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Hire and fire

If you 'hire' someone, you employ them.

• We hired him on a six month contract.
• I hear that they are not hiring people at the moment because of budget problems.

If you 'fire' somebody, you dismiss them from their job, usually because of something they did.

• I had to fire Sally because she kept on making mistakes.
• If you don't improve, they may decide to fire you.

If you 'make somebody redundant', you dismiss them from their job for economic reasons.

• They are closing down the factory and making 500 people redundant.
• I was made redundant from my last job.

If you 'recruit' people, you persuade them to work for you.

• We need to recruit more young engineers.
• It's difficult to recruit people because our pay is so low.

If you 'headhunt' someone for a job, you approach them because you think they are well-qualified for the job and offer them the job.

• We need to look at the people doing similar jobs in other companies and headhunt the best one.
• He was headhunted at great expense but the job didn't work out and he left.

If you 'hand in (or give in) your notice', you tell your employer that you are going to leave the company.

• She handed in her notice this morning and is leaving at the end of the month.
• He gave in his notice and they told him he could leave straight away.

If a company 'gives someone notice', they tell them that they are going to lose their jobs.

• The company only gave me three days' notice that I was being made redundant.
• We have to give her two months' notice that we are letting her go.

If an employer 'sacks' someone, they fire them.

• They sacked me without notice after ten years with the company.
• I hear they intend to sack him because of his bullying.

If you 'get the sack' or are 'given the sack', you are fired.

• He was given the sack because he kept arriving late.
• If I keep making mistakes, I'm going to get the sack.

'Severance pay' is money paid to workers when they are made redundant.

• The redundant workers were given 26 weeks' severance pay.
• After ten years, I got three days' notice and no severance pay.

If you take legal action against your employer for 'unfair dismissal', you claim that they dismissed you for no good reason.

• He is suing them for unfair dismissal as he says he was only ever late once.
• Dismiss me and I'll take you to court for unfair dismissal. I've done nothing to deserve this.

If you take legal action against your employer for 'constructive dismissal', you claim that you were forced to leave your job because of the actions/behavior of your employer.

• She is making a claim for constructive dismissal because she claims her immediate boss bullied her.
• I'm sure you have the grounds for a complaint of constructive dismissal.

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4
 

Episode 8 - Graphs and Trends. Today we're looking at presenting information using charts and graphs. You can watch the video or just listen to the audio. (Cách sử dụng biểu đồ và đồ thị để trình bày, giới thiệu thông tin)

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Today we're looking at presenting information using charts and graphs. You can watch the video or just listen to the audio.


TAN: Now, I'd like to refer to the first graph - as you can see this is a bar graph measuring net sales over the first ten months of the year.
You'll notice that sales rose steadily in the first few months, then there was a marked increase in April. They peaked in May at around 3.2 million, and leveled off, then there was a dramatic drop in the following month, followed by a significant increase in August, and this trend has continued up until the present.

JOHN: What was the reason for the sudden drop in July?

TAN: This was mainly due to a drop off in air conditioner sales - so it's a seasonal effect.

DENISE: Could it be a consequence of the negative effect of the interest rate rise?

TAN: Possibly. Now, if I could draw your attention to this next diagram. This is a line graph of sales - the blue line represents air conditioner sales, the red line shows heaters. As you'll note, air conditioner sales dropped steadily from January to July, bottoming out then, while heater sales experienced a sharp increase from March to June, then dropped markedly from June to July, then declined through to September, with a pronounced drop in October.

JOHN: Does this explain the fluctuation in total sales?

TAN: Largely - if we look at this pie diagram, you can see that air conditioners and heaters together represent more than half of our total sales - but they vary seasonally, while other appliances are fairly steady through the year.
JOHN: Well, we can't sell air conditioners when it's cold. What's the solution?

TAN: Export to Europe and America!

DENISE: Easier said than done.



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Today we're looking at presenting information using charts and graphs. We saw three types of diagram:
A bar or column graph
A line graph
And a pie chart.
Look at how Tan introduced his presentation.
Now, I'd like to refer to the first graph - as you can see this is a bar graph measuring net sales over the first nine months of the year.
Tan says 'I'd like to refer to the first graph.'

When referring to a diagram or graph, first direct your audience's attention to that diagram. Practice with Tan some phrases to use for this.
I'd like to refer to the first graph...

If we have a look at this graph...

If I could direct your attention to the graph.

Looking at the graph on the screen...
Let's look at the language Tan uses to describe what the graph shows.
You'll notice that sales rose steadily in the first few months, then there was a marked increase in April. They peaked in May at around 3.2 million, and leveled off, then there was a dramatic drop in the following month, followed by a significant increase n August, and this trend has continued up until the present.
Here's our graph.
Tan said the sales rose steadily at first, then there was a marked increase in April.