Do you need English for business?
Do you want to network with native English speakers?
Do you have a job interview coming up?
This video lesson will help you!
In this lesson I give you 5 common ways that we talk about our work / jobs. Then we practice the present perfect tense to give more details about your work background.
Practice by repeating the examples after me.
A common way to ask someone about his or her job is:
“What do you do?”
This means: “What is your job?”
We can also say:
“What do you do for a living?”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“What kind of / line of work are you in?”
Here are 5 common ways to tell someone about your job.
1. I work in + field of work
“I work in education.”
“I work in the arts.”
“I work in engineering.”
2. I work for + a company / person
“I work for Apple.”
“I work for Coca Cola.”
“I work for Westpac bank.”
3. I work at + a place / shop
“I work at a restaurant.”
“I work at a bank.”
“I work at retail store.”
4. I’m + job title
“I’m a teacher.”
“I’m an engineer.”
“I’m a pilot.”
5. I work as a + job title
“I work as a teacher.”
“I work as an engineer.”
“I work as a pilot.”
We use the Present Perfect Simple or Continuous tense to talk about our work experience background.
We use this tense either for:
- States or actions that are not completed yet. They started in the past and continue up to the present moment. They are still true now.
- To express states or actions in the general past. These states or actions are completed but we are talking about our general experience here and we don’t state the specific date or time.
For example;
These statements refer to states or actions that started in the past and are still true now.
I have = I’ve
“I’ve been working as a teacher for 16 years.”
“I’ve been working in education for a long time.”
“I’ve been working in finance since 2010.”
“I’ve been with this company for 5 years.”
It’s common to use this tense in job interviews, business networking events or just meeting someone and talking about your job.
HOMEWORK TASK:
Tell someone about your work and your career in English.
Tell me about your job in the comments below.
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Hi Nick. Although I’ve been retired for ten years, I had an office furniture store. You know, swivel chairs, cupboards, lamps, desks, and all that jazz. Those were the days!
Hi Ferran,
Thanks for your comment! Good grammar here! It must feel nice to kick back and enjoy your retirement. 🙂
Hi Nick! Thank you for your lesson, I like that .I had been working in company for many years when I was living in the Russia.The company makes a make up for women .
Hi Zhanna,
Thanks for your comment, and thanks for following me! 🙂
Here you can say: “I was working for a company for many years.” Past continuous is best here (you don’t need past perfect unless you refer to two points in the past – one before the other).
Well done! 🙂