Shadowing Practice: 17 Normal Jobs that People Actually Like - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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- Work to become, not to acquire.
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I love my job and Zach hates his.
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That's not true. But what makes a job a happy job?
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Well, a recent report covering 60,000 employees and 1700 companies has found that average employee satisfaction has risen to its highest level since 2023.
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- I mean since 2023 is not that big of an - Accomplishment.
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That's not that far. That's two years like, well people are happier now than they were yesterday.
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So today we are looking at the 17 happiest - Jobs according to indeed.com, a website that has never actually helped anyone ever get a job. That's their slogan.
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- We're gonna break down each job on the list and dig into the numbers behind it.
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What actually makes a job meaningful, engaging, and worth showing up for.
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All right. Starting with number 17. Number 17, - Life lifeguard. Yeah, it makes sense.
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- You ever been a lifeguard? - I was a lifeguard.
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- Yeah, that tracks. I was a lifeguard. 100%.
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You were a lifeguard dude. People look at us.
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They probably think that guy's been a lifeguard. That guy has not.
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- I worked at Boca Racket Club so it was like a fancy tennis club with a pool.
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Like I think though when I think of this, I was actually thinking of the beach lifeguards, which is a way more legit job.
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Yeah. 'cause they're actually constantly rescuing people.
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But they're at the beach, they're in the sun, they're driving around in those red trucks.
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It's a cool job. Yeah, for sure. It's not all fun in - Games.
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Okay. Yeah.
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I think there are some instances where being lifeguard is a very serious position.
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I mean lifeguard, what's more serious than that?
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But I think there is also a lot of it that's fun and just straight hook it up.
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Okay. So Zach has already seen this list because he had to write it on the board.
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That's just logistics. I am seeing them for the first time.
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- So the list ranking are based on Indeed's work wellbeing score, asking employees to rank how much they agree or disagree with the following statement.
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I am happy at work most of the time.
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My work has a clear sense of purpose. Overall.
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I'm completely satisfied with my job and I feel stressed at work most of the time.
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So that's how the scores were determined.
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So based on that, what do you think is number one?
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- Hmm. - Ice - Agent.
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- I - Gotta imagine like child surgeon, not like you.
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That's pretty specific. But I mean surgeon This marker.
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- Ser next on the list.
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Bookkeeper. Bookkeeper.
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I didn't even know people still use that word.
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I think it's like an accountant. Maybe not licensed.
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I don't know. Bookkeeper is the only word in the English language with three consecutive double letters.
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Fun fact. Really? Yep. Bookkeeper English language. Three.
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- Three in a row. Isn't that crazy?
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I feel like the bookkeeper is like, you got a family business, you run deli or something and like Ma Ma.
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I'm the bookkeeper. It's just 'cause it's an old word.
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Well this place would fall apart without me. These guys.
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Yeah. Right. They've never seen a number in their life.
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They're just busy making all the pies.
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We're calling our accountant. You just hear like steel drums and stuff and he is like, oh, I forgot to call you.
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I did a lot of bad stuff - With your - Money.
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- What's up dude? - We're talking about the happiest jobs and what is on the list is bookkeeper, - Accountant.
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You are certified less about the day to day.
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The bookkeeper is really all about upkeeping.
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The The general ledger.
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- Could you describe this job as chill?
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- Yeah. I mean it could be chill.
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You probably clock into work and you know exactly what needs to be done.
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There's really no curve balls.
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You know the consistency that could lead to it.
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Like a good, good work life balance.
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- All right, cool. Well thank you Jacob.
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- Okay, great. And yeah, I'll, I'll charge you guys for this call.
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- Yes. Oh we can't. We can't afford that. You know that - Number 15 IT support specialist.
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I guess you follow that clown around. You help him.
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Terrorize kids.
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- IT Support specialist is a position where you have a lot of leverage.
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When people need you, they really need you.
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- It's an equalizer job.
