English for the Workplace

Video transcript

Hello everyone my name is David, I’m one of your educators on this English for the
Workplace course and thank you for joining this end of week review video for week for three.

So week three has been all about getting started in your job. Last week we looked at things
like interviews and now we've been successful and we're looking at how we get started with
our work. At the very beginning of the week we asked you to talk about your first week or
your first day on the job and you have lots of interesting stories to tell. Gamze has a very
short but I think poignant comment saying, “When I started my first job I was so excited and a
little bit nervous,” and I think that's a feeling that pretty much covers most of the comments
that you have made here. And, of course, it's a very natural feeling to be nervous cause you
don't know what's going to happen.

Now between steps 3.2 and 3.4 we've looked at some important vocabulary about being
offered a job and how you know how to start a job. If you haven't checked especially point 3.2
I suggest you go back there and have a look it's very useful words to look at there.
Now moving on for steps 3.5 to 3.8 with this being about learning the ropes is what we've
called it. So this is learning what you have to do when you start a job and one of the things
that's interesting is of course many jobs have their own terminology and especially their own
acronyms those very short phrases or letters that stand for something. And sometimes
they're very obvious and we know what they mean, like PR meaning public relations or IT
meaning information technology but not all of them are clear and one, for example, an
example from Islam, is about hospitals where you have ICU which is intensive care unit.
Maybe you know that already but if you don't work in a hospital, maybe not. Are there any
special acronyms like that for your job? If yes, please go back and write your example so we
can all learn.

Now induction is something that should happen at the beginning of a job. Induction is when
maybe you have a mentor or a manager who explain to you exactly what you have to do in
your job and probably introduce you to some key figures in the workplace.

In step 3.8 we ask you to talk about the role and responsibilities that you have in your
company and a very good example is Liudmyla who says, “I'm responsible for drawing up
contracts and other documents.” That sounds very responsible and I’m very glad I don't have
to do that, but please go back again and add what you do and what are your responsibilities.
We’re all responsible for something after all.

Now moving on, one of the things that is very common in companies is of course that there
may be some rules and regulations related to what you can and cannot do. Is it OK to drink a
coffee at your desk? Can you smoke in the office or do you have to go outside or at least to a
designated area? There are many many rules in one particular area we focused on is rules
related to IT. Almost every company I think has some kind of rules about how you are
allowed to use the computer or what you can do in the Internet et cetera and I really liked the
tips that Rocio gave in relation to joining online meetings, of course a very common thing we
all have to do these days. One example, I won't read them all, it’s your job to go back and
read them all cause they're all excellent, but one example is, “You have to keep the camera
English for the Workplace
© British Council 2019
 English for the Workplace
on at all times during meetings.” Now I know lots of people hate being on camera but I think
this is great advice because, of course one of the difficulties of being in an online meeting is it
you just don't know who you're speaking to or you can't read the body language of the person
and see if they're agreeing with you or they got some worries and having the camera on at
least makes it possible. Maybe it's still not perfect but it gives you a chance. So I think great
advice there and as I said please go back and have a look at that.

We also talked about some other rules and regulations at work and again if you have rules
about, I don't know, how you should dress or how you should behave at work; can you play
music or whatever? Go back and that tell us all about it. It will be really interesting to read
about that and if you don't actually have a job at the moment, read somebody else's
comments and see if you agree with them and add your opinion.

So that was week three, week four is going to be about working with people and especially
about dealing with problems. It's going to be lots more excellent examples and tips to help
you. So I really hope to see you there in week four but for the moment thank you for all your
work and have a great weekend.

English for the Workplace

© British Council 2019