, but …

10. Discuss the question in ex 7, 9 with a partner and partially agree with
him/her.

Example: A: I think it’s crucial to have a friendly and supportive co-workers.

What if you don’t know how to do something, you can always turn to them for
help.
B: Fair enough, but in my opinion having a good work-life balance is by
far more important because….

(EF, Am, Adv SB, 6-7) - HW