Work and employment

German working life has a vocabulary of its own, and a good deal of it is built from nouns rather than verbs: die Kündigung, die Einstellung, die Bewerbung, die Arbeitszeit. Recognising the -ung pattern turns a contract from an obstacle into something readable. One distinction is worth setting straight early. Die Arbeit is work as an activity, die Stelle or der Job is the position, and der Beruf is the trade or profession you were trained in. English "job" covers all three, so German asks you to choose.