Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English idioms related to strengths and weaknesses.

Job interviews, performance reviews, hiring decisions, promotions, pay raises… what do all of these important aspects of work and business revolve around? Well, one major theme is people’s strengths and weaknesses. If you can’t assess strengths and weaknesses very well – either your own or other people’s – you’re bound to make some bad decisions.

So it’s no wonder you hear so many business conversations about what people can and can’t do, or what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. And in these conversations, you’re bound to hear lots of idioms. English has tons of expressions for talking about strengths and weaknesses. And in today’s lesson, we’ll take a look at some of these business English idioms.

In the lesson, we’ll rejoin a conversation about hiring a new communications director at a mining company. Three managers are talking about the strengths the new director will need, as well as the weaknesses of the previous director, which they want to avoid. They use many useful English idioms during their discussion.

Listening Questions

1. What type of attitude does Annette say the new communications director needs?
2. What type of person does Drew think they need to deal with controversy?
3. At the end of the dialog, what kind of person does Annette say they should avoid?

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English idioms related to strengths and weaknesses.

Walk into any office or staff room and listen to what people are talking about. There’s a good chance you’ll hear people talking about other people. And in many cases those conversations are about what they’re good at, and what they’re not good at. In other words, you’ll find people talking about other people’s strengths and weaknesses.

And it not just gossip. We talk about people’s strengths and weaknesses every time we make a hiring decision, assemble a project team, or delegate tasks. We even talk about our own strengths and weaknesses in these same contexts. Whatever the situation, and whoever you’re talking about, there are lots of English idioms for discussing strengths and weaknesses. And it’s some of these idioms we’ll learn today.

In the lesson, we’ll hear a business conversation between three managers at a mining company. They’re creating a job posting for a new communications director, and they’re discussing the strengths a good Director will have and the weaknesses they want to avoid. They’re also discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the past communications director. The three colleagues use many idioms related to strengths and weaknesses during their discussion.

Listening Questions

1. According to Annette, what did they think of the previous communications director when they hired him?
2. What does Drew say about Carl’s skills with social media?
3. What does Laura say the new director will have to do, especially with an expansion and so much work in the future?

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for our final lesson on business English idioms related to food.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve looked at a lot of different English idioms connected to food. It should be no surprise that so many expressions are related to eating and drinking. After all, we do it three times a day, or more. Food is not just a necessity, it’s a big part of life and culture.

When you’re looking at idioms, it’s important to remember that they are fixed expressions where the words don’t have a literal meaning. So when you hear that someone is “in a pickle,” you have to understand that there’s no actual pickle. It just means that someone’s in a difficult situation. You have to figure it out from the context, because there’s not really an obvious connection between pickles and difficult situations.

In the lesson, we’ll rejoin a conversation between three colleagues. Jessie has been trying to convince Luke and Ben to join her in starting a business together. Today, we’ll hear them talking about the possible challenges of running their own business.

Listening Questions

1. What example does Ben give of a possibly difficult business situation?
2. What does Jessie say is one important benefit of running your own business?
3. According to Jessie, what is necessary for people to have a good business partnership?

Download: Podcast MP3