Learn English – In A Job, At A Job

grammarmeaningusage

I have a question about "in a job" here:

Mr. Feliciano remains employed by the department, working in a desk job after two domestic violence offenses and a violation of a court order to stay away from his wife.

How is "in a job" different from "at a job"?

Best Answer

Using Verb + Preposition, work in would be the standard usage.

Work at is also permissible, but has the additional meaning for a specific place:

She works at McDonald's.

He works at the restaurant.

(nb: "He works at a (non-specific) restaurant" has the same meaning as "He works in a restaurant")

Finally, work at carries the additional complication of being a phrasal verb:

work at [phrasal verb]: work at (something) : to make an effort to do (something) better

He needs to work at his handwriting.

She has been working (harder) at controlling her temper.

See: http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/work

I myself prefer "work in" to "work at" in your example, probably to avoid ambiguity of him working to "improve his desk job", or working a desk job to improve himself.

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