0:02 hello
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0:10 this story is written for intermediate
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0:21 b1 b2 english story
0:29 paul had lost his job and was down in
0:32 the dumps he had worked at the same
0:34 company since leaving school
0:38 he was a technician at a factory
0:41 and he worked on very specialist machinery
0:47 he knew he would struggle to get a job
0:50 doing the same thing somewhere else
0:54 because he only knew how to use certain machines
0:57 machines
1:00 paul and his colleagues who he had
1:04 worked with for over 15 years were all
1:12 what an awful way to phrase it to be redundant
1:13 redundant
1:17 to be no longer wanted or needed
1:21 paul felt truly worthless
1:29 he did get some redundancy money from
1:33 the company when his contract ended
1:36 but it would only be enough to cover
1:40 between six to nine months of bills and
1:42 mortgage payments
1:45 he had to get thinking fast about what
1:46 he could do next
1:48 next
1:51 he realized that he could think of this
1:55 in one of two ways it could be a
1:58 depressing time where he had lost his
2:00 main source of income
2:04 or he could see it as a time to change
2:06 the path of his life and for him to
2:14 he decided to go
2:21 he spoke to some friends and his family
2:22 about his options
2:26 he felt a little overwhelmed so he
2:29 decided to book an appointment with an
2:34 advisor at the local job centre
2:37 in the run-up to the meeting he worked
2:39 on his cv
2:41 and tried to think of all the things he
2:43 was good at
2:46 he found it difficult because all he
2:49 could think was that he was a machine technician
2:50 technician
2:53 and nothing else
2:56 when he arrived at the job center he was
3:00 greeted by a friendly lady called sue
3:03 she explained to him how the appointment
3:04 would work
3:08 and what she could do to help him secure
3:11 a new job
3:13 they talked about his skills and his qualifications
3:15 qualifications
3:19 paul had done very well at school and
3:23 outside of his job he attended a spanish
3:29 he decided to learn the language because
3:32 he loved to go on holiday there every year
3:34 year
3:36 he felt it would be more polite if he
3:39 could speak to the locals in their
3:40 native tongue
3:44 he wasn't fluent yet but he was getting better
3:49 other than that
3:52 paul enjoyed cycling and playing
3:56 football in a local five aside team
3:58 he was also the treasurer of the
4:01 football team and he looked after their
4:04 social media channels
4:06 paul didn't think any of that was
4:10 relevant and wondered why sue kept
4:14 asking about what he did outside of his job
4:18 but
4:20 how will that help me
4:27 sue made a note of all the activities
4:30 paul took part in
4:32 you might think that paul but the
4:34 reality is you have a lot of
4:38 transferable skills you spend a lot of
4:41 your time trying to educate yourself as
4:45 well as managing the money and marketing
4:47 of a football team
4:50 that's a lot of skills you can talk
4:54 about when you apply for a job
4:57 at the end of the session paul realized
5:01 he had a lot he needed to think about
5:04 sue had given him some tasks to complete
5:12 he had to complete an online career questionnaire
5:13 questionnaire
5:16 as well as find five jobs he'd love to do
5:17 do
5:20 when finding the jobs he didn't have to
5:22 consider pay or qualifications
5:24 qualifications
5:27 all he had to look at was whether he
5:36 paul went along with it he completed the
5:40 online questionnaire and he found five jobs
5:47 he loved to fly so he chose a job as a pilot
5:49 pilot
5:53 he also loved food so he chose a job as
5:55 an italian chef
5:58 he liked working with people and he
5:59 loved sport
6:02 so he found a job at the local premier
6:06 league football club in the admin team
6:09 he also found a job working as an
6:12 assistant in the local comprehensive
6:22 finally he found a job as a machine technician
6:23 technician
6:27 in a company about 30 miles away from
6:28 his home
6:31 he only chose the machinery job because
6:35 he knew it was something he could do
6:38 it wasn't necessarily something he
6:40 wanted to do anymore
6:42 anymore
6:44 the following week
6:46 paul met with sue again
6:50 first she asked how his week had been
6:53 and how he found the tasks she had set him
6:54 him
6:57 he explained that he was surprised that
6:59 he found it inspiring
7:02 he thought it would be pointless and boring
7:03 boring
7:04 after all
7:08 what else could he do except fix machinery
7:10 machinery
7:13 sue didn't want to give paul the results
7:16 from the careers questionnaire until he
7:25 paul laid the printouts of the jobs on
