Unit 5 Distant pastures are always greener

II. Basic Listening Practice

8. Script

W: Why do some people stay in one job for life while others switch jobs from time to time?

M: Some people want a fixed routine so that they don’t have to adapt tot new circumstances over and over again, while others think variety is the spice of life.

Q: According to the dialog, why do some people stick to one job for life?

9. Script

M: Kathleen, you’ve been late for work so many times lately that I have to warn you that any repetition will result in your dismissal.

W: I’m sorry. I’ll try my best to get here earlier in the future. Perhaps I could work later to make up the time I’ve lost.

Q: What does the woman say?

3. Script

M: Mr. Brown, my time here has been frustrating for me. I have a better opportunity with another firm, and I’m taking it.

W: We won’t be sorry to see you leave, Richard. You’ve done your best to make everyone here as miserable as you are.

Q: How does the woman feel about the man’s leaving?

4. Script

W: Mr. Armes, I wanted to tell you in person that at the end of this month I’ll be leaving the company.

M: Well, Sylvia, we are certainly going to miss you here, but I wish you the best of luck.

Q: What does the woman want?

5. Script

W: Time, I hate to tell you this, but we’re caught in a budget crunch, and we must lay you off. I’m sorry.

M: I understand. I’ve enjoyed my time here, and I’m confident I can find something else.

Q: What is the man’s response?

 

 

III. Listening In

Task 1: How to Avoid Bankruptcy

Manager: Adam! Have you any suggestions about how we can avoid bankruptcy?

Adam:   Downsizing would certainly reduce our operating costs. You know, make us lean and mean, the way you have to be in today’s market.

Manager: Where do you suggest we start making these staff cuts?

Adam:    The logical place to start would be in administration. They usually overstaffed.

Manager: That’s not going to go over very well with our employees. Some of them have been with the company for years.

Adam:   It’s painful process, but there’s no choice. They’ll just have to get used to the idea.

Manager: We can give them a fairly decent severance package when they’re fired.

Adam:    I know. And I think that if we computerize the office, we could reduce office staff by about 20 percent just by eliminating a lot of paperwork.

Manager: OK. If we lay off 20 percent of the administrative staff, will that be enough to get the company back on its feet?

Adam:   Unfortunately not. We’ll also need to make some cuts in the service department.

Manager: How can we do that and maintain the level of service that we offer our passengers?

Adam:    Well, we’ll have to retrain the service staff and streamline our operations, so we won’t need as many people to run things smoothly.

Manager: Well, this is serious, but I really don’t think we have any other choice. If we keep losing money like this, we’ll have to shut everything down.

 

Task2：The job-hopping fever

Although the scarcity of employment opportunities for college graduates has shown no signs of improving, the shortage does not prevent young employees from job-hopping.

The Chinese young people who graduated from college three yeas ago have on average changed jobs twice. According to a report by an education consulting agency, 88 percent of these changes were voluntary, with the graduates choosing to resign instead of being fired.

In the Pearl River Delta, one of China’s economic centers, less than 20 percent of newly recruited college graduates remained for more than a year in the first company where they had worked.

Entrepreneurs are worried that the job-hopping fever among graduates will destabilize their companies and harm long-term development. To prevent constant job-hopping, some enterprises have actually started withholding their employees’ graduation certificates; some even hold back wages.

Experts are studying the causes of this trend toward job switching. According to the report, 33 percent of the respondents changed jobs for better career prospects, 25 percent due to low salaries, and 13 percent just wanted to try new professions. Experts also analyzed the deep-rooted reasons for the frequent job changes. Enterprises usually ranked the five most desirable qualities as a sense of responsibility, professional ethics, communication skills, learning ability, and problem-solving abilities. But in a university education those five qualities were sometimes lists in the reverse order.

Although employers value highly a sense of responsibility and professional ethics, many inexperienced graduates made concessions by accepting a temporary position, taking it as a springboard to a better job. Today’s young people are usually the only child in the family. Many of them have been brought up by doting parents, and are now bitterly disappointed at the low-paying jobs offered them.