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So like one of the few jobs I've had, I worked at Fox and we had an IT guy.
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They were like these like big entertainment executives and they would call in this guy and he'd be like, so can't figure it out.
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Can you? Can't figure out how to get your computer onto your tv.
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Huh? Well lemme show you how these are all like this place would fall apart without me.
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Jobs. Yeah. Next one.
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- 14. Administrator. - Administrative - Assistant.
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Assistant. Again, this place would fall apart - Without me.
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People are relying on you. You feel needed.
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Yeah, you feel needed.
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- So Oxford actually took the top 100 publicly traded companies with the highest scores and compared their stock performance against the market as a whole.
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If you'd invested a thousand dollars in the nasdaq, it would've returned $1,400 for the s and p 500.
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It would've returned 1,479.
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And for the top 100 happiest companies, it would've returned $1,533.
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- If you invest in happier companies, you'd have a bigger return.
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Yeah, yeah. In this landscape, you don't just select a vendor, you initiate a mission critical connectivity partner.
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Un humbled to announce that I am embarking on a new chapter.
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I've officially offboarded from legacy retail bottlenecks and onboarded with Mint Mobile.
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Be a frictionless EIM activation to a decentralized 5G architecture.
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I executed the entire migration from my home office in minutes zero store level friction.
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You execute a high leverage pivot.
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I am now leveraging the nation's largest 5G network.
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Unlimited talk of text bulk acquisition model.
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It's about scalable.
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ROI, securing my bandwidth in three, six, or 12 month tranches while retaining my existing hardware and number.
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It's being a stakeholder in your own connectivity ecosystem, please signal your alignment via a like to ensure this thought leadership remains at the top of your vertical feed, it's perfect.
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Stop overpaying for wireless just because that's how it's always been with premium plans.
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Starting at just $15 a month.
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Mint helps you break the traditional wireless cycle.
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Number 13. - Maintenance. Maintenance technician. Yeah.
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You just roll in and there's the office is flooding.
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Guess you guys really need me, - Huh?
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Yeah, before I showed up, there was poop all over the place and when I left there still was.
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It's not my chop to clean it up, but I stopped it.
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I stopped it. Yeah. I stopped. More poop getting in though.
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- Number 12. - Fire firefighter. Fire firefighter. Sick.
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- Sick. - Respected. Yes. You save lives.
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Firefighters are in really good shape.
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You gotta be to climb all those ladders and carry people and stuff.
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It's a rare opportunity as an adult to be like in a house with a bunch of dudes making chili and for some reason your helmet is a backwards hat.
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Yeah. You know sick dude. Dude.
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Firefighters rule flight attend - Flight attendant.
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This surprises me 'cause I feel like they deal with a lot of crap.
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- Yeah. Nowadays, especially I feel like in the sixties it would be a - Swinging gig but it must be very social.
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You travel a lot and you get crazy benefits to fly when you're off.
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Oh yeah. You get to fly free or heavily discounted I think.
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Oh, something that we should point out.
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All of these are gonna be employed positions.
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There's not gonna be a small business owner on here. Right.
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There's not gonna be you own a bar or whatever.
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The reason I bring that up is 'cause flight attendant, I feel like it's a job that doesn't follow you home.
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You get off that plane, you're clocked out and like you're leaving work behind.
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- Yeah. - And it's not just sitting in your brain unless, - Unless you have to like duct tape a guy to a seat.
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Or if someone like runs down the aisle with diarrhea and diarrhea is all over the aisle.
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Yeah, I bet you would be laying in your bed at night being like that was - Wha up.
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All right. Number 10, carpenter.
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Finally I was waiting for a job like this.
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This is the first one on the list that is there's a craft and I think there's something very satisfying about that.
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Working on buildings.
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You can drive by the building years later and be like, I helped build that real good with a tape measure.
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- Oh yeah dude. So good with a tape measure.
