Learn English Job Vocabulary and Job Phrases

Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

I know many of you are learning English

because you want to get a job.

Maybe you want to work in a restaurant.

Maybe you want to work at a large hotel,

or maybe you want to work in the world of business,

and you know that knowing

the English language would give you an advantage

when you are looking for a job in one of those areas.

Well, in this English lesson,

I will help you learn some English job vocabulary.

I will teach you some common English phrases

that we use when we talk about jobs,

and I will help you learn how to talk about getting a job,

starting a job and, eventually,

the things you would say when you quit a job.

Stick around till the end, because that, to me,

is the most enjoyable part of the lesson.

English phrases you can use to quit your job someday.

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Well, hey, welcome to this English lesson

about job vocabulary and English phrases you can use

when you are looking for a job or when you have a job.

Before we get started, though,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button below

and give me a thumbs up if this video is helping you learn

just a little bit more English.

So let's start at the very beginning.

Let's say you don't have a job.

There are three ways

that I can think of to describe not having a job.

The general term in English is to say

that you are unemployed.

When you don't have a job, we just say you are unemployed.

You are looking for work.

You also could describe it as being laid off.

In English, when someone is laid off,

it means that they had a job, but they were let go, okay?

So it means in the past they were working,

and their job laid them off,

and now they are laid off.

So they're not working because they have lost their job,

and the third reason you might not be working is

because you just finished school,

and that's how you would describe it.

You would say I'm looking for a job

because I just finished school,

and the two ways that you would describe

that you are looking for a job are to say

I'm looking for a job or I'm looking for work.

Those are both very common ways to describe

that you want a job and that you are looking for a job.

I'm looking for a job, or I'm looking for work.

So where do you look if you are looking for a job?

Well, you can look in the newspaper.

There is a section of the newspaper

where job postings are listed,

small advertisements saying

that different companies or businesses are hiring.

You could look online, as well.

Certain websites specialize in posting different positions

at different jobs.

So notice you will be looking for an ad for a job

or a posting for a job from a company or business.

You might also just want to drive around your local town

or your local neighborhood.

Often, businesses will put a sign

in the window saying we're hiring.

When a business has a sign that says we're hiring,

it means you can just walk in and ask

about the position that they are hiring for.

Sometimes you even see these signs

on the back of large trucks

when you're driving down the highway.

You will see the name of the company, and underneath,

it will say we're hiring,

and then there's usually a phone number that you can call.

So what do you do if you find a place that is hiring?

Well, you need to apply for the job.

In English, when you know that a business

or company is hiring, we say that you apply for the job,

but how do you apply?

Usually, what you would do is you would drop off a resume.

In your language, you might call it a CV.

I think the correct word is curriculum vitae,

but I might have it wrong.

I'll put the real words there,

but in English, we call it a resume.

A resume is a description of your education,

your previous work experience,

and maybe something about yourself, as well.

A cover letter simply describes

why you are interested in working for that company.

So you would drop off a resume and a cover letter,

and then you would wait to hear back.

This is an English phrase that we only really use

in relation to work sometimes.

When you drop off a resume, you want them to phone you.

You want them to call you.

So we say that you're waiting to hear back.

Hopefully, they do call you, and if they do,

they might be interested in having you come in

for an interview.

If they want to have an interview with you,

they will set up a time and a date, and you will go in,

and you will have a job interview.

By the way, if you are wondering

what kinds of questions they might ask,

I do have a video about job interview questions.

I'll put a link up there,

and you can watch that maybe after this video,

but if a company or business is interested in you

after they have read your cover letter and resume,

they might give you a call,

and they might say would you like to come in

for an interview?

This is a good sign.

You'll want to do really well in the interview,

but the fact that they read your cover letter and resume

and they're interested in talking to you is a good sign.

It doesn't mean that you got the job,

but it means that you've made it to the next step.

After the interview, you will also wait to hear back.

So again, the phrase to hear back means

that you are hoping that they will give you a phone call,

or you are hoping that they will email you

because what you want to hear them say is

that you got the job.

If they call you back or if they send you an email,

they will either tell you if you got the job

or if you didn't get the job.

The phrase in English I got the job is

something very, very exciting to be able to say.

If you go through the process of applying for a job

and then they call you and you get the job,

you will probably want to tell all of your family

and friends I got the job.

Once you tell your family and friends you got the job,

you will also be able to describe yourself

as having been hired.

You could say that this company hired me

or I have been hired by this company.

So the English word hire is the process

whereby a company takes you on as an employee

and starts to pay you.

It's really, really exciting to get a job

and to be hired by a company.

When you start at that company,

they might want you to sign a contract.

Not all jobs have contracts, but depending on the job,

you might need to sign a contract,

and then you are awesomely employed,

and you are an employee.

When the business calls you back and tells you

you got the job, they will also tell you

when your first day of work will be,

and this will be a common question

that people will ask you after you get a job.

They'll say when's your first day of work?

