PART 1

Let’s talk about everyday tasks and activities

What time do you usually get up?

Which part of the day do you like best?

Do you like to plan what you will do each day?

What are some things that you do every day?

Now let’s talk about unpaid or volunteer work

Have you ever done unpaid work for a company or organisation?

Are you likely to do any unpaid work in the future?

What benefits might you get from doing unpaid work?

Is it common to do unpaid work in your country?

Let’s move on and talk about paid work

Did you ever do any jobs that you got paid for when you were a child? Are you doing any kind of paid work now?

What are your career plans for the future?

What jobs earn the most money in your country?

Describe a big company that you would like to work in

You should say:

–    what kind of company it is

–    what the company does

–    how you know about this company and explain why you are interested in working in this company.

Follow up questions:

Do you think you will apply for a job with this company in the future? Do you know anyone else who would like to work in this company?

PART 2:

Vocabulary

NOUNS

disruptor: A company that changes the traditional way an industry operates, especially in a more effective way.

entrepreneur: A person who organizes and operates a business or one who takes on the financial risks in order to do so.

founder: a person who establishes a business or company. hierarchy: a series of things arranged according to their importance.

manpower: all the people who are available to do a particular job or to work in a particular place.

mentoring (gerund): the process of advising or training someone. Especially a senior colleague to a junior colleague.

net worth: the net worth of an individual is any asset owned minus any debt owed. novice: a person new to a field or inexperienced in a situation.

perk: an advantage or something extra, such as money or goods that you are given because of your job.

start-up: a newly established business.

stak : a share of or financial involvement in a business.

ADJECTIVES

archaic: out of date, obsolete, outmoded, antiquated, bygone. cool: fashionably attractive, impressive. challenging: difficult. Testing one’s abilities. Demanding dynamic: characterized by constant change, progress or activity. innovative: not allowed by the rules or laws; illegal.

motivated: a person who is stimulated, inspired, influenced or driven to do or achieve something. reputable: generally considered to be honest and reliable.

savvy: shrewdness, insight, intelligence, wit, acumen, practical knowledge. Ability to make good judgements.

contravene: to do something that is not allowed by a rule, law, or agreement. hangout: spend a lot of time in a place or with someone. proliferate: to increase or spread at a rapid rate.

scale-up: to make something larger in size or amount than it used to be.

ADVERBS

wilfully: deliberate intention to cause harm.

recently: at a recent time. Not long ago.

rapidly: very quickly, fast, swiftly, briskly, at a great rate.

IDIOMS

a keen eye for: an ability to notice and recognize something. from the ground up: starting a business with completely nothing

go public: the act or process of a company selling stock in itself when it moves from private ownership to public trade.

turn something on its head: to cause something to be the opposite of or very different to what it was before.

PART 3:

Ideas

Now let’s talk about job satisfaction.

Which do you think is more important, for most people, job satisfaction or a high income?

-Income is more important as without good income you cannot secure your future.

-Job satisfaction is the most important thing as you will be happier even without a great income.

-They’re both important and you should try for a job that provides both not just one of these aspects.

-Just focusing on high income is empty and banal and these jobs tend to be high-pressure high-stress jobs which can be very unenjoyable in the end and can cause sickness and illness over a long period of time.

If people are unhappy with their job do you think they should they quit and look for a new job?

-Yes definitely. However, they should hang on to the job they are unhappy in until they can find a job they feel happier in and not any time before then.

-No. Most people are unhappy with at least some aspects of their jobs. They will never find the perfect job so they may as well keep the job they are somewhat unhappy in.

-Yes, they should quit straight away as it is important to move on into something you are happier in sooner rather than later. People who hold onto jobs they are unhappy in tend to not quit those jobs at all. You have to make the move out of an unhappy job situation sometime so it may as well be sooner rather than later or not at all.

-No, even in jobs you are unhappy in you can eventually look at the positive aspects of that job and even learn to like it after a while.

Should parents encourage their children to enter the same field that they are in?

-Yes, because their parents have a lot of life experience to pass on to their children so their children should listen to them carefully and consider their parent’s advice about career choice.

-Yes, but only if the field their parents are encouraging their kids to enter is a job in the professions where a good income and job satisfaction is more assured.

-No definitely not. Pushing their children into jobs their parents chose will only make them unhappy and resentful. They should just look for a job that makes them happy and not a job that makes only their parents happy.

-No, as the job their parents have now may not even exist by the time their kids grow up and are ready to enter the workforce.

Now let’s talk about job dismissals and employability.

What are some ways people can make themselves become more employable?

-They should be prepared to do voluntary work to gain valuable job experience but should be careful about companies exploiting them for cheap labour where they don’t leam any meaningful skills.

-The government should force them to join the armed services where they will be trained not only as soldiers but also get paid while learning valuable job skills.

-The government should allow them to be trained in a useful skill for free and help them get work after training.

-More university and college courses should be dedicated to educating students so that they can acquire practical skills to make them more employable after graduation.

What are some reasons why people often lose their jobs?

-the employee does something wrong such as often being late for work

-the employee does his or her job badly and the company decides to replace them

-the company has to downsize due to it not making money

Should people who can’t get a job start their own business?

-Yes, but it would be better to try to keep looking for stable employment as starting a business is risky.

-Yes, they have got to nothing to lose. They may even end up being more successful in their own business than they would have been in any job they may have gotten

-It depends on your age. For a younger person, it may be better to try and get some experience in the workforce before attempting to start their own business. For older workers who believe they may -not be able to enter the workforce again due to companies discriminating against them then yes, as they have a lot of work experience behind them.

-Yes, if you are a person that just cannot stand having a boss tell you what to do and you think you have more skills than them then why not give it a try.

-Only if they are tolerant of taking on the higher risk of running their own business and are prepared give up all the perks of full-time employment such as a regular secure monthly pay cheque and health insurance coverage etc.