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Oh and you can walk into other buildings and you can be like, this place sucks.
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- Alright. So a different study conducted by Bamboo HR looked at employee satisfaction by simply asking how much they would recommend their place of work to somebody else.
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And they actually found notable differences and job satisfaction based on how long people had worked there.
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So basically the happiest employees were people who had worked at their company for 25 years or more.
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Immediately after the 25 year tenure is the one year tenure from year one.
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It drops down until about year six and then it starts climbing again - For one year.
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You're just stoked that you - Have a job.
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I'm just glad you have a job. You used to be unemployed.
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So number nine. Office manager. Office manager.
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Very similar to administrative assistant I would say. Yeah, - More responsibility.
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You're running the entire building.
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Who's our office manager? Kobe - Number eight.
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Executive Assistant. Assistant. Okay.
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Very similar jobs here.
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- Yeah. - So this is like this but it's for - One person.
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One person. At least like in the film industry, if you're like somebody's assistant, like that's a good job to have when you're young.
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'cause you get to be around this person.
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You get to like learn the business by being inside of the business in a very intimate capacity.
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It's almost like a mentor situation.
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But if you wanna get into an industry, I think like executive assistant is a great way to do it.
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Number seven. Fitness. Fitness. Instructive.
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Of course these guys are happy.
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They got all that dopamine running through their brains all the time.
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- You're using your body, which I think is a huge complaint for most jobs today is like sitting at a desk.
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- Alia, happy 1000. You - Totally caught me with that - Name. Rose up.
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- Yo Steven.
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Yeah, that's how a fitness instructor answers the phone.
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Dude. Why are fitness instructors so happy?
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- I'd see a lot of the satisfaction comes from like the relationship building.
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I do kind of keep a professional distance but some of them I kind of consider friends.
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I don't really do it full time anymore but I have 10 year clients.
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Health is important.
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- Yeah. - The ability to like grab a pull up bar and do it dead.
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Hang for a minute and yeah, at any moment of the day to decompress your back.
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- Alright, peace dude. Number six, logistics.
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A logistics manager oversees the entire supply chain including purchasing, inventory management, warehousing and transportation of goods to ensure on time delivery at optimal costs. That is Tim.
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- Well it's part of Tim. Tim is a lot of these. What up?
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Well we're jealous Tim because we're doing a video about the happiest jobs and turns out one of you, the jobs you do at speed is number four. Happiest.
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- Number six. - Which one? Logistics manager.
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- Oh baby. My my oldest specialty.
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- Why are you guys so happy? Yeah, why are you so happy?
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- I do think it's like results based type of thing.
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It's almost like a video game.
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Like you gotta connect dots all day long.
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Even to this day, like shipping speed, merch orders is like my little happy place at the end of the day.
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I get my little treat where I get to sit in the garage and and chip orders for a couple hours. So.
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- Well if you want to keep making Tim happy and give him some orders to ship out, go to speed.co.
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We have a bunch of really cool shirts and hats and stuff.
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We just dropped our first capsule, the school capsule.
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Everything is sort of like thematic inspired by growing up in the south.
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The way my dad dressed going to private school, we worked really hard on it.
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Took us about six to eight months to do it.
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If you guys like it, then we get to do more of it 'cause it was a substantial investment.
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speed.co. - Thanks Tim. Dude. He said it's his happy place. We should pay him less.
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- I I had to not make that joke so hard like four or five times I did.
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I had to not make the joke of like, woo, if you like it so much then why don't we not pay you?
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Number five sales representative. Interesting.
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I've thought about doing this. I - Think I would be terrible.
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- I think I'd be really good at it. I would sell anything.
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I just walked into a doctor's office. I'd be like, Dr.
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Mitch, what's up my brother?
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Or this mother's 65 years old, 70 years old.
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I'm wearing a suit. Big old knot in my tie.
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- Yeah, - I'd be selling catheters. Yeah. Yeah.
