Dear deer

隨著一月的口語考試的結束，一到四月的IELTS口說題庫也漸漸有了雛形，雅思口說考試是有一種規律的，這些題目會在剩下的三個月裡成為你準備考試的惡夢。

以下為關於Describe a job you want to do in the future(未來的工作)話題的part3部分共7個問題答案。

1.Is it easy to find work (employment) in your country?

Well, it really depends on what kind of jobs you’re looking for. Like, if you want to work in state companies, it’s quite hard to get in, since you have to have relationships and connections, people who introduce you for the job, but for something in private companies, it’s quite easy actually, as long as you have a college degree and some relevant working experience, it’s a piece of cake.

2.What changes have there been in recent years in employment in your country?

I think there have been many changes in the types of jobs that people do nowadays compared to 20 or 30 years ago. First of all there are much fewer jobs related to heavy industry such as mining or ship-building or even manufacturing. Secondly, there has been a big increase in the number of jobs in the service and leisure industries like shops, gyms, and hotels. And finally, since the launch of the internet there has been a big surge in the number of jobs related to IT, such as web development and design.

3.What jobs pay the highest salary in your country?

Well, I’m not exactly that sure, but my guess would be that things like banking and real estate are probably the sectors which pay the highest, because I mean, there's so much money invested in property here in China, so the salary's bound to be pretty good if you work in real estate. And as for banking, well, I think it goes without saying that most jobs related to banking are relatively highly-paid, which is one of the main reasons why so many graduates here wanna find a job in a bank!

4.Do you think changing jobs is a positive thing to do?

Yeah, I'd say it's perfectly fine to change jobs. I mean, I can't see any point in doing one job throughout your whole career if you're bored out of your wits! So for me I would say the main thing is to be passionate about your job, and if at any point you start to lose enthusiasm in what you're doing, then it might be a good time to consider moving on and doing something else.

5.What age do you think is suitable to start work?

Well, it's really kind of hard to generalize, because some people feel ready to start work as soon as they've finished high school, and a lot of people who've done this have ended up quite successful. But I guess it probably also depends on what job you wanna do, because highly-skilled jobs, like being a doctor or surgeon for example, require many years of training, whereas menial jobs, like working behind a till at McDonald's, hardly require any training, so probably any age from 15 would be suitable for that kind of work.

6.How do you think work will change over the next few decades?

That's a good question, and thinking about it, I guess one thing that could happen is that more people might start working from home, simply because it's becoming more and more inconvenient travelling to work due to traffic congestion. So that's one thing, and I guess it's also quite possible that work, in general, will become more internet-based, because the influence of the internet on people's work has increased incredibly in the last 10 years or so, and I can't see this changing. I mean, more or less everything we do now can be done on the internet, and because it's so convenient, I would say it will play an even bigger role in our lives in years to come.

7.Is it easier or more difficult to get a job today than in the past?

Well, I would say it's definitely more difficult to get a job nowadays than it was in the past, and one of the reasons for saying this is that in the past, there was generally less competition for jobs, because not that many people went to university, whereas nowadays, there are millions of graduates looking around for jobs, which has made it extremely difficult finding a decent, high-paid job, unless of course you have good personal connections! And as well as this, another point I should mention is that 20 or 30 years ago, people were actually assigned jobs after completing university, so getting a job was pretty much guaranteed, whereas nowadays this is not the case at all.

Useful Vocabulary

to apply for a job / post / promotion

to get / have a part-time/full-time job

to work in [field / place]

to work for [a company]

to specialise in [field]

to be a qualified [job]

to work shifts / unsociable hours

to get / have an interview

to be shortlisted for an interview/job/post

to be demoted / promoted

to be transferred / to put in for/request a transfer

to be fired / sacked / dismissed

to be made redundant

to get/take voluntary redundancy

to retire / to be retired

to get a pension / to be a pensioner

the perks of a job (benefits)

to work from home (home-working)

to be self-employed / to work for yourself

to work/do flexi-time / overtime