Virtuous English AcademyWork & Career — B1 English Vocabulary
This B1 vocabulary list gathers 40 intermediate English words about work & career — jobs, skills and climbing the ladder. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using work & career words in English
Professional English is unusually rich in near-synonyms that differ by register rather than by meaning, and by who is doing the action. Leaving a job yourself and being asked to leave use completely different verbs, and using the wrong one changes the story considerably. This list also contains one of the most common CV errors at B1: the difference between responsible for and the responsibility for, which look interchangeable and are not.
What to watch out for
Who leaves matters: resign, dismiss, redundant
You resign when you choose to go: She resigned from her post in May. You are dismissed, sacked or fired when the employer ends it because of your conduct or performance. You are made redundant when the job itself disappears — a British phrase with no fault attached, which is why it matters on a CV. Quit is the informal version of resign.
Responsible for, and the noun changes shape
The adjective takes for: I am responsible for the budget. The noun does too — responsibility for the budget — but it is countable when you list them: My responsibilities included hiring. Duty is the more formal near-synonym and appears in on duty and it is my duty to. Note that workload is uncountable: a heavy workload, never workloads for one person.
Apply for a job, apply to a company
The preposition depends on what follows: apply for the position, but apply to the university. The person is an applicant before the shortlist and a candidate at interview. Qualification is countable in British English — She has excellent qualifications — where American English often prefers credentials. And recruit works as both a verb and a noun for the person recruited.
Words learners mix up
Three tables: the four words for being good at something and what each one actually claims, the four stages between a job advert and a first day, and three nouns that never take a plural next to one that only looks as if it does.
How good are you at it? Four words, four claims
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| ability | The general capacity to do something. Countable, and it is followed by to plus a verb. | She has the ability to explain difficult ideas simply. |
| talent | A natural gift you did not have to be taught. Countable, and it takes for. | He has a real talent for negotiation. |
| skilled | Trained to a high standard, usually through work rather than study. Takes in or at. | We are looking for a skilled technician. |
| expertise | Deep knowledge built up over years. Uncountable, so never expertises, and it takes in. | Her expertise in data analysis is unusual. |
On an application, ability and expertise are the safer words because both describe something you can evidence, while talent claims the gift was natural — normal to say about a colleague, faintly boastful about yourself in British English. The three prepositions do not swap: it is the ability to, a talent for and expertise in, every time.
From the advert to the first day: four stages, four words
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| vacancy | The empty post itself, before anybody has applied. Countable, and it needs an article. | There is a vacancy for a part-time assistant. |
| application | The document you send in. Countable, and the verb splits: apply for the post, apply to the company. | We received over two hundred applications. |
| candidate | A person still in the running, normally from the interview onwards. Before that they are an applicant. | We have shortlisted four candidates. |
| recruit | Both the verb for taking somebody on and the noun for the person taken on. Stress on the second syllable in both. | The company is recruiting across Europe. |
The two that go wrong are vacancy and application, because both are countable and learners routinely drop the article: it is I saw a vacancy and I sent an application. Vacancy also lives a second life on British hotel signs, where No vacancies simply means full.
Three nouns with no plural, and one that only looks plural
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| employment | The state of having work, and the whole subject of who has it. Uncountable: in full-time employment. | He has been in employment since June. |
| teamwork | Working well together, as a quality. Uncountable, and written as one word. | The job calls for good teamwork. |
| leadership | The skill of leading, and also the leaders as a body. Uncountable in both senses. | She showed real leadership during the crisis. |
| workforce | Everybody who works somewhere, counted as one thing. It ends in a singular verb despite naming many people. | The workforce has grown by a third. |
The first three cannot follow a and cannot take an -s, so a sentence needs good teamwork rather than a good teamwork. Workforce is the opposite trap: it means a group of people but behaves as one item, so the workforce is, and the plural workforces only appears when you are comparing several companies.