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Now these new ones double zero gauge.
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Oh you're still using the one gauge.
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Oh man, this will get the P out faster.
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Real estate agent. Agent.
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The big leagues version of that one.
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Yeah dude, you're selling the big thing. Yeah.
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You want to talk about big commissions that make a difference.
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Real estate agent.
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I also think that both of these attract a certain type of personality that is just kind of happy to begin with - An extroverted person.
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- Yeah, you're extroverted, you're confident.
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And what is better than helping someone find a home?
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You know, like someone who's buying a house is so stoked.
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You get to make flyers and you get to put your face on bus benches if you're big enough.
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The side of a bus.
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- What do you think the number one reason is?
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That people quit their jobs.
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- Not enough money. - Not that actually really it's not.
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According to Bamboo hr, 58% of people site management style as the number one issue that led them to quit.
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47% of employees who quit say they loved their job but did not like their manager.
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It goes to show that even if you have one of the jobs on this list, all it takes is a bad manager.
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Yeah. To totally negate that 100%.
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Number three, software develop software developer.
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RIP number two as well. Dude. Software. Software engineer.
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What's the difference?
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I told my buddy Rossa, we would call him.
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We called him in our most regretted and least regretted college degrees video.
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Very similar to this. If you're not thinking about what job to get but what to study, you should watch that.
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Hello. Yo, welcome back to the show.
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Ross, I have a question for you.
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Are you a software developer or a software engineer? I - Mean, I guess software engineer.
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I always just call myself a programmer.
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- You're number two. Happiest job on the list.
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Number two, happiest job. Ross. How does it feel?
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I feel pretty happy. Well what's the difference between a software engineer and a software developer? I - Honestly don't know. Like - Why do you think you guys are so happy? What's your secret?
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- If you like mental challenge, like that's kind of what you're doing every day and I could satisfy to make something.
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- Do you feel like when you clock out you're not thinking about work?
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- At my current job, yes. At my previous job, no.
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And that's kind of why I left it.
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'cause my last job, I guess I was technically at DevOps.
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So like if something broke I would get a call at 9:00 PM to fix it.
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Mm. And at my current job, that is not the case.
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- All right. Thanks dude. - Cool man. See y'all.
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- And one thing that is very interesting, these follow in order.
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Exactly. Based on salary. Really.
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- That's crazy. And but also not crazy at all.
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I think there's a lot of talk amongst managers and leadership at companies, like how do we motivate people?
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Money, give them more money because more money does buy more happiness.
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Like not like having a bunch of money doesn't buy more happiness.
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Like Elon Musk is a miserable person who's like not happy at all.
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Like having like excess, disgusting, grotesque amounts of money doesn't necessarily make you happy.
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But having enough money to not worry about like your house payment or like buying groceries or like having enough money to go on like a little vacation.
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So you have like money to not be scared.
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Like that makes you happier.
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So if you're somehow somebody who's in charge of how much money other people make and you're watching this video, give them more money and take some of the money away from the people who have the gross amount of money.
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'cause it's not making them happier and give it to the people doing the freaking work.
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Pay people more money.
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- What's the number one - Job?
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- Well, I do think there's a point that somebody's unhappy because their boss sucks.
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Yeah. And paying them more money is not gonna fix that problem.
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- Right. - But you can't be worried about all these other extra things if you haven't fundamentally compensated people correctly.
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James Surgeon has not appeared yet. No.
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And I don't know if it will. Number one.
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Happiest job physician. Similar. Pretty close.
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Pretty darn close.
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I think surgeons are, physicians is a surgeon of physician.
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Jesse. Our researchers are on it, dude.
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Totally. It basically takes the best of everything we've talked about so far.
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Like you said, helping people or the social element or being paid really well.
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Yeah, you get to save babies, dude. That's cool.
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I'm glad doctors are happy. Yeah, it's a good thing.