What day do you start?

When's your first day?

All of those are common phrases that you will hear

after you got a job.

When you do go in for your first day of work,

there's a couple of things you'll need to know.

You might be called the new guy or the new girl

by your new colleagues

for the first couple of days or weeks.

They might just refer to you as the new guy.

You will also probably be a trainee.

When you work at a place for the first time,

you are trained to do the job,

and the name of the person

who is doing the training is the trainer,

and the person who is learning to do the job,

which would be you, would be the trainee.

So you will be a trainee for a while.

They might call you new guy or new girl.

They might also call you a rookie.

This is a sports term.

Someone who starts

on an athletic team or a sports team is called a rookie,

but in the workplace, as well,

they might call you a rookie for the first little while.

We actually have someone at work who has been at work

for over a year, and we still call him the rookie.

It's kind of a way, I guess it's bugging them a little bit.

Maybe it's not super nice.

We should stop calling him the rookie, I think.

Anyways, when you are at a job, as well,

when you start a job, you might have a mentor.

So a trainer trains you how to do things.

A mentor is similar.

It's someone who you can go to and ask questions

if you don't know how to do certain things at that job.

So it might be your first day of work.

They might call you the new guy or new girl.

You might be a trainee for a while.

You will probably eventually not need anyone to train you,

and you will be able to do the job really, really well.

So you didn't have a job.

You saw an ad.

You applied for the job.

You got the job.

You were a trainee for a while,

and now you are just working every day as a normal employee.

Congratulations, you will either do this

for a short period of time and then find another job,

or you'll do it for a long period of time.

Maybe you'll make it your career, and then eventually,

you will retire.

So let's talk about how do you quit a job.

There are a lot of ways that you can quit a job.

The most polite way to quit a job is to give your boss

or to give your place of employment two weeks notice.

So if you know that you are going to quit your job,

it is polite and considered kind to let your employer know

that in two weeks you are going to quit your job.

Some people don't do this, though.

So that's the right way to do it.

Some people don't do this, though.

Some people just get angry at work,

and they literally say that's it.

I quit, and they go and find their manager or their boss,

and they simply say I quit.

They might even say I'm outta here.

So that would be the less polite way.

The less polite way to quit your job is to simply,

let's say you were at a fast food restaurant.

You just take off your apron,

and you go find your boss, and you say I quit.

I'm outta here.

I prefer the two weeks notice.

That is a much kinder way to do it,

but there are a few ways

that you can quit your job in English.

The last way you might quit your job is

that you might retire.

When you get to a certain age,

you decide that you don't need to work anymore.

You will maybe get a pension from your company

if you retire or a pension from the government,

and you can just go home as an older person

and relax instead of going to work.

If you retire, you usually tell your boss well in advance.

You usually tell them a year ahead or half a year ahead.

You would say next year, come January,

I think I would like to retire,

and your boss will probably say that's awesome.

I hope you have a great retirement,

and if your place of employment really, really liked you,

they will probably throw you a retirement party.

That's a party that you give when someone has worked

for a long time at a company or business,

and they've decided to retire.

I hope all of you someday,

when you retire from whatever jobs you do or end up doing,

I hope all of you are well respected

and have huge retirement parties.

Of course, one of the other things that can happen is

that you lose your job.

In English, if we say that you lose your job

or if you are laid off, it means one day the boss comes

and talks to you and says we don't need you anymore.

We are going to lay you off.

So in English, when you are let go or laid off,

it usually means they didn't need you anymore at work.

Maybe business isn't good, and the boss has decided

that they need to have less employees,

and so they will let you go, or they will lay you off.

However, if you do something bad at work,

if you are constantly breaking things or arguing

or fighting with your coworkers or colleagues,

you might just get fired.

When you get fired, it means

that the company's probably still doing okay financially,

but you are not a good fit for the company.

So the boss will come to you and say clean out your desk.

This is your last day,

or the boss might just come to you and say,

at five o'clock at the end of a workday, just say look,

don't bother coming back tomorrow.

We are letting you go because of bad behavior

or because you just aren't a good employee for us.

So sometimes you decide to quit a job,

but sometimes, you get laid off.

Sometimes you get let go,

and hopefully, this doesn't happen to any of you.

Sometimes, you just get fired.

So before we end this lesson, I have a great question

for you, and I would love it if you could answer it

in the comments below.

Oftentimes, we ask each other in English,

if you won the lottery, would you quit your job?

I'm sure you ask this question in your own language,

as well, so I want to ask you this question.

If you won the lottery,

and if it was a substantial amount of money,

would you quit your job, and if you did quit your job,

would you give your boss two weeks notice,

or would you simply go to work the next day

and say I won the lottery.

I quit.

I'm outta here.

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here.

Thank you so much for watching this lesson.

If it helped you learn a little bit of English,

please click that red subscribe button over there

and give me a thumbs up,

and if you have a little bit more time,

why don't you stick around and watch another video?

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