| Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need. | |
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| 1._____ Freelance is a word that goes back to medieval times when it was used to describe soldiers who sold their skills to those prepared to pay their market rate. Today it's an increasingly common way of working for people in a range of occupations and appeals to many who feel constrained by corporate culture. 2._____ What you gain is freedom of movement, what you can lose is a sense of belonging. You can end up feeling isolated from normal support networks, because suddenly you are responsible for your own welfare, training, safety, career development, equipment, professional updating and a thousand other things, it is easy to remam unaware of these things in the relatively cosseted existence of full-time employment. So before you leap up into this exciting and potentially rewarding way of working, stand back and take a look at the risks. 3._____ Freelancing has always been a common way of working for writers, artists and performers, but the range of occupations with a substantial number of freelancers is growing steadily. Anyone with a marketable skill can choose to go it alone. Websites offer a free directory listing for those with skills to sell. Their categories include accountants, healthcare consultants, landscape architects and computer trainers. Areas of work that have problems recruiting staff are always keen to employ freelancers. 4._____ Being a freelance is different from other forms of self-employment-you still work for an employer or several employers but have to develop a completely different set of relatjonships with them. Employers are now your customers, you are their supplier. You have to become indispensable to them, providing solutions to their problems, some of which they may not even realize they have. In many ways you have to behave like their dream employee, being more willing and available than you may have got used to while in a "proper job". 5._____ You also have to be aware of, and sensitive to, the fact that you can be seen as a threat by your customer's conventional employees, who may regard you as taking work they can do. Successful freelancing relies on the cooperation of everyone you come into contact with. Work that brings you into conflict with an existing workforce can be more trouble than it's worth. |