Read the following dialogue and reproduce it with your partner.

MM:Miss Beacham, can you tell us a little bit about where you have worked before?

HB:Well, my last job was with Format.

MM:And you were a PA there?

HB:Yes, that’s right.

MM:And then did you start with them?

HB:Two years ago.

MM:I see. So why did you decide to leave?

HB:Well, perhaps you heard that the company went into liquidation earlier this year.

MM:Yes, we heard about it.

PM:So what did you like about that job?

HB:Well, my job was personal assistant to the Marketing Manager. What I enjoyed most was coming into contact with customers and suppliers both face-to-face and on the phone.

MM:And where did you work before Format?

HB:Ideal Systems.

MM:And how long did you work for Ideal Systems?

HB:For ten years, as a secretary.

PM:And why did you leave that job?

HB:Well, I felt that I needed a change. I think I had learnt all I could there.

MM:Going back to Format. Who did you work for there.

HB:A man called Peter Smith. Do you know him?

MM:We’ve met. OK, that’s enough on work experience.

Text 1

Read the text and entitle it.

There are several traditional ways of looking for a job.

A civilized and active means of looking for a job is studying the market of the offered vacancies to get an idea of necessary demands and size up your own chances.

The best way of doing this is to use the help of employment agencies or to independently study the ads of job opportunities being published.

Announcements of job opportunities can be read in different printed publications. But which of them is worth reacting to?

Don’t put much trust in ads in the yellow press. Solid companies place ads in prestigious expensive publications with a firm reputation.

Your main task is to understand whether the position being offered is consistent with the levels of your skills, education, and experience in work.

Having carefully studied the demands and duties being offered, an experienced reader may extract information on the activities of the company and the prospects of its development.

First, one must pay attention to the position. There is a need to visualize at least in general outline the personnel structure at Western companies. For instance one may be misled by the incorrect interpretation of the word “Assistant”. There is a need to understand that this word does not at all imply secretarial functions. A more exact meaning of this word is: aid, manager, high-class specialist capable of independently tacking the tasks set to him.

Therefore using all possible means, try to learn as much as possible about this position to prepare yourself as best as possible for a meeting with the employer.

Carefully read the demands made of the given position. The demand to know a foreign language is very important. In most cases there is a need for free command of the language – Fluent English. Free command implies an ability freely to deal with a foreign manager, competently to compile documents and speak on the phone. This demand may prove to be the most important.

Quite often the ads do not decipher other demands in detail. For example, the ability to type in Russian/Latin. According to international standards, an adequate level of typewriting is a speed of 60 words per minute. Therefore, when claiming the given position, you need to check your speed or bring it up to the required level. Besides, a secretary is usually required to be able to work on a personal computer. In general, if the ads enumerate the software products, systems, languages, etc., which the candidate must necessarily know, remember that these demands have a strictly binding force.

Such special demands set the level of the candidate’s indispensable qualifications.

Read the text again divide it into logical parts and name the main ideals of each part.

Sum up the text.

Text 2

Read about all aspects of applying for a new job.

Applying for a New Job

In most parts of the world it is common to submit a typed CV (curriculum vitae – British English) or resume (American English). This contains all the unchanging information about you: your education, background experience. This usually accompanies a letter of application. Interviews may take many forms in business today: from the traditional one-to-one interview to panel interview where several candidates are interviewed by a panel of interviewers, to “deep-end” interviews where applicants have to demonstrate how they can cope in actual business situations. Moreover, the atmosphere of an interview may vary from the informal to the formal and from the kindly to the sadistic. Fashions seem to change quite rapidly in interview techniques and the only rules that applicants should be aware of may be “Expect the unexpected” and “Be yourself”!

In different countries, different trades and different grades, the salary that goes with a job may be only part of the package: perks like a company car or cheap housing loans, bonuses paid in a “thirteenth month”, company pension schemes, generous holidays or flexible working hours may all contribute to the attractiveness of a job.

Text 3