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Doctors are happy. We want our doctors to be happy. A - Surgeon is a physician.
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It is a physician. Damn dude.
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And I just bet all of that on, what's it called?
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Poly Market I think on Poly market. So we're feeling good.
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Dude, thank you guys for watching this video.
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We make videos about all kinds of stuff.
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Clothes, interior design, cars, all kinds of crap.
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So if you like this video, hopefully you'll like one of those.
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And if you like enough of 'em, then maybe subscribe to the channel so you get alerted to all of our videos.
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- Yeah, hit the bell. We never ask people to hit that. Yeah. Hit the - Bell.
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Yeah. Hit the bell, dude. Hit the bell. Go to speed.co.
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We have a membership program, the Legion of Speed.
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We have a Discord, we have a book club, a payroll.
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So check out speed.co. Alright, bye. Love you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “17 Normal Jobs that People Actually Like”. This video has 274 sentences and 3198 words to shadow. The speech runs for 19:18. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lifeguard noun | /ˈlaɪfˌɡɑɹd/ | A lifesaver: a rescuer, usually an expert swimmer, employed to save swimmers in trouble or near drowning at a body of water. |
| bookkeeper noun | /ˌbʊkˈkiː.pə(ɹ)/ | A person responsible for keeping records or documents, such as of a business. |
| surgeon noun | /ˈsɝd͡ʒən/ | One who performs surgery; a doctor who performs operations on people or animals. |
| physician noun | /fəˈzɪʃən/ | A practitioner of physic, i.e. a specialist in internal medicine, especially as opposed to a surgeon; a practitioner who treats with medication rather than… |
| firefighter noun | /ˈfaɪ.ɚˌfaɪ.tɚ/ | A person who has been trained to put out fires. |
| logistics noun | /ləˈd͡ʒɪstɪks/ | The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from their point of… |
| satisfaction noun | /sætɪsˈfækʃən/ | A fulfilment of a need or desire. |
| accountant noun | /əˈkaʊn.tənt/ | One who renders account; one accountable. |
| leverage noun | /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/ | A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot. |
| satisfy verb | /ˈsætɪsfaɪ/ | To be enough (for) |
| developer noun | /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/ | A person or entity engaged in the creation or improvement of certain classes of products. |
| extroverted adjective | /ˈɛkstɹəˌvəɹtɪd/ | Turned or thrust outwards, especially |
| diarrhea noun | /ˌdaɪ.əˈɹiː.ə/ | A gastrointestinal disorder characterized by frequent and very soft or watery bowel movements. |
| connectivity noun | The state of being connected. | |
| attendant noun | /əˈtɛndənt/ | One who attends; one who works with or watches over someone or something. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. | |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| drop down verb | To sail, move, or row down a coast, or down a river to the sea. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get off verb | To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it. | |
| point out verb | To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body. | |
| pull up verb | /ˌpʊl ˈʌp/ | To lift upwards or vertically. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I mean lifeguard, what's more serious than that?
- I didn't even know people still use that word.
- Who's our office manager?
- Mitch, what's up my brother?
- Are you a software developer or a software engineer?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If you invest in happier companies, you'd have · if something broke I would get · if you like this video, hopefully you'll like |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has found · has never actually helped · has already seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are based · were determined · are certified |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | lifeguards, which is · people who had · people who have |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 80 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: catheter /ˈkæθɪtɚ/, bandwidth /ˈbændwɪdθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: physician /fəˈzɪʃən/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, technician /tɛkˈnɪʃən/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/, initiate /ɪˈnɪʃ.i.eɪt/
- Long words — get the stress right: firefighter /ˈfaɪ.ɚˌfaɪ.tɚ/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, developer /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/, extroverted /ˈɛkstɹəˌvəɹtɪd/, diarrhea /ˌdaɪ.əˈɹiː.ə/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lifeguard, bookkeeper, surgeon.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.