7:27 the table okay
7:28 okay
7:29 he said
7:33 i'll start with the one i want the least
7:36 he explained to sue that he printed out
7:38 the machine technician job purely
7:42 because he knew he had the skills they
7:47 but
7:52 are you interested in this role paul
7:55 he thought for a moment or two
7:58 no sue i'm not at all i've done it for
8:02 15 years i need a change
8:06 sue put the print out to one side okay
8:07 okay
8:13 then tell me the job you'd like the most
8:15 paul looked through the jobs again
8:19 but he knew deep down which one he wanted
8:20 wanted
8:22 is this one sue
8:25 he handed her the print out
8:30 tell me why you're drawn to this job
8:31 poor laughed
8:35 i think i'm living in a dream world
8:38 they're the football team i support i've
8:40 loved them since i was a lad
8:42 and the job sounds like just the sort of
8:45 stuff i do at the fiverr side
8:47 the only problem is i don't have any
8:50 fancy qualifications
8:53 so i doubt they take someone like me
8:55 they probably want someone straight out
8:59 of university who's all up to date and knows
9:00 knows everything
9:02 everything
9:05 sue read the job details
9:07 it doesn't say anywhere here that they
9:09 want a graduate
9:11 nor does it say any specific qualifications
9:13 qualifications
9:15 from what you've told me you do as a
9:18 treasurer and marketing manager at your club
9:19 club
9:22 i think this job would be ideal
9:25 it isn't the best pay though
9:28 would that be okay for you
9:30 paul shrugged his shoulders
9:32 money isn't everything
9:35 i'd rather be happy and with that job i
9:38 could still afford all my bills and a
9:40 holiday or two a year
9:43 so i don't see why not
9:46 sue told paul that the questionnaire
9:48 results tallied with the job at the
9:52 football club it suggested he would work
9:56 well in a team and in marketing or
9:59 administrative sectors
10:01 sue and paul spent the rest of the
10:04 session going through the job details
10:07 and updating paul's cv and cover letter
10:10 he was so thankful to sue
10:13 she made him realize that anything was
10:16 possible if he put his mind to it
10:19 he really did have the skills and
10:26 of course there was nothing wrong with
10:29 paul's old job but he really did need a
10:32 change of scenery and the job at the
10:36 football club could be the change he needed
10:42 at the end of the session sue went over
10:45 a few additional details that paul would
10:48 need to add to his cv and then he was
10:50 good to go
10:53 that night he spent a few hours double
10:55 checking all the details before he
10:59 clicked send on the email that could
11:08 for five days he didn't hear a thing
11:10 he constantly refreshed his emails and
11:13 checked his phone and nothing came through
11:14 through
11:17 he was about to give up
11:19 when on a run through the woods
11:23 his music was interrupted by a phone call
11:25 call hello
11:27 hello
11:29 he said through deep breaths
11:32 hi is that paul
11:35 came the voice from the other end of the phone
11:36 phone
11:38 oh yes
11:39 that's me oh
11:41 oh
11:44 hi paul my name is christine you
11:47 recently applied for a job as a
11:50 marketing assistant at the football club
11:53 paul sat down on a nearby tree branch yeah
11:54 yeah
11:58 yeah i did sorry christine i'm just a
12:00 bit out of breath
12:02 you called me when i was in the middle
12:04 of a run
12:07 christine laughed and then explained
12:09 that paul was invited for an interview
12:11 the next day
12:14 we know it's a bit short notice but we
12:17 liked your letters so much that we
12:20 wanted to get you in to interview you
12:28 paul couldn't believe it
12:30 surely his cv and cover letter weren't
12:32 that good
12:35 that night he gave sue his career
12:37 advisor a call
12:39 she coached him on some of the questions
12:41 they might ask
12:43 and they practiced answers to the questions
12:44 questions
12:47 paul didn't know what he'd do without her
12:54 that night he had a shave picked out his
12:58 favorite suit and had an early night
13:01 he wanted to be fresh and early for the
13:09 bright and early at 6 a.m paul's alarm
13:12 went off he jumped out of bed did some
13:16 stretching to calm himself down had a
13:19 shower made himself some breakfast and
13:21 headed out of the door
13:24 he arrived at the football ground with
13:32 he spent the time recalling happy
13:35 memories of watching the team play with
13:36 his dad
13:40 his dad would be so happy if he managed
13:43 to get the job
13:47 at 10 to 9 paul headed to the reception
13:50 desk where he was greeted by a young man
13:52 called kyle
13:54 he made him a drink and took him through
13:56 to the interview room
