Using English at Work：45 Meeting with the Boss(4)（在线收听）

A "heads up" is information that you receive before anyone else does.

A "heads up" is an advanced notice.

If you're a good customer at a clothing store, the store might give you a heads up about a sale that's going to start in a few days - they're giving you information in advance, before other people get it.

In this case, my promotion hasn't happened yet, but now I have a heads up on it and I won't be surprised if it does happen. I hope it does!

My boss says that the promotion would give me a new title.

A "title" is the name of your job, basically.

Common titles include Customer Service Representative, Finance Director, Vice President of Marketing, or perhaps Senior Accountant.

In addition to getting a new title, I'm also going to get a small raise.

A "raise" is an increase in your salary, the amount of money that you earn for doing your job.

Many people get a small, 2 to 3% raise at the end of the year to cover the high cost of living; but they can also get larger raises, maybe 5 or 10%, for doing their jobs very well.

When we get a promotion, as I mentioned earlier, we usually get a raise because the new position is often more difficult and has more responsibility.

My boss says that the most important thing about the promotion is not the title or the raise, but that it will put me in line to eventually become a regional manager myself.

"To put someone in line" means to help someone prepare for something in the future, especially for a personal or professional success.

Doing more than your boss asks of you or perhaps doing it faster than other people may put you in line for a promotion;

it's a way of preparing you for a promotion.

Getting this promotion will prepare me to be a regional manager someday in the future, so it will put me in line to become that manager.

Next, my boss praises me for my hard work.

"To praise" someone means to say good things about what that person has done, to compliment him or her.