Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS 7.0 +: EMPLOYMENT (Part 3)

One of the most frequently discussed topics in IELTS Speaking or writing is employment, as finding a suitable career opportunity is a crucial reason for both professionals and students to relocate abroad. Therefore, we've included some engaging exercises in Part 3 of the IELTS Employment vocabulary preparation in this article.

EMPLOYMENT ( PART 3) - Making Ends Meet

(A) Select the correct word from the box below to fill each gap. Use each word once only.

After my a ____________ finished, I wasn’t offered a b ____________ position as I’d hoped I would be. My line manager said that this was not a reflection on the way I had performed but rather of the economic reality of life in post- c ____________ Britain. Perhaps, truth told, it was no harm that I was let go. I must say I never found her brand of leadership particularly inspiring at any rate. She was a(n) d ____________ and ruled with an iron e ____________. There was a clear f ____________ that had to be respected.

Well, with little money and what I had of it fast disappearing, I was fairly desperate and necessity forced my hand so I took the first job that came along – quite literally, and, before I had quite let it sink in, I was enrolled in a paid g ____________ programme at Lawry and Sons – not one in the traditional sense as it applies to the trades mind, but rather a programme sponsored by the Law Society as an alternative route of entry into the h ____________ by way of gaining practical, paid experience in a law firm whilst also studying part-time.

While outwardly, I would from then on be considered a i ____________ worker; a professional in a respected field, in reality, the j ____________ package was pretty modest and I barely kept myself above the dreaded poverty k ____________ for the first year or two, such was the financial strain of having to cover rent and utilities as well as the bare necessities of day-to-day living in the city with the highest cost of living in Europe. However, as my studies progressed, I made a steady progression up through the ranks of the l ____________ .

Indeed, it wasn’t long after I became fully qualified that I made m ____________ . And I enjoyed my work as much as a person can, em, ‘enjoy’ working. There was good n ____________ in the team, and the o ____________ benefits were considerable; I had a company car and a generous pension, which only my employer was expected to contribute to, as well as access to the company gym twenty-four, seven. Life was good.

However, things took a sudden turn for the worse when the company went into p ____________. This threw us all and no one had expected it. Apparently, one of the partners had been found negligent in a high-profile case, paving the way for a q ____________ (that would end up costing the company millions) to be filed against him. How ironic that on the day when the company made the situation public and informed staff that their jobs would be in serious jeopardy, I had just received a glowing appraisal in my six-monthly performance r ____________ and a consequent pay rise of some £5,000. Well, needless to say, I could kiss that money goodbye.

Well, this time, when I found myself without a job, things were entirely different. I was a qualified, upwardly s ____________ , big-shot lawyer in demand. There would be a flood of offers coming through the letterbox. It was not like I would have to settle for some minimum t ____________ gig. And so it proved; I was inundated with offers – several from companies that had tried to u ____________ me from Lawry on a number of occasions already. But I found none of them particularly enticing and what was top of my agenda now was job v____________.

In the end, I decided that would not be found at any other law w ____________ . I had come to the point where I needed to branch out on my own, so I duly set up Fitzgerald Solicitors. At first, work was slow, so I supplemented my income by doing some x ____________ pieces for the local newspaper on various legal cases. But eventually I began to attract more and more clients. I even represented the Montgomerie Town Residents Committee in a y ____________ action against the local council after it had introduced a new so-called ‘pavement tax’ requiring homeowners to pay towards the cost of maintenance of the section of pavement directly outside their property – a tax which the residents, to an individual, boycotted.

Winning that case earned me a lot of z ____________ and put me in demand; my financial security was thereafter secure.

(B) Find a word from Text (a) which:

1. refers to a (large) group of people abstaining from doing or cooperating with something in protest ________________
2. means ‘added to complete or make something else last longer’ _______________

ANSWER KEY

Now that you’ve practiced the IELTS Vocabulary exercises on Employment Part 3, let’s evaluate your score and assess your ability to apply them in the IELTS Writing and Speaking exams for an IELTS band score of 7+.

Making Ends Meet

(A)

(B)

1. boycott
2. supplement(ed)

Also check:

• Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS 7.0 – 8.0 – 9.0: Employment (Part 1)
• Best IELTS Vocabulary books
• IELTS Listening words
• Sports Vocabulary IELTS
• English Pronunciation in use Intermediate pdf
• Work Vocabulary IELTS
• Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS