Jobs, Workplaces and Talking About Work
What people do, where they do it, and how to talk about your own job in English without sounding translated.
Almost every conversation with a new person in English reaches "what do you do?" within a few minutes. This is how to answer it well.
The question
What do you do? — this means "what is your job?", not "what are you doing right now".
Compare:
What do you do? — I'm a nurse. (profession)
What are you doing? — I'm making coffee. (right now)
Answering
Use a / an with the job. English requires the article.
❌ I am teacher. ✅ I'm a teacher. ✅ I work as an engineer.
Other ways:
- I work in marketing. (a field)
- I work for a bank. (an employer)
- I work at Siemens. (a named place)
- I'm self-employed. / I'm freelance.
- I'm between jobs at the moment. (polite for unemployed)
in / for / at are fixed: in a field, for an employer, at a specific place.
Jobs
teacher · nurse · doctor · engineer · accountant · lawyer · chef · driver · electrician · plumber · shop assistant · receptionist · developer · designer · manager · consultant
Workplaces
office · factory · shop · hospital · school · restaurant · warehouse · building site · laboratory · from home
I work in an office. · She works from home two days a week.
Saying what the job involves
Naming the job is rarely enough — the next sentence explains it. Four patterns do almost all of this:
- I'm responsible for the monthly reports.
- I deal with customer complaints.
- I look after a team of six.
- My job involves a lot of travelling.
Then the useful qualifier: It's mostly admin. · It's quite hands-on. · No two days are the same.
The people around you
boss (informal) · manager · colleague (not "workmate" in most offices) · team · department · client · customer · HR
Two worth separating: a client buys your professional services; a customer buys goods. And colleague is neutral — use it in writing where you'd say the people I work with in speech.
Talking about conditions
- I work full-time / part-time.
- I do shifts. / I'm on nights this week.
- I get 25 days' holiday.
- My salary is paid monthly. (a wage is usually hourly or weekly)
- I have to commute an hour each way.
Changes of job
| Phrase | Means |
|---|---|
| apply for a job | send in an application |
| get promoted | move up |
| hand in your notice / resign | choose to leave |
| be made redundant | lose the job because it no longer exists |
| be sacked / fired | lose the job for a reason |
| take on someone | hire them |
The distinction between made redundant and sacked matters socially: the first is no reflection on you, and English speakers are careful to use the right one.
The follow-up questions
- How long have you been there?
- Do you enjoy it?
- What does that involve? — a genuinely useful question when you do not know the job
Answer in two sentences, not one. I'm an engineer closes the topic; I'm an engineer — I work for a company that makes water pumps opens it. The second sentence is what the other person needs in order to ask anything back.
Small talk at a conference
A: So what do you do?
B: I'm an accountant — I work for a firm in Leeds. You?
A: I'm in logistics. I look after the warehouse team.
B: What does that involve, day to day?
A: A lot of problem-solving, mostly. I've been there six years.
Article with the job, for the employer, in the field, look after for the responsibility, and what does that involve keeping it going.
Test yourself
The quiz below focuses on the articles and the three prepositions.