on the job
- idiom
- You see, this is my first day on the job.
- on the job training
- on the job experience
- learn on the job
He told a Hospice nurse that on the job he had done bad stuff.
- He told a Hospice nurse that on the job he had done bad stuff.
- I love that personality, competency, years on the job or compensation.
- But he stayed on the job and he went to ESU.
- So now that he's been one year on the job, let's look at how he's done.
- You talk about man being on the job, on the money, Lex.
- But he's still on the job, and in fact, he has two jobs.
- And so Wizards learn this sort of stuff partly by studying, partly on the job, partly by apprenticing.
- Yeah, I mean, it's it's not responsible to drink on the job.
- And you'd be with him for like, if for summer, like on the job with my dad, like painting houses.
Examples
-
Is this your first day on the job or what?
-
So what two things would you do your first week on the job that could have the biggest impact?
-
This is definitely something you can only learn on the job.
-
Sorry, it's my first day on the job.
-
It's my first day on the job.
-
How we gonna celebrate your last day on the job?
-
I've seen a lot of things in my time on the job, but nothing like this.
Fiction book (1992) -
Interviewees had been on the job from 6 months to 2 years.
Academic text (2008) -
Workers on the job come up with a checklist of what is safe and what's not safe.
-
The training program is designed to help new employees gain skills while they are on the job.
Synonyms
You are in the place where you do your job
Happening while you are working at your job
Having a job and earning money from it
Antonyms
How Busy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'at work' is a straightforward locative/state composition of 'on' (preposition indicating location/engagement) + 'the' (definite article) + 'job' (place of work). This prepositional phrase pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows normal English composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
On the job comes from the simple picture of someone actually on their job, standing at the place where they work and doing the tasks. That's why it means 'to be working' or 'at work'.