13:59 it was all very swish
14:03 paul's old job certainly wasn't like this
14:08 sitting in the quiet room started to
14:11 make paul feel nervous
14:14 but he tried his best to recall
14:18 everything sue had told him
14:21 before he knew it the interview panel
14:23 had entered the room
14:25 they were christine from the telephone
14:28 call jerome who was in the marketing
14:32 team and emily who was the marketing manager
14:39 they talked about paul's aspirations his
14:43 old job his spanish speaking skills and
14:51 after about 15 minutes
14:54 jerome and emily asked paul about his
14:57 volunteering at the local five aside team
14:58 team
15:01 we know your work with them paul
15:02 we have to be honest
15:05 we follow your team on instagram because
15:08 your posts are always so funny and engaging
15:10 engaging
15:13 when we saw yud applied for this job
15:16 we put two and two together and realized
15:22 it was you who looks after that account
15:27 paul was gobsmacked oh wow i knew we had
15:30 a lot of followers but i didn't realize
15:33 anyone from the club here was one of them
15:38 they discussed paul's social media
15:42 strategy skills and how he deals with problems
15:44 problems
15:47 at the end of the interview he shook all
15:50 their hands and wished them well
15:54 now he had to play the waiting game
16:01 even though he only went for a run the
16:03 day before
16:06 paul decided to change into his exercise
16:10 clothes and go for a jog around the
16:16 he needed to run off all the adrenaline
16:19 he had pumping through his body
16:22 if he didn't get the job it wouldn't be
16:23 the end of the world
16:27 but if he did get the job it would mean
16:30 he could save the rest of his redundancy
16:32 money for something special
16:42 paul hadn't told anyone about the job
16:45 he didn't want to jinx it
16:47 but mainly he didn't want people to
16:50 think he was being silly and applying
16:58 paul's run around the lake was just what
16:59 he needed
17:02 he loved to be out in the countryside
17:05 listening to his music and enjoying the views
17:06 views
17:10 he ran for about 10 kilometers before he
17:18 on his drive back he noticed he had
17:21 received an instagram dm
17:24 when he got home he checked the message
17:26 and it was from emily who had
17:34 the message read
17:35 hi paul
17:38 sorry to message on here but we've tried
17:41 to call you a few times and it keeps
17:43 going through to voicemail
17:47 please can you give us a call back asap cheers
17:50 cheers
17:53 one of the reasons paul loved running
17:56 around the nearby lake was that he
17:58 didn't have phone signal there so he
18:02 could run without anyone bothering him
18:04 he didn't think the job would call him
18:08 so soon or he wouldn't have gone for his
18:15 when paul got home he paced his hallway
18:18 he knew he should call back
18:20 but he was too afraid of what they might say
18:21 say
18:25 so instead he called sue
18:28 she put his mind at ease and gave him
18:31 some pointers of what questions to ask
18:35 depending on if he did or didn't get
18:38 offered the job
18:42 finally paul sat on his sofa took a deep
18:50 paul finally
18:53 let me put you on loudspeaker paul
18:54 paul
18:56 we've got a question we'd like to ask you
18:57 you ready
19:03 paul was confused then he heard the
19:06 voices of the people who had interviewed him
19:07 him
19:10 will you come and work with us they all
19:13 bellowed down the phone
19:17 paul burst out laughing what a way to be
19:19 offered a job
19:22 the team seemed like such a friendly bunch
19:25 bunch
19:28 he took sue's advice and asked questions
19:31 about working conditions pay and
19:33 flexible working
19:36 he was overjoyed that he could now start
19:39 on a new career path and have the
19:42 opportunity to work his way up the
19:45 career ladder
19:48 as he hung up the phone he knew he
19:51 should call his dad to tell him the news
19:59 he was so thankful to sue for all she
20:00 had done
20:03 without her he would probably still be
20:06 laid in his bed feeling sorry for himself
20:08 himself
20:11 but thanks to her he now had a new
20:14 career ahead of him working for a
20:18 football club he had loved since he was
20:26 sue was so happy to hear the news
20:28 well what did i say paul
20:31 anything is possible if you just put
20:34 yourself out there and try
20:39 now go and do yourself proud
20:43 sue helped paul achieve great things
20:46 let's give a shout out to all the lovely
20:49 helpful people across the world
20:51 tell us in the comments below
20:54 someone who has helped you achieve
21:03 we hope you enjoyed this lovely english story
21:04 story
21:07 thank you for stopping by
