Exam Preparation B1 B2 Lesson 7: Office and Workplace

B1 B2 Exam Preparation Lesson 7: Office and Workplace

LISTENING

Love Your Career

It’s February and love is in the air. Do you love your career? I hope so because this month that is our theme. Love your career.
The first question I have for you is, do you think of this as a career or just a job? That’s the most important question you have to answer.
If you believe you have a career then you are going to invest in your own professional development. You’re not going to wait until the company or your executive gives you approval for something. Career minded assistants invest time and money in their professional development because they know it’s an investment in their future. Don’t short change yourself.
Imagine if you just took 15 minutes, Monday through Friday to learn something new, or to refresh something you already know, times five days a week is 75 minutes. Times 52 weeks equals 65 hours in a year, of learning. Do you not think you wouldn’t have the advantage over other assistants that do absolutely nothing? Of course you would.
I want to help you as you go on your career journey. I want to be there to support you on this incredible journey, and I have the answers for you. All you have to do is check out our website.
Have you ever looked at one of my 700 blogs that I have to offer? If not, why not? It only takes two minutes. Are you not worth two minutes of your day to invest in yourself? Of course you are.
You might also want to attend one of my in depth training programs for assistants, our world class assistant training program or my star achievement series, which has been around for years and has been enhanced 15 different times.
You might also want to attend our annual conference for administrative excellence this year, which is our 20th year celebration.
I promise you, that if you will invest in yourself, if you will daily make little steps, or take that time to read something new or learn something new, and change your habits, your life is going to change. Your career is going to change. It’s just a matter of commitment and developing some new habits.
I hope you have a happy February and love your career.
Thank you for watching my video.
If you have not yet subscribed to my youtube channel, please do so. And, if you’ve enjoyed my videos, don’t cheat your friends. be sure to share them with them.
If you would like more information for your personal life, and inspiration, visit JoanBurgeBIGlife.com.
If you are seeking information related to the administrative profession visit OfficeDynamics.com
Thank you again for watching and have a fabulous life.

READING
Why You Need To Use A Resume Instead Of A Job Application

A resume is needed over the job application is because it is a presentation of who you are. In short, it is an advertisement. You are the product.
It includes achievements instead of just “duties” and provides a lot more room for your information compared to the small section found on a job application form. A job application includes information that would not be appropriate to list on a resume such as references, reasons for leaving a job, salary information and mailing addresses for each employer, to name a few.
Resumes have been in existence for several decades, probably right after WWII, and were certainly a lot less complicated than they are these days. They were not as much of a critical part of the job search process as they are now. Many jobs, such as blue-collar trades, nurses, and hairstylists required a brief conversation with a supervisor or to complete a job application at the business location in response to a simple job ad or a walk-in-off-the-street effort to explore job opportunities. The fact that people went directly to the company to complete the application meant minimal competition unless the country was going through a recession and the lines for even the lowest paying jobs wrapped around the block.

The 1980’s changed all of that. Companies felt the financial pressures of the economy and emerging competition, both in the U.S. and globally reaching. To survive, major companies merged with other companies or were acquired in leverage buy-outs. When two companies merge it creates duplicate positions down the line. It usually takes about a year for the newly formed company or acquiring company to figure out who is staying and who is going. When the dust settles, there ends up being a rise in unemployment and fewer job openings. Since the reason companies underwent a merger or acquisition is financial, restructuring their company and its workforce was necessary and keep costs down.
To achieve that goal, companies began hiring candidates who were well rounded and could perform more than one job function. That way the company could increase productivity and reduce payroll expenses. The proverbial dedicated employee who stayed in the same job for thirty years and retired with a gold watch became a thing of the past and more of a risk to companies looking for candidates who could multitask. This put a lot of pressure on job seekers to develop resumes that highlighted how well rounded they were. The chronological resumes weren’t really working well to achieve that goal, so the functional resume was designed to showcase a job seeker’s functional skills rather than their chronology.

The functional format seemed like a great idea at first, but hiring companies disliked it because it allowed job seekers to hide gaps in employment and it made it difficult to understand a job seeker’s career path. The solution was the combination format, which combines the elements of the chronological and functional formats to achieve flexibility and focus. In short, it satisfied the needs of both parties. To this day, the chronological resume is the most preferred because it is straightforward. The trick is to have it mostly chronological with elements of the combination format to break things up and add interest. Just make sure it is well organized.
During the 1980’s, the World Wide Web as we know it today began to take hold and exploded by the 1990’s making it very easy for job seekers and hiring companies to communicate. This meant exponentially more job seekers applying to job ads online than ever before. No longer could companies pick up the phone or read an email to qualify a potential candidate. Companies do not have the reSources to read a general letter or email covering the basics of a job seeker’s employment history. They need to see a resume because a resume, although creatively written and designed, is still a technical presentation of a candidate’s background, breaking it down into universally recognized sections that we all have grown to know and expect.
These all-familiar categories include Objective (or Title Statement / Heading), Summary of Qualifications (or Profile), Professional Experience (or Work History), Education and Computer Skills. Other categories include Community Involvement, Military Background, Internship Experience, etc., depending on the job seeker’s unique background.

This makes it a lot easier for companies to scan through hard copies of resumes coming in over the fax or in the mail. In fact, so many resumes are sent to companies on a daily basis in response to job ads (print and online) or exploring opportunities that companies have implemented the use of resume scanning technology. The software uses Optical Character Recognition to convert hard copy to text and stores it in a database. Then when the company has a vacancy, they go to their resume database and search for possible candidates.
Embrace the resume. It is an effective way for you to showcase your skills and achievements in a way that an email or letter could not. That said, you need a cover letter to because a cover letter is not technical and will allow you to establish a rapport with a hiring manager in a way that you could not with just a resume.

(Article Source: Articlelogy.com)

WRITING PRACTICE

Format Reminder:
For FCE, please select 2 of the following: ESSAY, LETTER/EMAIL, REPORT, or REVIEW. for your student. The student has1h20 to complete the tasks on the day of the exam.
For CAE, please select 2 of the following: ESSAY, LETTER/EMAIL, PROPOSAL, REPORT, or REVIEW for your student. The student has1h30 to complete the tasks on the day of the exam.
For TOEFL, please select the ESSAY topic and ask the student to write a second essay response based on either the READING or LISTENING passage of the lesson. The student has 50 minutes to complete both essays on the day of the exam.
For IELTS (General format), please select the ESSAY topic (250 words) and LETTER (150 words) for your student. The student has 1h to complete both tasks on the day of the exam.
For IELTS (Academic format), please select the ESSAY (250 words: in 40 minutes. Counts for 2/3 of the Writing score) topic and GRAPH DESCRIPTION (150 words: in 20 minutes. Counts for 1/3 of the Writing score) for your student. The student has 1h to complete both tasks on the day of the exam.

ESSAY: A job that requires a lot of thinking is more difficult than a job that requires no thinking. Do you agree with this statement?

LETTER: Write a cover letter to an employer, for your ideal job.

GRAPH DESCRIPTION:
Mental Health Stress Graph Image (Source: http://georgiadisaster.info/MentalHealth/stress.html)
The graph shows the Human Function Curve when faced with stress. The table clarifies Symptoms of stress that may be experienced during or after a traumatic incident.
Summarise the information given in both visual aids, by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

REPORT: Write a report on effective ways to find employment.

REVIEW: You have just read an article on government training programmes as a gateway to accessing employment. Write a review on one or two devised training programmes.

PROPOSAL: Write a proposal improving on an efficient and happy working environment.