Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 400, Working in a Dead-End Job.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 400.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Working in a Dead-End Job.
It's a conversation between Kurt and a woman who works at an employment agency, a company that helps you find a job.
Let's get started.
Well, right now I'm working in a dead-end job.
There are no opportunities for advancement.
I'm already at the top of the pay scale, so there's no chance of another pay raise.
Okay, I'd like to find out a little more about your employment history.
Tell me about your last job.
Oh, that was a mind-numbing position.
I did menial work all day and I burned out in six months.
What about the job you had before that?
And what about the job you had before that?
But it turned out to be a stumbling block instead.
My boss didn't like me and wouldn't give me a good reference.
Okay, so you were not happy with any of the jobs you've had.
No, they weren't right for me.
I don't want to be trapped in a dead-end job.
I want something that will give me personal satisfaction.
The conversation begins with the woman who works for the employment agency asking Kurt.
Kurt says Well, right now I'm working in a dead-end job.
A dead end job is a job that doesn't have a lot of opportunities.
It doesn't have a very good future.
A dead end is when you have a street that stops, that you can't go any farther on.
Here it's used to refer to a job that doesn't have any opportunities.
Kurt says there are no opportunities for advancement.
Advancement here means moving up in the company.
It's the same as a promotion to get a better job in the same company.
Kurt says, I'm already at the top of the pay scale, so there's no chance of another pay raise.
The pay scale is a system that a business or organization uses to determine how much each job is going to be worth, how much they're going to pay their employees.
If an employee is there for two years, they may get this salary.
If they're in the company for five years, they get a different salary.
So that's what a pay scale is.
It's a set of we would call them steps that you go through as you are in the company longer, as you have more experience working, or perhaps as you increase your education while at the job.
A pay raise is an increase in the amount of money you receive for working, an increase in your salary.
The agency employee says, okay, I'd like to find out a little more about your employment history.
Your employment history is a list or a description of the jobs that you have had in the past.
If you look at my employment history, it began working at a car wash cleaning cars when I was 15 years old.
When I was 16, I worked at a nursing home cleaning dishes in the kitchen for three or four months.
Then I worked in a store selling things for almost seven years, and so on and so forth.
Eventually, I ended up being a podcaster.
It's a long story.
Kurt says in describing his last job, it was a mind-numbing position.
Mind-numbing here means boring, very uninteresting, not interesting at all.
It was mind-numbing.
To numb, N-U-M-B something, means that you lose your feeling.
For example, if you sit on your legs the wrong way, your foot could go, we would say, to sleep.
It would go numb.
You couldn't feel anything in your foot.
So this is a mind numbing, a brain numbing, if you will, position.
He says, I did menial work all day and I burned out in six months.
Menial, M-E-N-I-A-L, is similar to mind numbing.
It's boring.
It's not important.
It's uninteresting.
Usually menial, is a very simple physical task.
That such as washing the windows or washing cars or washing dishes.
These are menial jobs.
To burn out means that you can no longer work at that job.
You are exhausted mentally and perhaps physically.
When you do a job for a long time, you may get sick of it.
It becomes boring to you.
Burn has several different meanings.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
The agency employee then asks Kurt, what about the job you had before that?
What was the previous job you had?
Kurt says, the problem with that job was that there was a glass ceiling.
A glass ceiling.
C-E-I-L-I-N-G is the idea that people, especially women, who work in an organization, can never become the managers, the vice presidents or the presidents.
They're looking up, as if through a ceiling made of glass, at all of those men in the higher positions.
The ceiling is, as you probably know, the top of a room.
The bottom is called the floor.
So glass ceiling is usually used to talk about women who are unable to advance or get promotions in an organization.
But Kurt says that he was a victim of a glass ceiling.
He says they would never promote a person like me.
To promote someone means to give them a better job, something with more pay and more responsibility.
Then the employment agency employee asks Kurt, well, what about the job before that one?
Kurt says I only took that job as a stepping stone to the next one, but it turned out to be a stumbling block instead.
A couple of expressions here.
First stepping stone in this case is something that helps you get to another level, to a higher level, especially at work.
So you start washing dishes and you say well, that's a stepping stone for cleaning the tables in the dining room.
That's what I really want to do.
A stepping stone is the first or one of the first jobs that you have that you hope will lead you to get a promotion.
A stumbling block is something that makes it difficult or impossible to do something.
To stumble means to fall.
Stumbling block then would be something in your path, in your way that would make you fall.
Here, Kurt is talking about how the job he had was a stumbling block.
It prevented him from advancing.
He says when we talk about a job is an evaluation, usually a letter that someone will write about an employee, often for an employee that's looking for another job outside of the company, a different job.
Reference has a couple of different meanings in English however, so take a look at the learning guide so you know how to use it correctly.
The agency employee says, okay, so you were not happy with any of the jobs you've had.
Kurt says, no, they weren't right for me.
They weren't good for me.
To be trapped means not to have any choices, not to have any options, to be forced to do something.
Kurt doesn't want to be trapped in a dead-end job.
He says, Personal satisfaction is a feeling of happiness, feeling good about what you are doing.
The employee says I see, I understand.
Then she asks Kurt, have you considered working at an employment agency?
I'm looking for a new job myself.
So the woman says that maybe Kurt wants to work at the employment agency because she wants a new job.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a regular speed.
Tell me why you'd like to sign up with our employment agency.
Well, right now I'm working in a dead-end job.
There are no opportunities for advancement.
I'm already at the top of the pay scale, so there's no chance of another pay raise.
Okay, I'd like to find out a little more about your employment history.
Tell me about your last job.
Oh, that was a mind-numbing position.
I did menial work all day, and I burned out in six months.
What about the job you had before that?
Problem with that job was that there was a glass ceiling.
They would never promote a person like me.
And what about the job you had before that?
I only took that job as a stepping stone to the next one, but it turned out to be a stumbling block instead.
My boss didn't like me and wouldn't give me a good reference.
Okay, so you were not happy with any of the jobs you've had?
No, they weren't right for me.
I don't want to be trapped in a dead-end job.
I want something that will give me personal satisfaction.
I see.
Well, we'll do the best we can.
Have you considered working at an employment agency?
I'm looking for a new job myself.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
