Job-hunting

Task 1. Researchers at Harvard say that taking a power nap for an hour in the afternoon can totally refresh you. They say that by the time you wake up you'll feel so good, you'll be able to start looking for a new job. ~Jay Leno

Comment on the quotation above. What adjectives would you use to describe the process of searching for a job?

Task 2. Flick through the text in Task 3 and answer the following questions:

• What does the text describe?
• Is there anything unusual about the form of the text (pay your attention to punctuation and spelling)? Why did the author choose such a form to express his thoughts? What did he want to convey?
• Look at the picture in the text. It depicts Don Quixote fighting against a windmill. What do you know about this fictional character? How do you understand the following metaphor used by the author: “… it seems We play a kind of Don Quixote; and the job-hunt is our windmill”?

Task 3. Read the text and translate it in the written form. While reading, think of a title for the story.

************

Okay, this is it. You've been idly thinking about it, off and on, for some time now, wondering what it would be like. To be earning your bread in the marketplace. Or maybe you're already out there, And the problem is choosing another career. Anyhow, the moment of truth has arrived. For one reason or another, you've got to get at it — Go out, and look for a job, for the first time or the twentieth. You've heard of course, all the horror stories. Of ex-executives working as doormen. Of former college profs with two masters degrees working as countermen in a delicatessen. And you wonder what lies in store for you.

Of course, it may be that the problem is all solved. Maybe you're going to "drop out" and just go "do your own thing. " The subsistence-survival game. Or, if not, maybe some friend has button-holed you and said, "Why not come and work for me?" So, your job-hunt ends before it begins. Or, it may be that you came into your present career after a full life doing something else, and You know you're welcome back there, anytime; Anytime, they said. And, assuming they meant it, no problem, right?

So long as that's still what you want to do. But for the vast majority of us, that isn't how it goes. Not for us the Horatio Alger role; ah no! In retrospect it seems We play a kind of Don Quixote; and the job-hunt is our windmill.

Those who have gone the route before, all say the very same thing. This is how we go about it, when our time has come: We procrastinate, that's what we do. Busy winding things up, we say. Actually, if the truth were known, we're hoping for that miracle; you know the one: that if we just sit tight a little longer, we won't have to go job-hunting, no', the job will come hunting for us. Right in the front door, it will come. To show us we are destiny's favourites. But, it doesn't. And of-course, eventually, we realize that time and money are beginning to run out.

Time to begin in earnest. And all of our familiar friends immediately are at our elbow, giving advice – solicited or unsolicited, as to what we should do. "Joe (Jean), I've always thought you would make a.great teacher So we ask who they know in the academic world, and, armed with that name, we go a-calling. Calling, and sitting ,cooling our heels in the ante-room of the Dean's office, until he asks, at last, "And what can I do for you, Mr. (Miss)?" We tell him, of course, that we're job-hunting, "And one of my friends thought that you..." Oops. We watch the face change. And we (who do know something about body language), Wait to hear his words catch up with his body. "You feel I'm 'over-qualified'? - I say. "Two thousand applications, you say, already in hand For one hundred vacancies? I see. No, of course I understand." Strike-out.

Back to the drawingboard. More advice. "Joe (or Jean) have you tried the employment agencies?" "Good thinking. No, which ones should I try? The ones which deal with professionals? Which ones are they? Okay. Good. Down I'll go." And down we do go. Down, down, down. The ante-room again. And those other hopeful, haunted faces. A new twist too: our first bout with the Application Form. "Previous jobs held. List in reverse chronological order. " Filling all the questions out. Followed by That interminable wait. And then, at last, the interviewer, She of the over-cheerful countenance, and mien — She talks to us. "Now, let's see, Mr. (Mrs., Miss—)? What kind of a job are you looking for?" 'Well," we say, "What do you think I could do?" She studies, again, the application form; "It seems to me," she says, "that with your background — it is a bit unusual — You might do very well in sales. " "Oh, sales," we say. "Why yes," says she, "in fact I think that I could place you almost immediately. We'll be in touch with you. Is this your phone?" We nod, and shake her hand, and that is the Last time we ever hear from her. Strike out, number two.

Now, our ballooning hopes that we would quickly land a job are running into some frigid air, So we decide to confess at last our need of help — to some of our more prosperous friends in the business world (if we have such) Who surely know what we should do. At this point. The windmill is tiring us. What would they suggest we do? "What kind of a job are you looking for?" Ah, that, again! "Well, you know me well, what do you think I can do? I'll do almost anything," - we say, now that the hour of desperation is snapping at our heels. " You know, with all the kinds of things I've done —" we say; I mean, I've done this and that, and here and there, It all adds up to a kind of kaleidoscope; Well, anyway, there must be something I can do?" " Have you tried the want-ads?" asks our friend. "Have you gone to see Bill, and Ed, and John, and Frances and Marty? Ah, no? Well tell them I sent you." So, off we go — now newly armed.

