TEST OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

I. LISTENING COMPREHENSION

You will hear five different people talking on the telephone about a meeting they want to set up. For each extract there are two
tasks. For Task One, choose the person who they are talking to from the list A-H. For Task Two, choose the reason why they
want to have a meeting from the list I-P.

TASK ONE
1 …………………… A – customer E – a supplier
2 …………………… B – a personnel officer F – a secretary
3…………………… C – a sales clerk G – an advertising agent
4…………………… D – an accountant H – a marketing manager
5……………………

TASK TWO
6 …………………… I – to arrange a business trip M – to plan a new product
7…………………… J – to select new employees N – to check on progress of work
8…………………… K – to alter a schedule O – to sign a contract
9…………………… L – to increase an order P – to organize some recruitment
10……………………

II. READING COMPREHENSION

Read the following text about finding a job these days and then choose the correct answer to the questions that follow:
In Land of the Jobless, the Extreme Approach

You revamped your résumé months ago, networked until you can't stand to look at a telephone and even hired a job coach. You
still can't find a job. You're ready to wear a sandwich board to advertise yourself, or send a gimmick along with your résumé.
Maybe even work for no pay.You have company. In September, John Sawicki, 30, who has an M.B.A. and five years'
experience as a product manager with Deutsche Bank in Manhattan, signed on with Novantech Solutions, a start-up in
Palisades, N.Y., to work free. "Normally someone my age, with my qualifications, would have to be crazy to do this," he said.
With unemployment claims steady and companies still delaying hiring because of lower profits and the threat of war with Iraq,
desperate times do not just call for desperate measures for job seekers like Mr. Sawicki. They shout for last resorts.
So when Mr. Sawicki, who lives in Brooklyn, learned that Novantech had openings — albeit not the paying kind — he did not
hesitate. He had been attending graduate school part time while working at Deutsche Bank, but decided to finish his degree full
time and try to find a more rewarding position in the technology field. Armed with an M.B.A. in finance and information systems,
Mr. Sawicki had been job hunting since his graduation from Fordham University in August 2001.
Novantech's offer of a future salary when the company became profitable seemed attractive. Mr. Sawicki will be learning a new
field and gaining marketable skills, and he could continue job hunting in case the company did not turn a profit. "I'd have to be
crazy not to take their offer," he said.

Mr. Sawicki was interviewed on a park bench; the company does not have offices yet. But that is fine with him, as long as he
can learn. He does a little bit of everything for the company — marketing, recruiting, updating the Web site, for now, and
eventually he hopes to manage projects. He works from his home three days a week while continuing to look for a paid position.

Sacrificing a salary might seem a little extreme, but at least it makes a good impression on a potential employer. Some job
hunters, straining to stand out from the crowd, make the mistake of resorting to gimmicks that are more likely to rub hiring
managers the wrong way. Christopher Jones, vice president for content development at HotJobs.com, tells the story of an
applicant who sent a company a box of chocolates with his résumé. Another made a stab at humour, asking a food company in
his cover letter whether it was "hungry for a good worker." Yet another put a bag of sand and a gold coin in his packet,
promoting himself as "buried treasure."
"That's taking a metaphor a bit too far in the job hunt," Mr. Jones said.
Well, that may not always be true. In creative fields like advertising or television, pushing the envelope is accepted, even
admired. Robert Wilson, now a resident of Vermont, recalls his early days of job hunting, when he parlayed a hyped résumé, a
messenger-delivered follow-up letter and a half-dozen phone calls to the producer of "NBC Nightly News" into an audition, even
though he had no on-camera experience.

"I heard that their consumer reporter was leaving, so I wrote and told them what that person had been doing wrong and what I'd
do to improve the segment," Mr. Wilson recalled. Alas, he did not get the job.
Stuart Simons is hoping his artistic talent will give him a leg up in his job search. He has his own commercial-photography,
illustration and digital-imaging company and went back to school for an M.B.A. Now he wants to sit on the other side of the
creative desk. In September, he responded to an ad for a marketing manager with Kiehl's, a Manhattan cosmetics company.

