English on the Job - Reading Skills

the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the US government developed reading skills can help you get important information from a book of this size very rapidly would you just plow through it reading everything no you'd probably take a quick look at the table of contents to see what's in the book and what interest [Music] you [Music] [Music] this occupation might be interesting to you since this is a long article you may want to skim it first authors often design material to Aid you in skimming there's bold type photographs and even charts after skimming you may want to go back and reread more carefully look for key words that will help you define the occupations more clearly keyw like training Outlook earnings employment additional information once you have an idea of the type of job you're after reading skills can help you get the job think of the want ad section of the newspaper how do you quickly find the listings you're interested in write first you skim picking up key [Music] words suppose you're interested interested in a sales job now is the time to read carefully you need to separate the words used to attract your attention from those that really describe the job evaluating what you read is another important reading skill evaluating helps you recognize meaningless words meaningless words like fabulous what does fabulous tell you about the product nothing it doesn't tell you what the product is you have to supply your own imagination and you could be wrong evaluating as you read helps you get clear meaning from descriptive words the word possible tells you that the salary is not guaranteed it's not fixed on commmission means you get a percentage of how much you sell being on a Commission job means that turndowns cost you income you might prefer to work on a straight salary evaluating carefully as you read helps you get a fuller picture of each job within ads there are often descriptive words that help you understand these words all communicate specific information but how about these words they also communicate but not as specifically as the first group one what's a lovely office what's an exciting job this could be an exciting job to some people only this kind could be exciting to others whatever you read you need to take the time to think about the words and what they really mean after locating a job you'll use more reading skills when you start applying applying for it first of all you'll probably be given an application blank let's look at the application carefully before you fill it out skim this gives you a general idea of the information that's required when you begin reading it carefully try to get every detail reading for tals is a skill that's important in filling out any type of form read more slowly than usual or even reread if you have to don't write until you're certain of the instructions you might have to ask questions don't be afraid to reading carefully and asking questions about what you don't understand can keep you from having to rewrite so much being able to read carefully for details helps you complete forms correctly reading skills will help you in finding and applying for jobs and they'll help you perform them suppose the boss is giving you more responsibility and wants you to learn how to operate a different machine of the plant all you have to go on on is your own mechanical experience and the machine's manual how can you put reading skills to work right start by skimming go through the table of contents to see what to expect look at the main divisions and subdivisions of the printed page familiarizing yourself with material before you you read carefully makes the actual reading easier for you when you begin reading carefully for details study the charts and diagrams apply them to the actual machine comparing and checking what you read help you to understand the details and remember when reading to be aware of the headings and other key words that you noticed while skimming keywords help you organize the material as you read and help you remember it better much of the reading you do on the job is essentially made up of key ideas memos are like that let's isolate the key words and phrases in this memo it's to all Personnel from Mr Smith the controller the subject of the memo is the new loss report form the form has four copies white yellow gold and green the yellow copy goes to this room green is held in this department the gold copy is for it to this department the white goes to room 607 the claims office where it's used to fill out form 5B by being able to find the key words you're able to separate the essential information from the non-essential this helps you get the meaning of even complicated orders and makes it easy for you to follow them correctly with any on the job reading keep alert for important words and phrases reading slowly helps you find important words but reading everything slowly would be a waste of time and that's another important reading skill knowing when to vary your speed a beauty magazine is generally easy reading you can read it rapidly without much loss of retention however directions on a beauty preparation are more complicated directions need to be read more slowly even if you just want to get a general idea of the procedure good readers are skillful in adjusting their speed to their purpose if your purpose should change say now you want to carefully follow the directions you'd read even more slowly than you did to get general information slow careful reading helps prevent mistakes if what you're reading is quite complex occasionally you might find an unfamiliar word it's a good idea not to read on try to find the meaning sometimes the other words it's used us with the context might help you with the meaning or you might make a mental note of the word and look it up later there are many ways of finding the meaning of a word the dictionary is only one reference books are other sources or you might get the meaning of a word just by asking a more experienced co-worker learning new words helps you build your on the- job vocabulary it also helps you get the full meaning of what you are reading another way to get the full meaning of your reading is to summarize summarize material in your own words after you've read had difficult material once it might be helpful for you to reread it rereading is like skimming you should do it quickly just slow down enough to read carefully the portions that are particularly detailed or confusing whenever reading is important to you on your job use your skills skim the material First Look for key words words and phrases evaluate and summarize the material in your own words when you read unfamiliar words find out their meaning when you're through Reading decide whether you need to read the material a second time by improving your on the- job reading you can increase your job skills and that may mean a better job a promotion or a bigger [Music] paycheck