Section one: READING

Read the article below. Are the statements true (T) or false (F)?
1 Companies need to be competitive today. []

2 Staff in large companies need to know why there are changes. []

3 Students who want better jobs often study abroad. []

4 Australia is a popular place for Americans to emigrate to. [ ]

5 The cost of living in Spain is higher than in Britain. []

6 The quality of life in Australia is better than in Britain. []

7 Skilled workers can get to the USA more easily than manual workers. []

8 People who work from home are often freelance workers. [ ]

9 Most people today stay in the same job all their lives. []

10 Temporary staff are more expensive than permanent staff. []

11 It can be hard to get a permanent job in some industries. [ ]

12 Older people sometimes don’t like new technology. []

Staying competitive is the key to success in business these days. Companies need to keep changing
and improving to become market leaders. But it is also important to keep some traditions which are the
foundation of a company. Big companies need to make sure that their staff are happy about changes
and that they can see why the company needs them. More and more companies understand today
that you can help people and be competitive at the same time.

Also today many people are living and working in other countries. Many students go abroad to study
so they can get a better job when they return home. Thousands of British people are selling their
homes in Britain and moving to Australia, Spain or the USA. Some of them say that they are doing this
because the cost of living is too high in Britain and that the quality of life in these other countries is
better. It is now not very easy to emigrate to some of these countries because they only want skilled
workers.

Finally we can say that the world of work has changed greatly. Many people these days can work from
home as freelance workers. Modern technology has made this possible. Another change is that most
people cannot or do not stay in the same job for ever, many companies like to employ temporary staff
because it is cheaper to only pay someone when you need them. In some sectors it is more difficult
every year to find permanent jobs. Many older people are also finding it hard to find or keep a job
because they cannot use computers. Often they are frightened of modern technology.
Section two: USE OF LANGUAGE

VOCABULARY
1. Complete the advertisement with the words.
qualifications / career / conditions / terms / global / flexible / domestic / competitive / exciting /
range / pension / low-cost

We are a (1) _________________ company and we can offer a good (2) _________________ for
students who have finished university. The working (3) _________________ are excellent and we also
offer (4) _________________ working hours. There are some very (5) _________________
opportunities for university graduates. In (6) _________________ of salary, this is very (7)
_________________ and we also have a good company (8) _________________ plan. We now have
a new product (9) _________________ for the (10) _________________ market. We have designed
(11) _________________ products especially for students. We are looking for younger people with
good (12) _________________ to help sell these products.

2. Look at these points from a company’s SWOT analysis. Match them with the strategic
planning factors in the box. Write the correct letter on the provided line. One factor matches
two points.

Points from the analysis Factors

1.Our prices are higher than the competition a) Expansion

2.New companies are entering our market. b) Product development

3.We have a highly-skilled young staff. c) Competitors

4.We have a strong internet presence. d) Visibility

Your answers here

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
CAREER SKILLS
Put these words in the correct order to make questions.
1 job / you/ do / your / like?

_______________________________________________________________

2 do / do / in / time / what / your / free / you?

_______________________________________________________________

3 you / this / why / job / want / do?

_______________________________________________________________

4 have / long / you / here / how / worked?

_______________________________________________________________

5 think / the / new / of / conference / you / do / what / centre?

_______________________________________________________________

Section three: WRITING

Topic one: Complete the report with the correct past form of the verb in brackets.

best / has worked / recommend / because / have / has / shows / speaks / should / had

We (1) __________________ a problem at the Brazilian factory at the moment. I think we (2)
__________________ send Mr Lomax there. He (3) __________________ Portuguese and he (4)
__________________ in South America before. Our research (5) __________________ that the
manager of the factory in Brazil does not have enough experience. We think that Mr Lomas is the (6)
__________________ person to send (7) __________________ he (8) __________________ a lot of
experience. We (9) __________________ problems at the Korean factory last year and he solved
them very quickly. I (10) __________________ Mr Lomas. There are no other people with his
experience.
Topic two: Read the following job advertisement and write a covering letter to apply for the job.

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Section four: LISTENING