IELTS work and careers vocabulary
Work and careers come up in every part of the IELTS test. Speaking Part 1 often starts with "Do you work or are you a student?", and Part 3 may ask about job satisfaction, working from home or the future of employment. In Writing Task 2 you might discuss whether people should stay with one employer for life, or whether a high salary matters more than interesting work.
This deck covers the vocabulary of finding, doing and leaving a job. For getting a job, learn vacancy, applicant, candidate, interview, recruit and recruitment. For the job itself, you have occupation, profession, colleague, manager, staff and workforce. For pay and conditions, use salary, wage, income, pension, overtime and shift. A salary is usually a fixed yearly amount, while a wage is often paid by the hour or week, a distinction that adds precision to your answers.
Modern working patterns are a popular theme. Freelance and part-time work, flexible hours and a long commute are all things candidates can discuss from experience. Words such as productivity and efficiency help you argue about remote work, and teamwork and leadership describe the skills employers want. Young people's first steps into work are covered by internship and apprentice.
Endings matter too. You can resign (leave by choice), retire (stop working because of age) or face redundancy (lose your job because it is no longer needed). Using the right word shows real control of the topic. Notice collocations as well: you apply for a job, gain experience, earn a promotion and meet a deadline.
Study these 49 words Take a quiz
49 work and careers words with definitions
| Word | Pronunciation | Part of speech | Definition | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| employment | /ɪmˈplɔɪmənt/ | n. | having a job; work done for money | B1 |
| unemployment | /.ʌnim'plɒimənt/ | n. | the number of people in an area who want to work but do not have a job | L2 |
| employer | /ɪmˈplɔɪə/ | n. | person or firm that pays people to work for them | B1 |
| employee | /ɪmˈplɔɪiː/ | n. | person who works for someone else for payment | A2 |
| career | /kəˈrɪə/ | n. | particular occupation in professional life | A2 |
| occupation | /ˌɒkjəˈpeɪʃən/ | n. | a career or regular job | B1 |
| profession | /prəˈfeʃən/ | n. | job requiring special education or skills | B1 |
| professional | /prəˈfeʃənəl/ | adj. | about a job such as a doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc. | B1 |
| salary | /ˈsæləri/ | n. | money an employee is paid each year | A2 |
| wage | /weɪdʒ/ | n. | money paid to workers for the hours they worked | B1 |
| income | /ˈɪnkʌm/ | n. | earned money from work, investments, or business | B1 |
| promotion | /prəu'məuʃən/ | n. | moving someone to a more important position | L2 |
| recruit | /rɪˈkruːt/ | v. | to get people to come and work, join, or study with you | B2 |
| recruitment | /rɪˈkruːtmənt/ | n. | the process of finding people to join an organisation | B2 |
| colleague | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | n. | someone who works with you; coworker | A2 |
| manager | /ˈmænɪdʒə/ | n. | person who controls and runs a business or group | A2 |
| management | /ˈmænɪdʒmənt/ | n. | people who are in control of a business or group | B1 |
| staff | /stɑːf/ | n. | employees of a company | B1 |
| workforce | n. | n the force of workers available | L2 | |
| labour | /'leibə/ | n. | n a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; n concluding state of pregnancy | L3 |
| retire | /rɪˈtaɪə/ | v. | to stop working because you have reached a certain age | B1 |
| retirement | /ri'taiəmənt/ | n. | time when someone has stopped working because of their age | L1 |
| pension | /'penʃən/ | n. | regular payments you receive after you retire | L2 |
| contract | /ˈkɒntrækt/ | n. | legal agreement (e.g., for doing work for money) | B2 |
| freelance | /ˈfriːlɑːns/ | adj. | Working independently for different clients rather than one employer | B2 |
| part-time | /ˌpɑːt ˈtaɪm/ | adj. | Involving fewer hours than a full working or studying week | A2 |
| overtime | /ˈəʊvətaɪm/ | n. | Extra working hours, or the money paid for them | B2 |
| shift | /ʃɪft/ | v. | to change in position or direction | B2 |
| productivity | /.prəudʌk'tiviti/ | n. | rate at which something is made or that people work | L2 |
| efficiency | /ɪˈfɪʃnsi/ | n. | working well; producing something without waste | B2 |
| skilled | /skɪld/ | adj. | Having the training and ability to do something well | B2 |
| unskilled | /.ʌn'skild/ | adj. | not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency | L3 |
| apprentice | /ə'prentis/ | n. | works for an expert to learn a trade; be or work as an apprentice | L3 |
| internship | /ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp/ | n. | A temporary job providing practical experience in a particular field | B2 |
| interview | /ˈɪntəvjuː/ | n. | to formally ask questions about a given topic | A2 |
| resign | /rɪˈzaɪn/ | v. | to leave a job because you want to | B2 |
| redundancy | /rɪˈdʌndənsi/ | n. | Job loss because an employer no longer needs the position | C1 |
| promote | /prəˈməʊt/ | v. | to try to encourage the popularity and sales of a product | B1 |
| workplace | /ˈwɜːkpleɪs/ | n. | A place where people do their jobs | B1 |
| job | /dʒɒb/ | n. | regular work of earning money | A1 |
| vacancy | /ˈveɪkənsi/ | n. | A job or position available for someone to fill | B2 |
| applicant | /ˈæplɪkənt/ | n. | Someone who formally requests a job, place, or permission | B2 |
| candidate | /ˈkændɪdət/ | n. | a person being considered for a job or position in office | B2 |
| experience | /ɪkˈspɪəriəns/ | n. | knowledge gained by living life, doing new things | A2 |
| leadership | /ˈliːdəʃɪp/ | n. | quality of being able to guide or influence others | B2 |
| teamwork | /ˈtiːmwɜːk/ | n. | People working together effectively to achieve a shared goal | B2 |
| deadline | /ˈdedlaɪn/ | n. | a date or time before which something must be done | B2 |
| commute | /kəˈmjuːt/ | v. | To travel regularly between home and work | B2 |
| flexible | /ˈfleksəbl/ | adj. | capable of being easily bent or changed without breaking | B2 |
How to use these words in Writing and Speaking
Study a little every day. New words learned today return tomorrow for an overnight review, and well-known words come back less and less often, so your effort goes where it is needed. After each session, describe your current or ideal job aloud for one minute, using as many words from this deck as you naturally can.
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Data sources and credits
- Headwords and English definitions: New General Service List 1.2 & New Academic Word List 1.2 — Browne, C., Culligan, B. & Phillips, J., CC BY-SA 4.0
- Phonetics, CEFR levels, example sentences and Chinese glosses: Word Atlas — Word Atlas contributors — CC BY 4.0. Modified: fields selected, senses shortened, Chinese converted to Traditional characters.
- More phonetics and Chinese translations: ECDICT (MIT)
- Scheduling: ts-fsrs (MIT)
- The topic decks and all page texts are our own.