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Looking for a Job - Zapp! English Vocabulary for Work 2.1
Taught by Tom Wilkinson — Cambridge CELTA
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
Somebody in this recording explains that for their job, being friendly and polite is essential, while knowing "how to pull a pint" before you start is merely desirable — "it's pretty simple to pick up". That distinction, essential versus desirable, is exactly the wording you'll meet in real job advertisements, and here you hear it used naturally over a cup of tea. We recorded these English conversations about looking for work: the searching, the forms, the interviews and the waiting.
What you'll hear in this episode
Katie sits down in a café with Beth and then Sophie, and asks the same simple question: when did you last look for a job, and what did you actually have to do? The answers are very different. One story is pure luck — no advertisement at all, just a friend who already worked there, which Katie sums up as "word of mouth". The other is the grind: trawling through shops looking for openings, checking online, making sure a CV is up to date, filling out form after form and answering questions about what sort of personality you have. There are a couple of interviews and then, as Katie puts it, "Ohh boo" — no job.
In the second half Katie puts five questions to Piotr, Beth and Sophie: where you find out about job vacancies, how many candidates end up on a shortlist, whether first impressions matter, which skills are essential and which desirable, and whether you should put your referees on your CV. Piotr is the one who really warms up here — he explains that companies shortlist the people they think are "worth a closer look", and argues that at an interview you don't get a second chance, so it is "the first and only impression that you make". He also refuses to give out referees' names until an employer asks, and offers a piece of practical advice: stay on "a good footing" with your boss, because one day you'll need a reference from them.
Quick facts
| Episode | Looking for a Job — Zapp! English Vocabulary for Work 2.1 |
| Episode number | 2.1 |
| Pack | Vocabulary for Work |
| Level | 2 |
| Duration | 24 minutes 55 seconds |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack |
What you'll learn
The whole job-hunting sequence, in the order it happens: look for a job, do a job search or go job hunting, update your CV (or résumé in American English), apply for a job or apply for a position, fill in — or fill out — an application form, send a cover letter, get onto the shortlist, get an interview and finally sign a contract.
There's a pronunciation point running through it that learners often miss. The workbook drills the weak, joined-up sound of for a in look for a job and apply for a job — in fast speech it isn't two clear words at all, and hearing that is half the battle in an interview.
You'll also sort out the pairs that get confused: a referee is the person, a reference is what they give you; hire is taking someone on, while recruit is the wider business of finding the best person, which is why you might go to a recruitment consultant. And you'll hear how much hesitation real speakers use — the repeated "erm", the restarts, the sentences that change direction halfway through. That is what unscripted English sounds like, and getting used to it is a listening skill in itself.
What's in the workbook
The workbook for this unit is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack (€39), and it's built to be used with the audio rather than read afterwards.
It opens with a gap-completion task: you see the beginnings of nine phrases — do a job s…, go job h…, a cover…, to sign a… — and try to finish them before you listen. Then you follow the café conversation with a specific question in mind: did Beth and Sophie do the same things? A pronunciation drill follows, where you complete each phrase, hear the answer and repeat at the beep, including the British and American versions side by side.
The second half repeats the pattern with the five interview questions, then checks the key words one by one — vacancy, candidate, cover letter, shortlist, first impressions, essential, desirable, referee, reference, hire, recruit — each with a model sentence such as "Good computer skills are desirable, but not essential."
At the back there are two written exercises: putting scrambled words into correct sentences, and correcting one deliberate mistake in each of six sentences (shortpage for shortlist, vacants for vacancies, the recruit agency). Answers are included.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Questions learners ask
Is the conversation scripted?
The conversations are completely unscripted — real people answering real questions, with all the hesitation that involves. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
Do I need the workbook to follow the audio?
No, the audio works on its own. But the gap-completion tasks and the two written exercises are much easier to do with the pages in front of you.
Should I say CV or résumé?
Both appear in this unit. CV is the British term, résumé the American one, and the pronunciation drill gives you each of them.
What level is this?
This is Level 2 of Vocabulary for Work, and it's the first unit in that pack.
How long is the episode?
24 minutes 55 seconds, including the listening, the pronunciation drills and the answers.
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