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Vanessa:
Hey, I'm in the market  

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for a new gig. My day job is in sales, but it's 
not my dream job so I'm looking for something  

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in the medical field. Do you think you could 
help me? Would you know how to respond to this?  

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Well, let's talk about it.
Vanessa: 

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New gig, day job, medical field. Today we 
are going to practice speaking together  

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about your job. You are going to 
learn some important vocabulary,  

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questions, and a sample conversation. 
Plus a chance to practice speaking with me  

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about your job today. I hope that this lesson will 
boost skills because talking about your job is an  

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extremely common daily conversation topic, so with 
today's lesson, you'll be on your way to success.  

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To help you remember everything that you 
learn in this lesson, I've created a free PDF  

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worksheet that you can download and use all of the 
vocabulary, expressions, questions, conversations,  

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and you can answer Vanessa's challenge question 
at the end of the worksheet. You can click on  

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the link in the description to download it. 
All right, let's get started with some common  

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vocabulary about jobs.
Vanessa: 

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The first category have to do with employment. 
We'll talk about unemployment later. You might  

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say, my day job is in an office, but I'm 
taking some night classes to become a nurse.  

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This expression, my day job usually means your 
primary job. The way that you make the most money,  

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it could imply that it's during the day. But if 
you happen to work a night shift, you can still  

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say my day job. This is my main job and how I make 
money. It's my day job. Another way to talk about  

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your main job is to say my nine to five is in a 
marketing firm. My nine to five, this talks about  

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the hours that you work, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. You 
might work different hours. You might work 7:00 AM  

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to 4:00 PM. You might work in the afternoon or the 
evening, but we still use my nine to five to talk  

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about your primary job, my nine to five.
Vanessa: 

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There is kind of a new movement talking about this 
expression and it's often about how people don't  

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like their nine to five, that this is something 
that they're not satisfied with. And people who  

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are not enjoying their nine to five might find 
some articles online that say, "Want to ditch  

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your nine to five? Here's how to find your dream 
job." An expression we'll talk about in a moment,  

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but sometimes in this modern age, nine to five 
implies that it's just a job. I don't really care  

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about it, it's my nine to five. It's the way that 
you make money, but it's not really your passion,  

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it's my nine to five.
Vanessa: 

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What about jobs that are not your primary money 
making job? You can use a lot of different  

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expressions. We could call those jobs a gig, a 
side-gig, a hustle, a side-hustle. Or you might  

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just say I do it on the side. So let's imagine 
that you make earrings, but it's not your nine  

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to five. It's not your primary job. Well, you 
might say, I do it on the side. I make earrings  

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on the side. Or you could say, I have a side gig 
making earrings. This is not your primary job,  

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but it's something that you do and you still 
make some money, but it's not your primary job. 

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Vanessa:
If you don't work 40 hours a week at a job,  

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then you have a part-time job. In the US, 40 
hours per week is considered a full-time job.  

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But a lot of jobs are part-time jobs. So you 
might say, yep, I work a part-time job on the  

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weekends at a restaurant. I work a part-time 
job. Maybe it's your main way of making money,  

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you just work less hours or maybe it's just 
a side thing, or maybe you're also a student  

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and you have a part-time job at the same time. 
That's a great way to describe something that you  

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work less than 40 hours a week on.
Vanessa: 

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Now let's talk about unemployment. Unfortunately, 
over the last few years, a lot of people  

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became unemployed. This is really scary. You don't 
know how you're going to survive, feed you family,  

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take care of your future. You might be laid 
off, laid off means you didn't personally  

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do something wrong, but the company either cut 
your position, they couldn't pay for you anymore  

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and it's not something personal. It's usually 
a problem within the company. So when a company  

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is suffering usually financially, or they 
change their whole system, their whole model,  

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and they don't need some people anymore. They 
might lay you off. This is a great phrasal verb.  

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Of course you don't want it to happen to you, 
but it's a great phrasal verb to know, to explain  

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the situation, because it's not that you were 
fired, to be fired means you did something wrong  

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and they said, "sorry, you can't work 
here anymore." And there was a problem. 

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Vanessa:
Maybe you were late to work too many times,  

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you got fired. This is different than 
being laid off. When you're laid off,  

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it's not your fault. And it's not embarrassing to 
say, ah, man, I was laid off during the pandemic.  

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That's not embarrassing. That's fine. It's 
not your fault. But if you say, I was fired,  

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usually there's a little bit of embarrassment 
to talk about that because it means there was a  

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problem. We can also say, I lost my job. This 
is a little more indirect than being fired.  

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It might be because you did something wrong. I 
was late to work so many times that I lost my job.  

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This means you were fired, but you didn't directly 
say that. But it could also mean that you were  

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just laid off. During the pandemic I lost my job.
Vanessa: 

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That's not your fault, you didn't do anything 
wrong, there were just problems with the economy,  

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problems with the world in general. So you 
lost your job. So this expression to lose,  

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my job can be used either way. It can be used if 
you get fired or if you get laid off. Now, let's  

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talk about how you feel about your job. Let's 
imagine that you are a waiter at a restaurant.  

