Work and employment vocabulary

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English vocabulary related to work and employment for intermediate, upper-intermediate level

job-hunting
to look for a job; seek employment

  • I’ve been job-hunting for three months, without success.
  • It’s important to remain optimistic and positive when job-hunting.
field of work
a particular branch of study or sphere of work

  • What field of work are you in?
  • She works in the field of medical research

Office centre: work employment words vocabulary

skills
expertise; the ability to do something well

  • He has many different skills, including IT and programming.
  • language skills, speaking skills, presentation skills
apply
make a formal request for employment, send an application ; apply for

  • She applied for three jobs and received three offers!
  • How many jobs have you applied for?
work experience
understanding and knowledge gained from doing a job

  • As well as a relevant qualification, she has ten years’ work experience in the field.
  • Young people have qualifications but very little work experience.
full-time
A full-time job means you work all day and every day, usually except weekends and holidays.

  • Tom works full-time at the carpet shop.
  • a full-time employee
part-time
A part-time job means you work only part of the day or only a few days per week.

  • Mothers with small children at school often look for part-time work.
maternity leave
a period of time away from work given to a mother before and after the birth of her child; on maternity leave, on maternity

  • Mary is still on maternity leave.
paternity leave
a period of time away from work given to a father after the birth of his child; on paternity leave, on paternity

  • In the UK, qualifying dads can take up to 2 weeks’ paternity leave.
lay off / make redundant
to end someone’s employment because of a company’s financial problems or closure

often used in the passive: laid off

  • Three hundred employees were laid off when the factory closed.
  • Many people were made redundant due to factory closures during the recession.
fire/sack someone
to end someone’s employment because they have done something wrong

  • He was fired after they caught him stealing.
  • I was fired from my job.
  • They sacked him for being late too often.
be out of work
to be unemployed

  • I’m out of work. I left my job six months ago and can’t find another one.
be off work
to have a job but not be at work for various reasons

  • He is off work sick.
  • I’m off work next week because we’re moving house.
  • He broke his foot and had to take six weeks off work to recover.

1 Comment

  1. Charles - December 1, 2023, 10:23 am Reply

    This is so helpful but I would have loved a quiz at the end of the article to practise with my students.

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