Glossery of Application Terms

Have you ever completed a job application form and as you are completing the many sections you find yourself not understanding all of the employer’s application language? What do you do, Guess? Research? Or Panic?

To help you, we have written a glossary of terms for you to use to check you have the correct meaning to each term, helping your application be the best it can be. To help other job hunters, you can add a new Application Term and Descriptions that we have not added in the comments below.

Glossary of terms

Accredited training Nationally recognised training
Annual leave Paid holidays employees are entitled to
Apprenticeship Apprenticeships; Participants earn while they learn – combining practical work with accredited  training
Appraisal   A yearly or quarterly appraisal of your work normally undertaken by your line manager
Block release training The release of apprentices from their workplace to attend full-time vocational study
Bonus An additional payment made by an employer for good performance, meeting targets or greater productivity
Business hours Usually Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5
Casual work Employment with various working hours depending on the need of your employer
Commission A fee or percentage paid to a salesperson on each sale
Curriculum Vitae (CV) Written summary of a person’s educational qualifications, employment history and personal details.
CV writing service A service that will create, design and write your CV
Danger money Payment for work that involves some risk. in addition to your normal wage
Deductions Money taken out of your pay for payments such as health care
Dependant A person who is wholly or partly supported financially by someone else.
Discrimination Unfair treatment of someone, because of their colour, politics, race, religion, gender or other personal attribute which does not relate to work performance
Dismissal When an employer ends an employees employment
Flexitime Employees can start and finish work earlier or later than the normal times – hours need to be made up or extra days off can replaced hours overworked
Freelance Completing a project for someone at an agreed price
Full-time work 35- 40 hours; Full-time workers are eligible for annual leave and sick leave
Gross pay Pay before tax and other deductions have been taken out
Income tax Tax deducted from an employee’s wages by the employer and paid to the government
Job sharing One full-time job is shared by two or more employees
Maternity and paternity leave Time off while paid to cover a period of several weeks before and after the birth of a child
Minimum wage The lowest wage which may legally be paid to an adult employee –varies due to age
Net pay Pay after deductions have been taken out
Off-the-job training Training taken place outside of your work place
On-the-job training Training taken place inside your work place
Overtime Time worked that exceeds your contracted hours
Part-time work When you work less then 35 hours a week; Part-time workers are still eligible for annual leave, sick leave, etc
Piecework You are paid per number of “pieces” you pack or produce
Probation period A trial period that enables an employer to assess if an employee meets the job specification
Promotion Advancement to a job higher up the career ladder
Redeployment Movement of an employee between jobs in the same organisation
Redundancy pay Compensation paid by an employer to an employee whose services are no longer required
Reference A statement about your personal qualifications and character written by a third person
Retirement The end of employment, due to your age
Salary The amount of money you will earn whilst in employment
Seasonal work Work that is only done at certain times of the year
Self-employment A person who works for themselves
Shift work Working various patterns of hours; work may be rostered into two or three shifts over a 24-hour period.
Sick leave Paid leave to sick employees
Study leave Leave given to employees to attend courses of study that are approved by their employer
Trainee A person who is being trained by experience members of staff
Union An association of people working in one industry able to negotiate on behalf of employees with employers
Voluntary work Working for no pay