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to land a job

to land a job

9 3.3
To get a job you really want, often one that is hard to find
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : conseguir un trabajo
  • Jessica hopes to land a job in the journalism field after college, but for now, she is looking.

Now how can like everyday Joe Schmo use it to land a job?

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Examples

  • But eventually, I landed a job for Dr. Glickenstein.

  • I’ll let you know if I land a job.

  • "Her dream is to land a job in a philosophy department over here.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Almost landed a job with the Defense Department, actually.

  • Finally, she landed a job as a contract player for a movie studio.

  • I landed a job in a show today.

  • So when I got to the city, I landed a job as an office manager.

    Blog text (27)
  • I took some time off, traveled, and when I came back, landed a job in publishing.

    Blog text (5)
  • I had finally landed a job in my field: assistant professor of anthropology at Denver University.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • After months of searching, she finally landed a job as a marketing coordinator at a top firm.

Synonyms

to get a new job
vsto land a job
22 1.9

Find and start working in a different job

emphasizes obtaining a desirable or hard to obtain position rather than mere change
to nail down
vsto land a job
3 4.7

To get and make sure of a job, deal, or opportunity

emphasizes obtaining a desirable or hard to obtain position

Antonyms

898 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

How Successful

to nail down
3 4.7
to land a job
9 3.3
to secure
324 3.9

Surface Forms

land a job infinitive
landed a job past participle
landing a job present participle
lands a job third person singular

Morphology

land + a + job

The sense 'to obtain a job' is a metaphorical extension of 'land' (to arrive or secure) applied to a target (a job), so the connection is partly transparent but relies on a less basic sense of 'land' that many B1 learners may not know. Because the meaning is predictable only if the learner recognizes this extended use (common in collocations like 'land a contract' or 'land an interview'), it is not fully compositional.

Etymology

Land a job comes from the old sense of land, meaning to bring a catch to shore, like when fishermen land a big fish. That image of catching and bringing something in is why land a job now means 'to get a job', especially one that is hard to get.