We study the want-ads. God, what misery is hidden in Those little boxes. Misery in miserable jobs which are built As little boxes. We dutifully send our resume, such as it is, To every box that looks as though It might not be a box. And wait for the avalanche of replies, from bright-eyed men Who, seeing our resume, will surely know Our worth; even if, at this point, our worth seems In question in our own eyes. Avalanche? Not even a rolling stone.

Time to go see those friends that our friend said we ought to see. You know, Bill, and Ed, and John, and Frances and Marty. They seem slightly perplexed, as to why we've come, And in the dark about exactly Just exactly what they can do for us. We try to take them off the hook; "I thought, Mr. President, your company might need —of course, my experience has been limited, but I am willing, and I thought perhaps that you..." The interview drags on; downhill, now, all the way As our host finishes out his courtesy debt, A debt not to us but to the friend that sent us; and we go. Boy, do we go! over hill and valley and dale, Talking to everyone who will listen, Listening to everyone who will talk With us; and thinking that surely there must be Someone who knows how to crack the job-market;

This job-hunt seems the loneliest task in the world. Is it this difficult for other people? The answer is YES. Are other people this discouraged, and desperate And frustrated, and so low in self-esteem after A spell of job-hunting?

Task 4. Arrange the sentences in the order the related ideas are expressed in the text:

1. The main character receives advice from his friends.

2. Searching for a job is rather tiring.

3. Sometimes there’s no need to search for a job.

4. The employers delicately refuse him the job.

5. The time has arrived and you have to go job-hunting.

6. He asks his rich and successful friends for advice.

7. He begins to lose hope of finding a job quickly.

8. Job-hunters often procrastinate before starting to search for work.

9. He visits an employment agency.

10. He follows his friends’ advice and visits the Dean, who says he can’t help him.

11. He applies for positions advertised in newspapers.

Task 5. Write a plot summary of the text. Before doing this, revise the tips for writing summaries (see Appendices 3 and 4).

Task 6. Use words and phrases from vocabulary units in Task 3 to complete these sentences.

1. Nowadays it’s rather challenging to find a job. Our world is a real............................... game.

2. I have procrastinated for too long a time. I must take the first step now. It’s time to begin................................

3. One can only wish to quickly............................... a job after graduating from university.

4. Palm-readers can tell what lies............................... for you.

5. Jack has just received a BA in French but is going to apply for a job of a cashier in a local shop. He is definitely............................... for that job.

6. Do you know the exam results? – No, I don’t. I’m............................... about them.

7. It took her 1 year before she finally got a job. It took her 1 year to crack..............................

8. Now we’ll find out who’s right and who’s wrong................................ has arrived.

9. Although Helen had sent dozens of résumés, she didn’t wait for................................

10. I have won £1,000,000 in a lottery!!! – You are a................................

11. Graduates sometimes find it hard to............................... in the marketplace.

Task 7. Paraphrase the underlined items in the text and make up 5 fresh context sentences with the ones you like most.

Task 8. Answer the questions using the underlined vocabulary units from the text in Task 3:

1. Is it easy to land a job nowadays?

2. Can a person be jobless for a long time?

3. Who/ What can help you out in the process of hunting for a job?

4. What steps should one take to get a job?

5. What problems can you encounter while looking for a job?

6. How can you avoid or solve these problems?

Task 9. Translate the text into English using the vocabulary from Task 3:

Как заработать себе на жизнь? Что ожидает нас впереди? Как можно быстро найти работу после окончания университета?

Эти проблемы волнуют большинство выпускников, и многие хотели бы знать, как найти свое место на рынке труда. Те из них, кто уже чувствовал себя в отчаянии и смятении после непродолжительного поиска работы, в конце концов признаются, что в этом занятии не поможет никто. Они даже не знают, как сделать первый шаг. Выпускники обращаются в агентства по трудоустройству, читают объявления о найме на работу, обращаются к состоявшимся друзьям-бизнесменам, просиживают штаны в приемных работодателей, покорно рассылают свои резюме куда только можно и ждут пусть не лавины, но хотя бы нескольких ответов.

Проходят недели; ответа нет; и чувство отчаяния начинает беспрестанно преследовать их. Но они все надеются на чудо в этой борьбе за выживание. И это чудо совершается: наконец-то есть работа! И им кажется тогда, что они настоящие баловни судьбы. Наступает момент истины. Теперь важно показать себя: ведь потерять работу еще обиднее, чем просто ее не получить.

— SPEAKING

Task 10. What advice can you give to a person in the situation described in the text? What should he do to succeed in job hunting?

& — READING&SPEAKING