unit

1 Careers

overseas experience
Before you read
Is it part of your career plan to work abroad one day? If you have
worked abroad, was it good for your career? Why? / Why not?

Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times by Rhymer Rigby and
answer the questions.

level of difficulty

Working abroad
By Rhymer Rigby
TEXT BANK

A period overseas is seen by 2 4

many as an important addition to
your CV. But how do you make
sure that it really works to your
5 advantage?
1 work for an organisation that has
“Think carefully about the
job,” says executive coach,
Nicola Bunting. “Does it fit in
with your career goals or are you
10 being attracted by the lifestyle?
Also before you go, you need
to have a re-entry plan.” Kevan
Hall, chief executive of the
international people management
15 group, Global Integration, says
you shouldn’t underestimate
the culture shock. “Go out there
beforehand. See what you’re
getting into.”
20 Nigel Parslow, UK managing
director of Harvey Nash executive
search, says staying where you
are may not be possible if you
25 overseas operations. He adds that
the experience you gain is also
very attractive.
3 Many people say two to
The biggest is family. This
can be particularly hard for
30 people in the middle of their
careers who may have children
at school. Ms Bunting says:
“There’s your partner’s career
too. Some people’s spouses try
35 and commute back and I’d really
advise against this as it makes an
already stressful situation even
more difficult.”
Mr Hall says: “There’s
40 been a power shift to Asia, and
that, coupled with low growth in
America and Europe, means that
particularly if you’re ambitious
you might want to spend some
45 time there.”
5
three years. But this will vary
according to the country and
organisation. Mr Parslow thinks
50 that if you spend too long abroad,
you can end up with a not entirely
positive expat* label attached to
you.
* An expat is someone who lives and
works abroad, often for a long period.

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 TEXT BANK •• uNiT 1

1 Find the correct place in the article for each 4 When you work overseas, … the experience
of these questions. you gain is … very attractive. (lines 26–27)
a) Is there an ideal length of time? Attractive to whom?
b) What about the destination?
c) What are the advantages and disadvantages? 5 Find the answers to these questions in
paragraphs 4, 5 and 6. Start your answers
d) What are the personal considerations?
with Because …
e) What should I consider before I go?
When considering a job abroad …
2 Look through the whole article and match a) why is it especially hard for people in the middle
each person 1–3 with their organisation of their careers?
a)–c), and their opinions/advice i)–viii). b) why should married people consider the issues
(Each person has more than one opinion/ carefully?
piece of advice.) c) why is it a bad idea for the husband or wife to
commute back to the home country?
1 Nicola a) Global i) Don’t stay abroad
d) why is Asia a good place to go and work for a
Bunting Integration too long.
while?
2 Kevan b) Harvey Nash ii) Make sure the
Hall overseas job e) why is it a good idea not to stay there too long?
suits your career
goals. Over to you 1
3 Nigel c) not iii) Think about your Imagine that a colleague of yours is going to work or
Parslow mentioned partner’s career. study abroad for two years. What advice would you give
iv) Don’t them?
underestimate
the culture
Over to you 2

TEXT BANK
shock.
Some say that the business world is becoming more or
v) You may have
less the same everywhere, and that people should have
no choice about
less and less trouble adjusting to work in a new country.
going abroad or
Do you agree or disagree? Give your reasons.
not.
vi) Think about what
you will do when
you get back.
vii) Go to work in
Asia.
viii) Go to the place
beforehand to
check it out.

3 Read paragraph 2 and decide if these

statements about expressions are true or
false.
If you …
a) consider if a job fits in with your career goals
(lines 8–9), you think about the long-term
consequences of taking the job.
b) go to work abroad and have a re-entry plan
(line 12), you have an idea about what you are
going to do when you get back.
c) underestimate something (line 16), you give it
more importance that it really has.
d) suffer from culture shock (line 17), you find it
easy to get used to another culture.
e) get into a situation (line 19), you get involved
in it.

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 unit
1 Careers

videoconferencing
performance reviews
Before you read
In a performance review or performance appraisal, your boss tells you
how well you are doing your job, and things that you must improve.
Are these reviews useful? Why? / Why not?
If you’re a student, what forms of appraisal are there for your work?

Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times by Lucy Kellaway and
answer the questions.

level of difficulty

It’s time to sack job appraisals

TEXT BANK

By Lucy Kellaway

Last week an e-mail went round
the office asking for suggestions
on ways to improve our
performance appraisal system.
5 My suggestion is dead easy and
dirt cheap: get rid of the whole
thing and replace it with nothing
at all.
Over the past 30 years, I
10 have been appraised 30 times
– as banker, journalist and non-
executive director. I’ve lived
through the fashion for long,
complicated forms. I’ve also
15 survived the fashion in which
appraisals are called “career
chats”. I’ve done appraisals
across a table, on a sofa, even
over a meal.
20 But I have never learnt
anything about myself as a result.
I have never set any target that I
later hit. Instead I always feel as
if I am playing a particularly bad
25 party game that isn’t fun and that
doesn’t answer the most basic
question: am I doing a good job?
The resulting form is then put on
file even though you know from
30 experience how much attention
will be paid to it later: none at all.
At least I’ve only had to
suffer one side of the process. I
have never – thank goodness –
35 had to appraise anyone else. This
must be even worse, as you have
to perform the same operation
with each employee in turn. You
have to let people believe they are
40 doing more or less okay, because
it’s too tiring to tell them that they
aren’t doing okay at all.

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 TEXT BANK •• uNiT 1

1 Read through the whole article. Is the writer e) If something is complicated (line 14), it is …
for or against job appraisals? i) easy.
ii) nice.
iii) difficult.
2 Complete the table with words from
f) A chat (line 17) is a type of …
paragraphs 1, 2 and 3.
i) speech.
ii) interview.
verb noun
iii) conversation.
suggest
5 Match the verbs from paragraph 3 with the
improvement
things that they go with.
appraise
1 learn a) a party game
replacement
2 set b) something on file
survival
3 play c) a basic question
target
4 answer d) a target
answer
5 put e) attention to
file
something
experience
6 pay f) something about
yourself
3 Now match the nouns in Exercise 2 to their
definitions. 6 Read paragraphs 3 and 4 and decide if these
a) what you give when someone asks a question statements are true or false.

TEXT BANK
b) when something gets better The writer of the article …
c) something that takes the place of another a) found out things about herself thanks to job
d) the act of giving an opinion about someone or appraisals.
something b) set targets for herself, but didn’t hit them.
e) something that you aim at or for c) compares job appraisals with party games.
f) advice about what to do d) has found out if she has done a good job during
g) sheets of paper with information, kept together job appraisals.
h) knowledge of what has happened in the past e) has done job appraisals of people working for
i) continuing to exist, despite difficult conditions her.
f) thinks that it’s easy to tell people that they are
4 Choose the correct alternative to complete not performing well.
these statements about the expressions in
italic from paragraphs 2 and 3. Over to you 1
a) If something is dead easy (line 5), it is … After reading the article, do you think that performance
i) not so easy. appraisals are a) less useful, or b) more useful than you
ii) very easy. did before you read it? Give your reasons.
iii) quite easy.
b) If something is dirt cheap (line 6), it is … Over to you 2
i) very cheap. Give suggestions on how to tell an employee in a
ii) quite cheap. performance appraisal that their work is not good
iii) not at all cheap. enough.
c) If you get rid of something (line 6), you …
i) keep it.
ii) throw it away.
iii) prevent it.
d) If you live through something (lines 12–13), you …
i) experience it.
ii) ignore it.
iii) realise it.

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