MockoThe job market is a recurring theme in TEF texts and dialogues: a radio chronicle about unemployment figures, a conversation between two friends discussing a career change, or a reading passage from a professional magazine. At B1 level you are expected to understand the key terms for employment, job searching, and economic context without needing to read slowly word by word. This lesson focuses on the vocabulary you are most likely to meet in those situations and shows you how to use it naturally in your own answers.
What you’ll learn
- Understand key French vocabulary for the labour market, unemployment, and job searching
- Recognise career-change vocabulary in interview-style texts
- Use employment terms accurately in speaking and writing exam tasks
- Distinguish between similar terms (emploi, travail, poste, métier, profession)
The labour market: core terms
Texts about the job market use a specific set of nouns. Missing these words means missing the central argument of a passage.
- le marché du travail / de l'emploi: the labour market / job market
- l'emploi (m): employment (in general)
- le chômage: unemployment
- le taux de chômage: the unemployment rate
- le demandeur d'emploi / la demandeuse d'emploi: job seeker
- l'offre d'emploi (f): job offer, job advertisement
- le recrutement: recruitment
- la main-d'œuvre: the workforce, labour
- le secteur: sector (public, privé, associatif)
- la conjoncture économique: economic climate, conditions
Dans un contexte de conjoncture difficile, le taux de chômage a augmenté de deux points en un an.
In a difficult economic climate, the unemployment rate rose by two percentage points in a year.
Differentiating: emploi, travail, poste, métier, profession
These five words are often translated as "job" or "work" in English, but they are not interchangeable in French. Confusing them is a common B1 error.
- le travail: work in general, the act of working ("j'aime mon travail")
- l'emploi: a job as an economic unit, something you hold or lose ("trouver un emploi", "perdre son emploi")
- le poste: a specific position within an organisation ("je vise ce poste de chef de projet")
- le métier: a trade or skilled craft, often manual or requiring training ("le métier de cuisinier")
- la profession: a formal profession, often requiring qualifications ("la profession d'avocat")
Je cherche un emploi, mais le poste que je vise exige cinq ans d'expérience dans ce métier.
I am looking for a job, but the specific position I am aiming for requires five years of experience in the trade.
Do not confuse these in writing tasks
- In a TEF writing answer, writing "j'ai perdu mon poste" (I lost my position) and "j'ai perdu mon emploi" (I lost my job) are both correct, but "j'ai perdu mon métier" is wrong unless you mean a whole trade disappeared.
- "Travailler" and "avoir un emploi" are interchangeable in many contexts, but "avoir un travail" (to have work) is more informal than "avoir un emploi" (to be employed).
Career changes: key vocabulary
A very common TEF text format is an interview with someone who has changed careers. The following words appear in almost every such text.
- la reconversion (professionnelle): career change, retraining
- se reconvertir: to retrain, to change careers
- la formation: training course, qualification
- se former: to train, to upskill
- les compétences (f): skills
- l'expérience (f): experience
- le bilan de compétences: professional skills assessment
- la mobilité professionnelle: professional mobility (willingness to change role or location)
- la mutation: transfer to a different post or location
- l'évolution de carrière: career progression
- le secteur d'activité: industry sector
Après un bilan de compétences, j'ai décidé de me reconvertir dans l'informatique. J'ai suivi une formation de six mois et j'ai rapidement trouvé un poste dans une startup.
After a professional skills assessment, I decided to retrain in IT. I took a six-month training course and quickly found a position in a start-up.
Adjectives and phrases for describing work situations
When you describe a job or a professional context in an oral or written task, these adjectives and phrases add precision.
- qualifié(e) / non qualifié(e): skilled / unskilled
- expérimenté(e): experienced
- polyvalent(e): versatile, multi-skilled
- motivé(e): motivated
- en CDI / en CDD: on a permanent / fixed-term contract
- en poste: currently employed (in a role)
- au chômage / sans emploi: unemployed
- en recherche d'emploi: job seeking, looking for work
- en formation: in training
- à temps plein / à temps partiel: full-time / part-time
Elle est actuellement en poste dans une grande entreprise mais elle est aussi en recherche d'emploi pour trouver quelque chose de plus polyvalent.
She is currently employed in a large company but she is also actively looking for a more versatile role.
Talking about the job search process
TEF speaking tasks sometimes ask you to describe or advise on a job search. These phrases give you the language to do it step by step.
- 1Consulter les offres d'emploi (en ligne, dans la presse, par réseautage): scan job advertisements online, in the press, or through networking.
- 2Rédiger son CV et sa lettre de motivation: write your CV and covering letter.
- 3Envoyer sa candidature: send your application.
- 4Passer un entretien d'embauche: attend a job interview.
- 5Recevoir une réponse positive ou négative: receive an acceptance or rejection.
- 6Négocier le salaire et les conditions de travail: negotiate salary and working conditions.
- 7Signer le contrat: sign the contract.
J'ai consulté les offres sur plusieurs sites, j'ai envoyé ma candidature et j'ai été convoqué à un entretien la semaine suivante.
I looked at job adverts on several sites, sent my application, and was called to an interview the following week.
How to practise this
Practice ideas for job market vocabulary
- Find a short article on a French news site (Le Monde, Le Figaro, or France Info) about unemployment or career trends. Underline every word from this lesson. Aim to see each word at least three times in real texts before your exam.
- Write a four-sentence paragraph about someone who changed careers (real or imaginary). Use reconversion, formation, compétences, and postuler. Reading it aloud afterwards will help fix the collocations.
- In speaking practice, answer this prompt: "Quels conseils donneriez-vous à quelqu'un qui cherche un emploi?" Use the seven-step job search process above as your structure.
Key takeaways
- Emploi, travail, poste, métier, and profession are not synonyms: each has a specific range of use.
- Career-change texts follow a predictable pattern (assessment, training, new sector): learn the vocabulary of that pattern.
- The unemployment rate (taux de chômage) and economic climate (conjoncture) signal macro-level job market texts.
- In speaking, the seven steps of a job search give you a ready-made structure for a two-minute oral answer.
- Polyvalent and bilan de compétences are currently high-frequency exam words: they appear in contemporary French media about work.