Sometimes firms have disillusioned college graduates by having no long-term development strategies. If there is neither proper planning nor training for employees, they see only a dim future.

 

 

Task3: Layoffs can be predicted.

Script

In some cases companies inform their employees in advance that layoffs are coming. In other cases, they come without warning: You arrive on time for work on a Friday, but you are told not to come next week. Ouch!

In either case, you may be able to sense some bad signs in advance. Maybe the company has tried very hard to avoid layoffs; maybe it has been preparing for the worst for quite some time. If you think about the bad omens carefully, you might know as much or more than some of the employees in managerial positions with management responsibilities.

For example, if you work in sales, you might know that quotas have not been met. If you work in field engineering, you might notice far fewer customer installations. If your company’s competitors, suppliers or customers are laying off employees, it’s likely your company will too, especially if economic conditions are affecting your industry. Check the layoff statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Search the Net and your local newspaper too for articles concerning layoffs in your industry.

Do things like bad sales always mean that layoffs are coming to your company? Not necessarily. Companies have seasonal and economic sales dips all the time, and are always looking for ways to improve their performance. So, if you see only one or two bad signs, don’t jump to a hasty conclusion. But if you see more, especially along the lines of earnings warnings, budget cuts, hiring freezes, restructuring, and massive layoffs in your industry, it might just be time to get your resume up to date and start looking for a new job. Also, it might e a good idea to cancel your vacation, implement money-saving measures, and become more useful on your job. You should prepare in advance if you think you might get the axe soon.

 

 

IV. Speaking Out

MODEL 1   We’re going to miss you.

Susan: Excuse me, Helen, do you have a minute to talk?

Helen: That question always carries some weight, Sue. What’s up?

Susan: Well, uh…Here goes…My university wants me to go back to update the university website.

Helen: So what? You can go back on the weekend, or in the evening.

Susan: But it’s a large project. So I’m afraid I have to terminate my work here before my internship is over. I have to go back next Thursday.

Helen: Oh? This is quite a surprise, Sue. I’m sad that you’ll be leaving us. You run this place with clockwork efficiency, you know. We’re going to miss you.

Susan: I hope this one-week notice will give you time to hire and train a replacement.

Helen: Thanks for the notices, Sue. Assistants like you are one in a million. I guess we’d better start looking as soon as possible.

Susan: With your approval, I’ll put out notice today and screen the application myself.

Helen: That would be great. Schedule them in as you see fit. Oh, Sue, things certainly won’t be the same without you around here.

Susan: Thank you for your kind words. If you have any problem, please feel free to call me.

 

 

 

MODEL2   We have to let you go.

Script

Helen: Tom, the reason I called you into my office is your work.

Tom:  Really?

Helen: The truth is ..I’m not satisfied with your job performance.

Tom:  Are you sure I haven’t been doing a good job?

Helen: Tom, you’ve been reprimanded a number of times for being late and for using company time for personal matters. What’s more, you use the company phone to talk with your friends for hours.

Tom:  I know I’ve been late a couple of times; my motorcycle has been breaking down. I’m really sorry. I promise to do better in the future.

Helen: I’m afraid it’s too late. Right now, your tardiness is the least of my problems.

Tom:  What do you mean?

Helen: My secretary has proof that you have misappropriated company funds on several occasions. We won’t be prosecuting, but this simply can’t be allowed.

Tom:: I didn’t steal any money! Your secretary is lying!

Helen: I’m sorry, we have to let you go.

Tom:  You’re firing me? You are giving me my pink slip?

Helen: Exactly. I’m sorry it had to turn out this way. Your termination is effective immediately.

 

 

 

MODEL3   I’m the one you’ve been looking for.

Script

Helen: So, Bill, tell me about your last job. What kinds of work did you do?

Bill:   Market investigation, sales promotion, after-sale services, risk analysis, investment planning –to name just a few.

Helen: Why did you leave?

Bill:   Downsizing. The company wasn’t performing efficiently. It’s been operating at a loss. So the only way out was to lay off redundant employees.

Helen: Why do you think our corporation makes a good career move for you?