Mr. Simons, a resident of Pound Ridge, N.Y., designed a label with a message styled after an advertisement on one of the
company's shampoos and applied it to one of their shampoo bottles. Then he designed a custom box for the bottle and used his
résumé as packing material. On tissue paper covering the box, he wrote yet another message, about thinking inside and outside
the box.
"The whole thing was pretty impressive," he said, although he is still waiting to hear.

The proliferation of such gimmickry comes as no surprise to Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations in the graduate
school of management at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

"In a job market with few layoffs, people have a sense that there's something they can do to find a job," Mr. Chaison said. "But
now, almost everyone at least knows someone who's been laid off, so job seekers feel they have to take extreme measures to
be noticed. It's especially sad for people who are highly specialised and aren't able to relocate."
Sad or not, extreme measures can work if they are done right. Allison Hemming is president of the Hired Guns, a Manhattan
temporary employment agency, and also the author of a book — "Work It!"— about job hunting, due out in February from Simon
& Schuster. She said unusual tactics can "build buzz and get your name out there."
But she warns that the technique can backfire. An employer like an ad agency might reward confidence and risk taking, she
said, but a more conservative company might find it off-putting or just plain weird. Mr. Sawicki recently heard from a recruiter.
"But the job is with a company that just announced more layoffs," he said. "So I'm hoping for the best and assuming the worst."

1. Mr. Savicki decided to apply for a job with Novatech Solutions as:
a. … he was a young graduate trying to find his first job.
b. … he was lured by the attractive pay and fringe benefits.
c. … he could not find a better position for the time being.
d. … he was made redundant by his previous employer.
2. Mr. Savicki was pleased with the offer because:
a. … they offered him a fully-equipped office room.
b. … of the prospect of gaining experience in a new field.
c. … of the prospect of a high salary.
d. … he was not qualified for a different post.
3. At present, Mr. Savicki …
a. is working at the company’s headquarters.
b. is working as project manager.
c. has given up the search for a paid position.
d. has rejected another company’s offer for a job.
4. According to Mr. Christopher Jones …
a. companies delay hiring because of the threat of war with Iraq.
b. job hunters may find a job by resorting to gimmicks that make them stand out from the crowd.
c. a rather traditional approach is more appreciated by employers.
d. creative fields welcome innovative techniques used by job searchers.
5. According to Ms. Allison Hemming …
a. job seekers resort to extreme measures as they are highly specialised and can’t easily relocate.
b. unusual tactics can always do it for you.
c. one has to probe into the profile of the company they want to find a job with.
d. in the current job market conditions, almost everybody has been made redundant once in their lives.

III. ENGLISH IN USE

QUESTIONS 1-10 DIRECTIONS: For each blank think of ONE word that can best fit in the context. On your answer
sheet write the ONE word you have found.

Changes in technology and business organisations and changing attitudes to work mean that careers in the future are
uncertain. Instead of working within a particular company structure, careers in the future may develop in a virtual world. This
means that you could work for an organisation but (1)____ have an office, or that there may not be any organisation at (2)____
and you just serve a group of customers.
The future of employment will (3)____ characterised by the prefix “virtual” – hence the virtual career, the virtual office, even the
virtual employer. While a career used to mean spending your whole working life with one company or (4)____ least in the same
field, a virtual career will involve different companies in different sectors and different jobs. This kind of career will depend on
having a set of basic skills and (5)____ able to apply them in different situations. Rather (6)____ recruiting someone for a
particular post, employers in the future will seek graduates with a range of key interpersonal skills that can be carried between
jobs, and with the flexibility (7)____ be trained in technical skills.
Throughout Europe, more than 20 million people (8)____ now self-employed, with numbers growing each year. Many of (9)____
people have one or two major client companies, and although they are not employed by these companies, the strength of the
relationship means that the companies are virtual employers. As a result, they require (10)____same degree of commitment
from freelances as they do from full-time employees.

QUESTIONS 11-20 DIRECTIONS: For each blank decide which of the options A, B, C or D is best. ONLY ONE answer is
correct and THERE IS ALWAYS ONE correct answer. On your answer sheet write A or B or C or D.

