Job hunter puts CV on billboard

A French man who was unemployed tried a new (1) _______________ to get a job. He put his CV (résumé) on a giant billboard. The billboard was next to a very (2) _______________ road. It was four metres long and three metres high. There was a photo of the man wearing a Santa Claus hat. There was a message on the billboard (3) _______________ said: "Trilingual operations manager seeks position in hotels, restaurants, tourism and (4) _______________." About 70,000 people a day could see the CV from their car. Jobseeker Laurent Le Bret, 41, said: "All I want for Christmas is a job." His idea (5) _______________. A holiday resort contacted and interviewed him. He started his new position as an operations manager ten days (6) _______________ he put his résumé on the billboard.

Mr Le Bret had help from the (7) _______________ of the billboard. He was going to pay to put his CV on the billboard. However, the advertising company decided to give him the space (8) _______________ free. Mr Le Bret saved 2,000 euros (about $2,700) because he did not have to (9) _______________. The advertising company is called Pisoni Publicité. The company's CEO spoke to the France 24 news agency. He said: "We thought it was an interesting idea. When people come (10) _______________ with ideas like this we are always keen to see what we can do. We're very happy to prove that what we do works, and that Mr Le Bret is back (11) _______________ work." Many people contacted Mr Le Bret after he got his job. They want to try the same (12) _______________. There are 3.3 million unemployed people in France.

1.	(a)	attempt	(b)	mean	(c)	way	(d)	methods
2.	(a)	busy	(b)	busybody	(c)	busily	(d)	busied
3.	(a)	and	(b)	that	(c)	so	(d)	write
4.	(a)	measure	(b)	treasure	(c)	pleasure	(d)	leisure
5.	(a)	working	(b)	worker	(c)	worked	(d)	work
6.	(a)	following	(b)	after	(c)	later	(d)	post
7.	(a)	owner	(b)	job	(c)	adverts	(d)	partner
8.	(a)	so	(b)	by	(c)	with	(d)	for
9.	(a)	payment	(b)	paid	(c)	pay	(d)	payee
10.	(a)	off	(b)	down	(c)	on	(d)	up
11.	(a)	by	(b)	at	(c)	on	(d)	from
12.	(a)	thing	(b)	think	(c)	stuff	(d)	matter

Task 4. Listen to the audio and fill the gaps.

Source: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/0903/090305-jobs.mp3

50 candidates for ‘best job in the world’

The world will (1)_____________________ get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a tropical island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Duties (2)_____________________ the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to promote the area. Other responsibilities (3)_____________________, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells applicants: “There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t (4)_____________________ all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s tourism department announced on Tuesday that (5)_____________________ at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 (6)_____________________.

The next stage (7)_____________________ is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will select ten people. Visitors to the website (8)_____________________ person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 hopeful caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island (9)_____________________. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The current shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. (10)_____________________, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a slice of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was much discussion to narrow (11)_____________________. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants (12)_____________________ the job and Tourism Queensland”.

 

Task 5. Match the synonyms from the listening.

1. position 2. look after 3. promote 4. mail 5. applied 6. process 7. select 8. current 9. narrow down 10. fit

a. post b. reduce c. job d. choose e. publicize f. match g. care for h. method i. went for j. present

 

Task 6. Mark the statements as true or false according to the information from the audio.

1) The “best job in the world” is to look after a desert island.

2) One of the duties of this job is to catch and cook fish.

3) There are 15,000 species of fish living on the Great Barrier Reef.

4) More than 35,000 people applied for this wonderful job.

5) Website visitors will choose a shortlist of 10 candidates.

6) Website visitors can look at the video applications of the candidates.

7) All of the applicants for the best job in the world are Australian.

8) Tourist officials want someone who is motivated and professional.

Task 7. What should you do to pass a job interview? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	What to do	What not to do
1. Dress 2. Punctuality 3. Mood 4. What to talk about 5. Research 6. Ask questions

Task 8.Complete the definitions with the words/phrases below.

against your will     fit for     hiring for nationwide     nerve-racking     sticks out

 

1. If a situation is _____________________, it causes a lot of stress.

2. If something _____________________ in your mind, you remember it very clearly.

3. If somebody makes you do something _____________________, you do not want to do it.

4. If something is _____________________, it takes place all over the country.

5. If a company is _____________________ a position, they are looking for a new employee.

6. If you are the perfect _____________________ a job you are the best candidate to fill the position.

Task 9. Work in pairs. You are going to read about an American survey of HR managers on the most unusual things they have seen during job interviews. Below are eight incidents that actually happened according to the survey. Try to guess what exactly happened. Complete the sentences and then read the article to see how close you were.

 

1. The candidate took a _____________________ off the interviewer’s desk and put it in her purse.

2. The candidate started screaming in the interview because _____________________.

3. The candidate said his ideal job was a painter of birdhouses. He was applying for the position of _____________________.

4. Instead of talking, the candidate decided to _____________________.

5. When asked why he wanted the position, the candidate replied that his _____________________ wanted him to get a job.

6. The candidate started feeling the interviewer’s _____________________.

7. The candidate had a live _____________________ under his shirt.

8. The candidate took a phone interview while he was sitting on _____________________.