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Well, you might say, I'm a waiter, but it's just 
a job. I'm looking for something else. It's just  

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a job. This is a common expression to talk about 
a job that you don't really love. It's not your  

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dream job. This is the opposite. If you 
love your work, for me, I love being your  

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teacher. I love being able to be your teacher 
online, too. It's really a great combination. 

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Vanessa:
Great for you, I can touch a lot of people  

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and also my life can have a lot of flexibility. 
Working online as your English teacher is my dream  

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job, but there can also be some problems with 
work. You might say, it's hard to find a good  

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work/life balance. This expression, a work life 
balance is often used when you're working so much,  

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or maybe like me you work from home. So it's 
hard to have a good line between your personal  

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life and your work life. So maybe if you've been 
working a lot, you might say, I just need to take  

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a break and find a better work/life balance. 
That's really important. If you've been working  

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a lot, maybe you've even been studying a lot, 
you might face burnout, burnout. This doesn't  

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have to do with fire, but it kind of has the sense 
that your figurative flame and love of your job  

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has gone out.
Vanessa: 

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So if you experience burnout, it means the thing 
that was your dream job, the thing that you felt  

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passionate about, you no longer feel passionate 
about. This might be temporary. This happens to  

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a lot of people like me who create content on 
YouTube. You have to be creative and come up  

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with a lot of ideas and sometimes there aren't 
many good ideas. Maybe I just have some kind of  

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temporary writer's block and don't come up 
with a good idea. And I feel overwhelmed.  

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Well, that might mean I am burnt out. I 
am experiencing burnout, or we might say,  

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I'm burnt out. I'm burnt out on my job, I've been 
working for 12 hours a day for the last three  

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weeks, I'm burnt out. I need a break. I hope that 
you can avoid this before it gets too serious,  

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but it's something that's really common if you are 
working too much or if you're studying too much. 

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Vanessa:
Now let's talk about four common  

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phrases for describing your job. And just a little 
note, a while ago, I made this video a hundred  

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jobs in English. So if you would like to learn how 
to pronounce your personal job, or if you would  

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like some more information about specific jobs 
in English, you can check out that video and get  

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some more details about that. But let's talk about 
four common phrases to talk about what you do. You  

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might say, I am a teacher. I am a doctor. I'm a 
healthcare worker. I'm a construction worker. I'm  

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a designer, whatever you might be, I am. But 
we could also say I work in... Plus a field.  

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I work in education. I work in healthcare. I 
work in business. I work in marketing. So here  

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we have a general term. It doesn't talk about your 
specific position, but it's a common expression  

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used when you're describing your job.
Vanessa: 

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I work in education. Maybe you're not specifically 
a teacher, maybe you help to create a curriculum  

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or maybe there's something that's a little 
complex that you don't want to explain.  

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You might just say, I work in education. Cool. 
You could also talk about the company you work  

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for. I work for Amazon. I work for Google, 
especially if this is a well known company,  

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even if it's just well known locally, this 
is a common expression you might use. Yeah,  

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I work for Samsung. I work for Duke Power, which 
is the power plant in my city. If I said this to  

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somebody who lived in France, they would have no 
idea what I was talking about because this is a  

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local business. But if I said that to someone 
locally, they would understand exactly. So it's  

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kind of all about the context here.
Vanessa: 

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What if you have your own business? What if 
you run your own business, you can use that  

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expression, to run. For me, I run my own business. 
We could say I run an online education business.  

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Well, that means that I teach online, 
but it means I'm the CEO, the boss,  

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I wear all the hats. I run a business. So we could 
use this for a lot of different situations as  

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long as you are the entrepreneur, you're the one 
who's in charge of the business. I run a business. 

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Vanessa:
Before we get to our  

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sample conversation, of course, we need to talk 
out some common job questions. This is essential  

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for daily conversation because usually these are 
the questions we use in small talk. So that's why  

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this topic is really important to know about. One 
of the most common small talk questions after you  

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say, hey, my name's Vanessa. Oh, nice to meet 
you. What do people say next? What do you do?  

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What do you do? The full expression for this 
is possibly, what do you do for work? But we  

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often just say, what do you do? And this doesn't 
mean I'm sitting here right now talking to you,  

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what are you doing right now? This 
means what's your job. What do you do? 

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Vanessa:
So you might use one of  

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those expressions as we talked about earlier and 
say, oh, I work for Google. I work in marketing.  

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Awesome. What do you do? Or what do you do for 
work? When you tell someone what you do, if they  

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are a good conversationalist, they might ask more 
questions. Or you could ask this question too.  

