Part 4 · Multiple matching

Narrator: You will hear five short extracts in which people talk about changing career. While you listen, you must complete both tasks. For questions 21 to 25, choose from the list A to H the main reason each speaker gives for changing career. For questions 26 to 30, choose from the list A to H what each speaker found most difficult about their new career.

Narrator: Speaker One.

Speaker 1: I'd been a lawyer for fifteen years, and the money was excellent – I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But I'd reached a point where I'd look at the files on my desk and think, what difference does any of this make to anyone? So I retrained as a potter. Nobody in my family batted an eyelid, oddly enough; they'd seen it coming for years. What I wasn't prepared for was never knowing what I'd earn from one month to the next. Some months I sell everything; others, almost nothing. That still keeps me awake at night sometimes.

Narrator: Speaker Two.

Speaker 2: I'd never considered working in healthcare. Then a friend who runs a training programme for paramedics had a place fall vacant two weeks before the course started, and she rang to ask whether I knew anyone who might want it. I heard myself saying, 'Me.' I was forty-six at the time. The physical side of the job was fine – I've always kept fit. What threw me was being on a course where most people were young enough to be my children. They were kind about it, but I often felt like everyone's dad.

Narrator: Speaker Three.

Speaker 3: For years I worked for a large insurance company, and every decision, however small, had to go through three layers of management. I'd suggest something sensible and six weeks later it would come back with a 'no' and no explanation. In the end I decided I'd rather be in charge of my own mistakes, so I set up as a freelance translator. The work itself was familiar – I'd been translating documents for the company for years. The hard part was the freedom. With no one telling me when to start or stop, I'd either waste whole mornings or work until midnight. It took me a good year to find a rhythm.

Narrator: Speaker Four.

Speaker 4: My wife's a teacher, and for years I listened to her stories over dinner and felt, if I'm honest, a bit envious. My engineering job paid well and I enjoyed it, but her days sounded so much more varied. Eventually she said, 'Stop talking about it and apply.' So I did. The training was tough, but I'd expected that. What I found hardest was the reaction of my old colleagues and even some friends, who kept asking whether I was sure, as if I'd lost my mind. It took a lot of confidence to ignore them.

Narrator: Speaker Five.

Speaker 5: I'd been a reporter on a local paper for twenty years when it was bought by a big media group. Within months, the new owners wanted everything to be about clicks – celebrity gossip, lists, anything that might go viral. That wasn't the job I'd signed up for, so I took redundancy and trained as a carpenter, which had been my hobby for years. I already knew my way around the tools, so the skills weren't the issue. It was my body that complained. After a day on a building site, I'd come home aching in places I didn't know I had.