Bill:   My experience at the last company is completely transferable to your company, since you deal in the same products.

Helen:  Go on.

Bill:    What’s even better, your corporation is a well-known multinational, and it’s working to become an industry leaser. I like that.

Helen: And that would be a real boost to your career?

Bill:   Definitely. My last employer dealt with only small investments. But your company is handling large projects. That will help me grow professionally.

 

 

V. Let’s Talk

 

 

 

VI. Further Listening and Speaking

Task1: Problems of Joblessness

Script

Joblessness can lead to a series of problem, and it is not easy to solve them.

First of all, being without a job often means lacking social contract with fellow employees, and lacking a purpose for many hours of the day. Also, it obviously affects your ability to pay bills and t o purchase the necessities of life, Lack of this ability is especially serious for those with family obligations, debts, or medical costs, and it is especially true id in a country like the United States, where the availability of medical insurance is often linked to holding a job.

Some maintain that jobless people can rely on unemployment insurance, but this is no true. Unemployment insurance in the U.S. typically does not even replace50 percent of the income one received on the job, and one cannot receive it forever. Therefore, the unemployed often end up aping welfare programs such as Food Stamps—or accumulating debt: both formal debt to banks and informal debt to friends and relatives.

Some hold that low-income jobs provide solution to joblessness, but this is not true. Since it is difficult or impossible to get unemployment insurance benefits without having worked in the past, job-seekers have to accept low-income jobs. Thus, unemployment insurance keeps a ready supply of low-paid workers. To make things worse, many employers take advantage of this. When they resort to such management techniques as low wages and benefits, as well ad few chances for advancement, they bear the unemployment insurance option in mind.

Under increasing unemployment pressure, jobless people suffer from a variety of financial, psychological and social problems. Increase unemployment encourages bad health and raises both crime and suicide rates.

 

Task 2: Before the cutback

Script

Barbara: I’ve really got to think about my future. You’ve heard of the cutbacks the management’s making, right?

Alan:    Oh, yes. I’ve heard it. But you haven’t anything to be concerned about.

Barbara: Around here you never know from one day to the next whether you can keep your job

.Alan:  Come on, they won’t let you go. You’ve been for so long. Besides, you’re good at your job.

Barbara: That might be, but I feel that I’ve reached the glass ceiling in this company.

Alan:     Glass ceiling? What do you mean by that?

Barbara: I’ve been working here for ten years. I haven’t gotten a promotion in three years. I thought I should be Vice President by now. If I were a man, I’m sure I would be Vice President.

Alan:    There’s no official company policy, but it’s true that they don’t promote women to management positions here.

Barbara: I can see the writing on the wall. I think it’s time to change job, and maybe even careers, if I want to get ahead.

Alan:    Change career? That’s a big jump. If you change careers, what will you do?

Barbara: I’m doing market research here, but I studies public relations in college. I’d like to do PR for a large multinational company.

Alan:    That sounds exciting, and the pay would be better, too. Yeah, if I would keep an eye on the job positing on the Internet.

Barbara: Sooner or later something good is bound to turn up in the job market.

 

Task3:  Career Transitions

Script

In July of 2001, my husband, a professional in the information technology consulting industry, lost his job. Despite my experience as a career counselor who had counseled hundreds of people about career changes, when the bad news finally arrived, we were both caught unprepared. Unprepared to tell our children, unprepared for the mix of emotions and most dramatically, unprepared for the sudden loss of routine in our lives. The reality was that thought we both knew well how to find jobs, we had never been in this awkward unemployment situation together before. I remember watching my husband sitting in our office as he patted his forehead and muttered to himself, “ Now what am I supposed to do?”

Being laid-off created a whole new set of questions and challenge. We turned to the bookstore for assistance and found lots of books about job search, but not a single book on the day-to-day challenges you face when you get laid-off.

Over time we learned what to do. We discovered terrific resources, identified shortcuts, and learned from others going through the same process. I spoke with my colleagues and clients and collected their best tips. Before we knew it, we had gathered enough interesting material for a book on career transitions –the book we needed but couldn’t find last July

Now we want to share this goldmine of information with you.