Work
Part 1-style questions
Examiner: What do you do?
Sasha: I do a job-share with a friend in a boutique … I enjoy it … I like working with customers
… unfortunately it’s only temporary work but one of the perks of the job is I get a discount on
the clothes …
to do a job-share: to share the weekly hours of work with another person
one of the perks of the job: an extra benefit you get from a job
temporary work: work done for a limited time only
Examiner: Do you have any career plans yet?
Carly: Yes … I’d like to be my own boss one day … I’m interested in programming and I’d like
to create apps for myself or for other companies … I know being self employed would be a
challenge but the idea of doing a nine-to-five job doesn’t appeal to me at all …
to be self-employed: see ‘to be your own boss’
to be your own boss: to have your own business
a nine-to-five job: a normal job that consists of an 8 hour day (approximately)
Examiner: What do you see yourself doing in 10 years time?
Marie: I’d hope to be working … not a high-powered job … but I’m quite a creative person
so something where I can work with my hands would be nice … as long as I’m not stuck
behind a desk doing something boring in a dead-end job I’ll be happy …
a high-powered job: an important or powerful job
to be stuck behind a desk: to be unhappy in an office job
a dead-end job: a job with no promotional opportunities
to work with your hands: to do manual work
Oct 2014 Collected by A&B
Source: http://www.ieltsspeaking.co.uk/ielts-vocabulary/
Part 2-style task
Describe your ideal job. You should say:
what this job is
whether you would need any qualifications
whether it would be easy to find work
and say why you would enjoy this job in particular.
Max: I’ve always loved watching wildlife programmes on TV and often thought how much I’d
enjoy working with animals … perhaps in a safari park … something like that … you’d probably
need a degree to have any chance of being called for an interview and whether there are many
full-time jobs I don’t know … I’m sure a lot of parks rely on voluntary work so it might not be
easy … and it probably wouldn’t be well-paid either but money isn’t everything … I’d get so
muchjob satisfaction … I can’t imagine it being the kind of job where you get stuck in a rut …
and I think I’d be good at it as well … I’d love to work with animals I enjoy manual work and
I’m a good team player … so even though the working conditions might not be the best I think
that would be my ideal job …
to be called for an interview: to be invited to attend an interview
a good team player: somebody who can work well with other people
full-time: the number of hours that people usually work in a complete week
to be well paid: to earn a good salary
working conditions: the hours, salary and other entitlements that comes with the job
manual work: work that requires physical activity
to be/get stuck in a rut: to be in a boring job that is hard to leave
voluntary work: to work without pay
Oct 2014 Collected by A&B
Source: http://www.ieltsspeaking.co.uk/ielts-vocabulary/
Part 3-style questions
Examiner: If there are a limited number of jobs available who should be given priority, young
people or older people with more experience?
Anna: Things are so different these days … a few years ago older employees would often take
early retirement or go onto part-time contracts and there were always opportunities for
younger people but now jobs are so scarce … I think younger people need to be given the chance
whenever possible …
to take early retirement: to retire early (retire: to reach an age when you are allowed to
stop working for a living)
part-time: working less than full-time
Examiner: What are some of the important things a candidate should find out before accepting a
job?
Ali: Well … you’d need to know about your area of responsibility … and your salary of course
and then there are things like holiday entitlement … maternity or paternity leave … if you’re
thinking of having children … and what the situation is regarding sick leave … that kind of thing
…
holiday entitlement: the number of days holiday allowed
sick leave: time allowed off work when sick
maternity leave: time off work given to a woman about to have a baby
Examiner: What are the advantages of having your own business rather than working for
someone else?
Julie: Well … unfortunately being an employee at the moment is very stressful … people have
very heavy workloads … they’re always under pressure to meet deadlines … running your
own business isn’t easy … but I do think it would be far more satisfying …
a heavy workload: to have a lot of work to do
to meet a deadline: to finish a job by an agreed time
to run your own business: see ‘to be your own boss’
job satisfaction: the feeling of enjoying a job
Oct 2014 Collected by A&B
Source: http://www.ieltsspeaking.co.uk/ielts-vocabulary/
