Common Mistakes : job

job – Noun

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BAD: The photographer made quite a good job

GOOD: The photographer did quite a good job

BAD: With the right tools, I could make the job in five minutes

GOOD: With the right tools, I could do the job in five minutes

do a job (NOT make ): ‘There are lots of jobs to do when we get home.’ (= pieces of work) There’s no need to thank me. I was just doing my job.’ = what I do to earn a living

do a good/great/marvellous etc job : ‘You can always rely on Charlie to do a good job

Note however the expression make a good/bad job of sth : ‘She’s made a good job of the decorating.’ = she has done it well

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BAD: I’m willing to accept any job, even a half-time one

GOOD: I’m willing to accept any job, even a part-time one

JOB • DO • OCCUPATION • POST/POSITION • CAREER • TRADE • PROFESSION

Job : Your job is what you do to earn your living: ‘You’ll never get a job if you don’t have any qualifications.’ ‘She’d like to change her job but can’t find anything better.’ Your job is also the particular type of work that you do: ‘John’s new job sounds really interesting.’ ‘I know she works for the BBC but I’m not sure what job she does

A job may be full-time or part-time (NOT half-time or half-day ): ‘All she could get was a part-time job at a petrol station

Do (for a living) When you want to know about the type of work that someone does, the usual questions are What do you do? What does she do for a living? etc ‘What does your father do?’ – He’s a police inspector

Occupation and job have similar meanings. However, occupation is far less common than job and is used mainly in formal and official styles: ‘Please give brief details of your employment history and present occupation.’ ‘People in manual occupations seem to suffer less from stress

Post /position : The particular job that you have in a company or organization is your post or position : ‘She’s been appointed to the post of deputy principal.’ ‘He’s applied for the position of sales manager.’ Post and position are used mainly in formal styles and often refer to jobs which have a lot of responsibility

Career : Your career is your working life, or the series of jobs that you have during your working life: ‘The scandal brought his career in politics to a sudden end.’ Later on in his career, he became first secretary at the British Embassy in Washington

Your career is also the particular kind of work for which you are trained and that you intend to do for a long time: I wanted to find out more about careers in publishing

Trade : A trade is a type of work in which you do or make things with your hands: ‘Most of the men had worked in skilled trades such as carpentry or printing.’ ‘My grandfather was a bricklayer by trade

Profession :  A profession is a type of work such as medicine, teaching, or law which requires a high level of training or education: ‘Until recently, medicine has been a male-dominated profession.’ ‘She entered the teaching profession in 1987