Collocations that sound natural
Six words that decide whether an application or an appraisal reads as written in English rather than translated into it. In each case the frame is the part worth learning.
responsibility
take responsibility fora huge responsibilityshare the responsibilitymy responsibilities included
The singular names the abstract quality and the plural names the list of tasks, which is why a CV says my responsibilities included while an apology says I take full responsibility. Both take for.
promote
be promoted to managerpromotion prospectspromote from withina well-earned promotion
In a career sense the verb is almost always passive, and the new post takes to, never as. The same verb also means to advertise, so promote a product has nothing to do with anybody getting a better job.
negotiate
negotiate a salarynegotiate with the unionroom to negotiatesalary negotiable
The side you talk to takes with; the thing you are trying to agree is a direct object with no preposition at all. British job adverts often end salary negotiable, meaning the figure printed is only a starting point.
commute
a long commutecommute to workthe daily commutecommute in from the coast
Verb and noun share one spelling and one stress. The destination takes to and where you live takes from, and the word implies a regular journey — a single trip into town is never a commute.
pension
pay into a pensiona pension schemedraw a pensionthe state pension
Britain says pension scheme where America says retirement plan. The money goes into a pension while you work and you draw it once you stop, which is why neither verb is get.
reputation
build a reputationa good reputationdamage your reputationa reputation for reliability
The preposition is for, followed by a noun or an -ing form: a reputation for being difficult. Reputations are built or earned rather than made, and the verb that destroys one is damage or ruin, never break.
Where each word belongs
Seven words carrying a country, a level of formality or a shape that is not obvious. This is the detail that separates a job application written in English from one translated into it.
- appraisalBritish · once a yearA formal meeting where your manager reviews your performance, standard in British workplaces and usually annual. American English says performance review. Outside work the same word simply means an assessment of value, as in an appraisal of the situation.
- freelanceAdjective, adverb and verbUnusually flexible: a freelance journalist, she works freelance, he freelances for two magazines. British English does not use it as a noun for the person — that is a freelancer — and no part of the family takes a hyphen.
- executiveFormal · titles and decisionsAs a noun it names a senior manager; as an adjective it means having the power to decide, as in an executive decision. It is title language, so it belongs on a business card or in a report rather than in telling a friend what you do.
- traineeNeutral · goes in front of the jobIt sits before the role rather than after it: trainee accountant, trainee nurse. An apprentice is different in Britain — somebody learning a practical trade under a formal contract, usually with study one day a week attached.
- supervisorNeutral · one level downThe person who checks your work day to day, below a manager and above the team. It is also the standard British university word for the academic guiding a dissertation, so the setting decides which is meant.
- industryTwo shapes at onceCountable when it names a sector — the tourism industry, three industries — and uncountable in the formal sense of hard work as a personal quality. The adjective industrial belongs to factories, while industrious belongs to people.
- efficientPraise for something specificEfficient means little is wasted on the way; productive means a lot comes out at the end. A team can easily be one without the other, which is why appraisals use both words. The nouns are irregular — efficiency and productivity — and neither takes a plural.
Sentences to try
Four frames from a real job search. Swap in your own field and see which ones you can already say fluently.
- I am applying for a position in the marketing department.
- She was responsible for a team of twelve.
- He resigned last month and joined a smaller workplace.
- The role requires strong teamwork and a formal qualification.
Questions about work & career vocabulary
What is the difference between resign, be dismissed and be made redundant?
They differ by who decided and why. You resign when you choose to leave: I resigned from my job. You are dismissed, or informally sacked or fired, when the employer ends your contract because of your conduct or performance. You are made redundant when the post itself is removed, usually for financial reasons, and no fault is implied — this is the standard British phrase and the American equivalent is laid off. On a CV, only the last two need explaining.
Is it "apply for" or "apply to"?
Both, depending on what comes next. You apply for the thing you want — apply for a job, apply for a visa, apply for funding. You apply to the organisation that decides — apply to three universities, apply to the embassy. Both can appear in one sentence: I applied to the council for a permit. The person applying is an applicant, and once they reach the interview stage they become a candidate.
How do I describe my duties on a CV in English?
The standard frames are responsible for plus a noun or -ing form — Responsible for managing a team of six — and a past-tense verb list: Managed, trained and supervised… Use responsibilities as a countable plural when you list them, and workload, which is uncountable, only to describe volume. Avoid I was responsible of, which is a very frequent error; the preposition is always for.