Kedves Podcast Hallgató! // Dear Podcast Listener!
This podcast is about JOBS. You can listen to it. You can find our transcript under the podcast – it can help you in better understanding.
Enjoy your English minutes!
V: So, today we are going to talk about jobs.
M: That’s right. As you may know, a job is an activity you do and receive a salary for. These can be a full-time job, (usually about 40 hours per week) orpart-time (usually 15-25 hours per week). While they are studying, many people take a part time job in a restaurant, coffee shop or in a shopping store. It helps to pay the bills, occupy your free time and learn about what really is like to have a job.
V: Also, in some jobs, you work shifts, which means that the hours aren’t the same every day; instead, you work a specific block of hours that the boss schedules.
M: A word that usually gets confused with ‘job’ is ‘work’, but they are not used in the same contexts. Work refers to the general efforts and activities done to accomplish a goal. For example, I work as a writer. You can also say that you work at or for a company or that you work on a project or task.
V: Another concept that is interesting to know about is what ‘career’ means. Your career is the progression of your professional life. For example, I work for a publishing company.
M: You can pursue a promising career in many different fields, such as the digital marketing field, which is something really in fashion nowadays.
V: Yes, digital competences are definitely considered very important these days. As you may have noticed, for example, the hunting for remote/digital jobs has done nothing but increase in these recent years.
M: Definitely. The world is progressively becoming more and more digital, and nowadays many jobs allow you to work remotely, which means that you can work from home or another place with an internet connection, and you communicate with your co-workers by phone, e-mail and video conferencing.
V: It’s also worth mentioning that there are people that do not work for a company. Instead, they are freelancers, meaning they work independently for different people and companies or are self-employed and work for themselves, sometimes having their own business.
M: Related to the freelancing work, there are also many people selling their product or services online. Inside this group, we can find people that like to draw or do arts and crafts, or people that are good with languages, who can sometimes find jobs as translators or proofreaders.
V: Now, we cannot talk about online job-hunting without mentioning some of the most used apps for that purpose, like LinkedIn or GlassDoor. All of these apps work in a very similar way: you update your profile with your CV and some basic information and then you start an online search for jobs you’re interested in. After filtering your options, you send your CV or resume and sometimes some companies will ask you for a recommendation letter or a motivation letter.
M: After that, the companies that find your profile interesting can appoint an interview with you, which leads us to the last and the trickiest step: waiting to know if you got the job or not. This last part can get complicated on an emotional level.
V: For sure. Sometimes you get a job very fast, while other times you have to wait and keep sending lots of CVs. It is a matter of luck and networking, that is, making connections, meeting the right people at the right time that may know this or that or heard this or that.
M: Another uncomfortable issue while you’re looking for a job is that moment when people ask you: “So, what do you do?” It’s completely understandable that you don’t want to say to everybody that you are unemployed, so something you can say is “I am between jobs at the moment”, which let people know that you have left your job but have not found another one yet.
V: We know that getting a job is not how they make it to be: you finish university and immediately you get one. So, take your time and try not to compare yourself with others. Everybody has their own rhythm and their own path.
M: Precisely because finding a job without having previous experience is a complicated task, many people start by doing volunteering work so they can get some daily practise. Moreover, many programs allow young people to go abroad for a season, usually summer and winter, so they can get some experience and make some money. This kind of jobs are usually related to tourism and cultural events. For example, some companies hire international workers for ski resorts in wintertime and others in the summer hire animators, sports teachers, promoters, etc.
V: There is also the option to take an internship while studying, which means you become an apprentice in an organization and gain new skills. Again, some programs offer the possibility to do this abroad.
M: So, as you can see, there are hundreds of different options if you’re looking for a new job, even if you don’t have previous working experience. It’s a complex process, so don’t be afraid to take your time and try many different jobs if you can until you settle for one.
V: That’s right. Doing a certain kind of job doesn’t mean you have to stick to that field for the rest of your days. All of us have many different skills, even if we haven’t discovered some of them yet, so give yourself time to figure out what you want. We’ve all been there, trust me.
M: Indeed. This was it for today! We hope you learned something new!
V: Thanks for listening!