With too many applicants chasing too many jobs, each time we apply for a job, we place ourselves in a highly competitive
situation. This competition has meant that CVs and interview (11)____ are now essential (12)____ of the job application
process. Competition also means that promotional skills become (13)____ , just as they do in any open market.
This book adopts a new (14)____ to CV writing and recognises that job applicants need to market themselves. It is presented in
an easy-to-follow format and (15)____ to make the difficult task of preparing a CV as painless as (16)____. An impressive CV
can do wonders for your self-confidence and your ability to (17)____ with the next phase, the interview.
It (18)____ a great deal of effort to prepare for job interviews and approach them with confidence. An essential part of the
preparation and a key to ‘interview survival’ is (19)____ what to expect. What do employers look for? What do they ask? What
(20)____ will the interview take? What should I ask? These are just some of the questions job seekers need to study before
they face their interview.

11. A appearance B scheme C framework D performance

12. A pieces B roles C parts D acts
13. A leading B important C major D first
14. A approach B sight C method D system
15. A directs B points C aims D leads
16. A probable B likely C needed D possible
17. A grasp B deal C handle D arrange
18. A tells B requests C takes D uses
19. A knowing B thinking C believing D feeling
20. A form B figure C outline D profile

QUESTIONS 21-25 DIRECTIONS: In each of the following sentences there are four parts underlined and lettered A, B, C
and D. For each sentence, find the underlined part, A or B or C or D that makes the sentence INCORRECT. Only ONE
answer is possible for each sentence. THERE IS ALWAYS ONE possible answer. On your answer sheet write A or B or
C or D.

21. A new threat (A) is threatening small and (B) medium-sized businesses - "employment pollution". The phrase (C) has
been coined by the Bank of Scotland's business banking service (D) to describing a situation where the workload pollutes
social and family life.

22. (A) It produced 10 questions and is now telling (B) business customers that (C) if they will answer more than four of
them with a "yes" they (D) are likely to be spending too much time at, or thinking about, work.

23. The bank (A) conducted a survey (B) among 200 owner-manager customers after branch managers (C) become
concerned at signs (D) of growing stress.

24. The survey (A) who led to the guide revealed that (B) 60% of them found difficulty (C) in "switching off" after leaving the
office, although almost 70% said that work (D) did not interfere with their social life.

25. Just (A) over 80% felt their work did not (B) affecting the quality of their home relationship (C) whereas almost 50%
said they charged (D) for the overtime they worked.

QUESTIONS 26-30 DIRECTIONS: Starting from the word in CAPITAL LETTERS at the end of each sentence, derive
another word that best fits in the context of that sentence indicated by a blank space (“____”). On your answer sheet,
write the derived word.

The age of the large (26)____ organisation is coming to an end. If big companies are to flourish, HIERARCHY
they will need to be reorganised in a series of (27)____ creative compartments--ideally of about 100 people LINK
each. Fairtlough uses the living cell as a metaphor for the creative compartment.
Also, there are striking (28)____ in the 'ecological' balance between companies and that of animal species, SIMILAR
where predator and prey populations co-evolve, each needing the other.
In Japan and China, fierce (29)____often exist between companies in the same sector, but there is also COMPETE
much co-operation, particularly when one is also a sub-contractor to another,
or where two or more companies might be investing in core research that would be too (30)____ to carry COST
out otherwise.

IV. WRITING

Write an application letter using the following advertisement:

Golden Ski Holidays seeks mature person to run chalet holiday programme in Alps. Outgoing personality and ability to work
hard without supervision essential. Good cooking and housekeeping skills an advantage. Modest salary but accommodation
and meals provided and abundant skiing time. Apply giving full details to: Golden Ski Holidays, LTD 2, Ridge Street,
Aldershot, Hants
KEY

I. LISTENING COMPREHENSION

0,6 POINTS/ITEM

1 G;
2 D;
3 B;
4 E;
5 H;
6 N;
7O;
8 P;
9 M;
10 I

II. READING COMPREHESION

1,2 POINTS/ITEM

1.c
2.b
3.d
4.c
5.c

III. ENGLISH IN USE

0,2 POINTS/ITEM

1 NOT/NEVER
2 ALL
3 BE
4 AT
5 BEING
6 THAN
7 TO
8 ARE
9 THESE/THOSE
10 THE
11 D
12 C
13 B
14 A
15 C
16 D
17 B
18 C
19 A
20 A
21 D
22 C
23 C
24 A
25 B
26 HIERARCHICAL
27 INTERLINKED
28 SIMILARITIES
29 COMPETITION
30 COSTLY