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What's that like? What's that like? So you're 
asking about their experience. What's it like to  

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be a nurse in the hospital these days? Well, you 
might say, well, I like the doctor I work for, but  

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it's just been really intense lately and it's not 
my dream job. I really want to be a photographer  

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for foster and animals and help them to find a new 
home. That's what I would love to do. I'd love to  

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get into photography.
Vanessa: 

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Okay. Well, here, you just answered the question, 
what's that like, with a lot of juicy details  

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that can further the conversation more. So when 
you ask someone what's that like, if they give  

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you some details, don't miss that opportunity, 
you can pull any of those details and say, oh,  

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you like foster animals. Have you ever had 
any foster animals? Oh, I have a dog too.  

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And you can kind of snowball the conversation. So 
this is a great way to get more information and  

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learn about someone else. If you're talking with 
someone who you already know, maybe you kind of  

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think you know what work they do, but you're not 
sure or you haven't talked with them for a while.  

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You might ask this question, where are you working 
these days? Where are you working these days? 

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Vanessa:
These days means  

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now. But if you haven't seen someone for five 
years, maybe you knew what their previous job was  

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and you're trying to make small talk conversation 
again and get to know maybe something's changed  

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in their life. So you could ask, where are 
you working these days? And you might say,  

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oh yeah, actually I'm still working at Google. 
I've had the same job for the last five years,  

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I feel really lucky that I didn't get laid off, 
so that's where I'm at. And let's say you're  

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talking with someone and you know what job they 
have. Well, you could ask this question. How's  

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work going? This is similar to asking, how's your 
family? Oh, how was your vacation? This is just a  

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common, small talk question about someone's job.
Vanessa: 

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How's work going? And maybe they'll just say, 
oh, it's going fine. Okay, that's fine. But if  

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they give you more information, they might say 
something like, oh, it's going okay, it was kind  

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of my side-gig for a while and then I got hired 
full time, but I'm having a hard time finding a  

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work/life balance, so I think I'm going to look 
for something in a different field soon. Oh,  

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well, you just had a great conversation there 
and you've got lots more information to be able  

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to have more conversation with someone, just 
from the simple question, how's work going? 

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Vanessa:
All right. Now it's time to see a sample using all  

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of these expressions or many of these expressions 
that we just talked about. You'll see my husband,  

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Dan and I having a little chit chat about our 
jobs. And I hope that you recognize some of these  

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expressions and questions that we talked about 
because in a moment after the sample conversation,  

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it will be your turn to use them and to have a 
conversation with me. Are you ready? Let's watch. 

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Dan:
Hey Vanessa, where are you working these days? 

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Vanessa:
Oh, Hey Dan. I run an online business so  

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I can work from anywhere, it's pretty great.
Dan: 

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Wow. What's that like?
Vanessa: 

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Well, I help students learn English and 
speak with confidence. It's my dream job,  

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but I have to be careful to avoid burning out.
Dan: 

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Oh, that's awesome, but I understand.
Vanessa: 

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What about you?
Dan: 

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Well, unfortunately I just got laid off 
at the coffee shop when they closed,  

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but I got a job working part-time at a hotel.
Vanessa: 

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Oh man, that's a bummer. Have you ever worked 
in marketing? I'm looking for someone to help  

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if you want a side-gig behind the scenes.
Dan: 

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That'd be great, tell me more about it.
Vanessa: 

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I wonder if Dan will get the job in marketing, 
working for Vanessa. All right, now it is your  

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turn. And what I want to tell you is I will be 
asking you some questions and having a little  

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conversation, but I recommend going back and 
reviewing this. You're welcome to pause the  

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video and answer longer if you would like, this 
is a great chance to have kind of a structured,  

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no pressure conversation in English. All right, 
are you ready to get started? Let's imagine we  

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were at a gathering and the host said, oh Vanessa, 
this is your name. And we get introduced to each  

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other. And then the host leaves. Here we 
need to have some small talk. So I ask you,  

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so tell me what do you do? And now 
it's your turn to talk. Go ahead.  

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And what's that like, do you enjoy your work?
Vanessa: 

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Oh, me? Oh, I run an online English business 
where I teach English online to students around  

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the world. It's really my dream job. I feel pretty 
lucky. Well, good luck with your work. I'm so glad  

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to meet you. And I'll talk to you later, bye. How 
did you do? Did you have a chance to speak out  

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loud and practice with me? Feel free to go back 
and review that last segment or this whole video  

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as many times as you would like 
to boost your confidence because  

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when you have small talk in English, you will 
absolutely encounter this conversation topic. 

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Vanessa:
Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet  

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for today's lesson, with all of the important 
vocabulary, questions, sample conversation,  

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and Vanessa's challenge question at the end of the 
worksheet. And now I have a question for you. What  

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is your dream job? Let me know in the comments, 
I would love to see what it is. Maybe it's your  

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current job. Maybe it's a job you would love to 
have in the future. Let me know, what's your dream  

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job and I will see you again next Friday for 
a new lesson here on my YouTube channel, bye. 

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Vanessa:
The next step is  

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to download the free PDF worksheet for this 
lesson. With this free PDF, you will master  

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today's lesson and never forget what you have 
learned. You can be a confident English speaker.  

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Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel 
for a free English lesson every Friday, bye.