PART 1

AMBER: Hello William. This is Amber - you said to phone if I wanted to get more information about the job agency you mentioned.

艾梅伯：威廉，你好。我是艾梅伯。你之前说如果我想要了解更多关于招聘中介的信息的话可以联系你。

Is now a good time?

你现在方便吗？

WILLIAM: Oh, hi Amber. Yes. Fine.

威廉：啊，你好，艾梅伯。是的。 我有时间。

So the agency I was talking about is called Bankside - they’re based in Docklands - I can tell you the address now - 497 Eastside.

我之前和你提起的是位于达克兰区的河畔中介。我现在把地址告诉你——它位于东区497号。

AMBER: OK, thanks. So is there anyone in particular I should speak to there?

艾梅伯：好的，谢谢了。那我去了之后应该专门找谁吗？

WILLIAM: The agent I always deal with is called Becky Jamieson.

威廉：贝基·杰米逊是经常和我打交道的中介。

AMBER: Let me write that down - Becky …

艾梅伯：让我记一下——贝基……

WILLIAM: Jamieson J-A-M-I-E-S-O-N.

威廉：杰米逊，拼写作J-A-M-I-E-S-O-N。

AMBER: Do you have her direct line?

艾梅伯：你有她的直线电话吗？

WILLIAM: Yes, it’s in my contacts somewhere - right, here we are: 078 double 6, 510 triple 3.

威廉：有的，在我联络簿的哪一页记着呢。找到了，电话是：078 66 510 333。

I wouldn’t call her until the afternoon if I were you - she’s always really busy in the morning trying to fill last-minute vacancies.

如果我是你，我下午之前不会给她打电话，因为她上午一直忙着要给那些最后一刻才确定下来的空闲岗位安排员工。

She’s really helpful and friendly so I’m sure it would be worth getting in touch with her for an informal chat.

她乐于助人，对人亲切。所以我确定联系上她和她随便聊聊也是值得的。

AMBER: It’s mainly clerical and admin jobs they deal with, isn’t it?

艾梅伯：他们主要帮忙招聘办公室文员和行政工作人员是吗？

WILLIAM: That’s right. I know you’re hoping to find a full-time job in the media eventually - but Becky mostly recruits temporary staff for the finance sector - which will look good on your CV - and generally pays better too.

威廉：是的。我知道你最终还是希望找一份媒体行业的全职工作。但是贝基招聘的大多是金融领域的兼职者。这样的工作能为你的简历添彩，报酬通常也更高。

AMBER: Yeah - I’m just a bit worried because I don’t have much office experience.

艾梅伯：是的。我只是有点儿担心，因为我没怎么在办公室工作过。

WILLIAM: I wouldn’t worry. They’ll probably start you as a receptionist, or something like that.

威廉：我就不担心这个。他们很有可能先安排你做前台，或者类似的工作。

So what’s important for that kind of job isn’t so much having business skills or knowing lots of different computer systems - it’s communication that really matters - so you’d be fine there.

因此，这类工作看中的不是丰富的商业技巧或者各类电脑系统的操作知识。真正重要的是交流能力。你肯定会做得很好。

And you’ll pick up office skills really quickly on the job.

而且工作的时候你会迅速掌握办公技巧。

It’s not that complicated.

没有那么复杂。

AMBER: OK good. So how long do people generally need temporary staff for?

艾梅伯：好的，那就好。那企业通常需要兼职员工在岗多长时间？

It would be great if I could get something lasting at least a month.

如果我的工作能持续至少一个月就好了。

WILLIAM: That shouldn’t be too difficult.

威廉：这应该不是什么难事。

But you’re more likely to be offered something for a week at first, which might get extended.

但是一开始给你的工作很可能只有一星期，在岗时间可能会延长。

It’s unusual to be sent somewhere for just a day or two.

只是一两天的派遣不太常见。

AMBER: Right. I’ve heard the pay isn’t too bad - better than working in a shop or a restaurant.

艾梅伯：了解了。我听说薪水不是很糟糕，要比在商店或者饭店兼职高一些。

WILLIAM: Oh yes - definitely. The hourly rate is about ￡10, 11 if you’re lucky.

威廉：是的，肯定的。时薪大约是10英镑，如果运气好的话，可以到11英镑。

AMBER: That’s pretty good. I was only expecting to get eight or nine pounds an hour.

艾梅伯：那还不错。我原来只想着时薪到8、9英镑就不错了。

WILLIAM: Do you want me to tell you anything about the registration process?

威廉：你需要我告诉你关于注册流程的事儿吗？

AMBER: Yes, please. I know you have to have an interview.

艾梅伯：是的，你请讲。我知道得有一个面试。

WILLIAM: The interview usually takes about an hour and you should arrange that about a week in advance.

威廉：面试通常需要一小时，你得提前一周安排。

AMBER: I suppose I should dress smartly if it’s for office work - I can probably borrow a suit from Mum.

艾梅伯：我猜如果是办公室工作的面试的话我得穿得得体一些。也许我要和我妈妈借套西装。

WILLIAM: Good idea. It’s better to look too smart than too casual.

威廉：这是个好主意。讲究总比随意好。

AMBER: Will I need to bring copies of my exam certificates or anything like that?

艾梅伯：考试证书或者其他文件需要一起带去吗？

WILLIAM: No - they don’t need to see those, I don’t think.

威廉：不用，他们不需要看这些。我觉得不用带。

AMBER: What about my passport?

艾梅伯：那要带护照吗？

WILLIAM: Oh yes - they will ask to see that.

威廉：哦，是的，这个他们要看。

AMBER: OK.

艾梅伯：好的。

WILLIAM: I wouldn’t get stressed about the interview though.

威廉：我就不会为了面试紧张。

It’s just a chance for them to build a relationship with you - so they can try and match you to a job which you’ll like.

这只是他们和你建立关系的一个机会，这样他们才能试着给你安排你心仪的工作。

So there are questions about personality that they always ask candidates - fairly basic ones.

所以他们经常问应征者一些常见的，关于个性的问题。

And they probably won’t ask anything too difficult like what your plans are for the future.

而且他们不太可能会问你像是“你的未来规划是什么”这样刁钻的问题。

AMBER: Hope not.

艾梅伯：希望不会。

WILLIAM: Anyway, there are lots of benefits to using an agency - for example, the interview will be useful because they’ll give you feedback on your performance so you can improve next time.

威廉：无论如何，用中介还是有很多好处的。比如说，面试会对你很有帮助，因为你可以通过他们对你的表现的反馈来提高自己。

AMBER: And they’ll have access to jobs which aren’t advertised.

艾梅伯：而且他们还有那些没有招聘广告的工作的门路。

WILLIAM: Exactly - most temporary jobs aren’t advertised.

威廉：确实，很多兼职工作都不打广告。

AMBER: And I expect finding a temporary job this way takes a lot less time - it’s much easier than ringing up individual companies.

艾梅伯：我希望这样找兼职能够更高效，这比给各个公司打电话省事多了。

WILLIAM: Yes indeed. Well I think …

威廉：那确实。我觉得……