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Talking about your Job – Part II

Well, you just say the name of your job.

  • I’m a teacher
  • I’m an engineer
  • I’m a website designer
  • I’m a bus driver
  • I’m a project manager
  • I’m a farmer

Whatever your job is, you just say the name of it as in the examples above.

Another way you could answer the question — what do you do? — is to say the kind of place where you work.

This may not tell the other person what your job is, but they can get a clearer picture of what kind of work you are in.

  • I work for a community college
  • I work for an online English company
  • I work for a training company
  • I work for the local council
  • I work for myself

So if I were to say the first answer — I work for a community college — the other person might think I am a teacher, or maybe an assistant, or doing some administration work in the college.

But they would understand that I am working in a place of education.

If I said I work for the local council, they would realise that I am a government employee — but I could have any kind of job.

And finally, if I said I work for myself, then they would know I am self-employed and don’t work in a company or for anyone else. I am independent.

With this phrase, you can talk about two different things about your work.

  • The fields of work you are in
  • The department in your company you work in

So if you were talking about the field of work you are in, you could say one of the following:

  • I work in advertising
  • I work in sales
  • I work in agriculture
  • I work in the fashion industry
  • I work in the tech industry

The field is the general area of work that you are in. You are usually trained or educated to work in this field.

But you can also use this phrase to talk about the department where you work:

  • I work in the sales department in a car company
  • I work in the marketing department of a cosmetics company
  • I work in the design department of a sports company

When using the phrase this way, you usually have to say what type of company it is.

Sometimes, people just use a more simple expression:

  • I’m in sales
  • I’m in marketing
  • I’m in design
  • I’m in education

This is the same meaning as saying I work in but in shorter form.

We can combine all the above phrases and give more information.

  • I’m a salesman — I work in the sales department for a local computer company.
  • I’m a teacher — I work for a high school.
  • I’m a designer — I’m in the design department in an advertising company

You can combine all of the phrases and give the listener more information about what your job is and what kind of company you work for.

You can say what your job is and the kind of company where you work:

  • I’m a software engineer at a website company
  • I’m a salesman in a mineral water company
  • I’m a customer support clerk at a supermarket

You can also give information about the company where you work — or the kind of company where you work.

If you work for a company that is well known in the world — or in your area or country — then you can say the name of the company.

  • I work for Facebook
  • I work for the BBC
  • I work for Google
  • I work for Hoover
  • I work for Coca-Cola

But if you work for a relatively unknown company, then you can use one of the following phrases:

I work for a company which/that ___________

I work for a local company which/that ________

I work for a national company which/that _______

I work for an international company which/that ________

So, for example, you might say:

  • I work for a company that makes electrical goods
  • I work for a local company which services fire alarms
  • I work for a national company that rents cars to the public
  • I work for an international company that supplies internet advertising