Unit 2: Recruitment

What is Recruitment? 

The process of finding people for particular jobs.

A company may recruit employees 

1.Directly 

2. Outside recruiters, recruitment agencies, employment agencies.

3. Outside specialists called headhunters

Applying For A Job: 

1. made an application,               

2. CV (curriculum vitae) 

3. Covering letter: explaining why he wanted the job and why he was the right person for it.

Selection Procedures: 

(the methods that the company uses to recruit people)

1. Job vacancies (advertisement in a newspaper or magazine when they need employees.)

2. Receive apps.

3. make a preliminary selection (a short list)

4. check the candidate references

5. invite the shortlisted candidates for an interview

6. Make a final selection (Pick the suitable candidate).

Exercises + Answers

Exercise 2. Complete the following sentences with the right word or phrase: 

has. I hope she …………., because if she …………….the job, we'll have to start  looking again.

b. That last applicant was very strong, but I understand he's had two other ………..  already. 

vs. They've finally ……….. a new receptionist.

d. I phoned to check on my application, but they said they'd already  ……….someone.

e. This job is so important, I think we need to ………… someone.

f. Computer programmers wanted. Only those with UNIX experience should …………….

g. The selection process has lasted three months, but we're going to ……someone  next week.

2. Replace the underlined sentences with correct forms of words and expressions you learned  in the episode.

Fred had already refused two job offers when he went for a discussion to see if he was  suitable for the job . They looked at his driving license and contacted previous employers  Fred had mentioned in his application . A few days later, the supermarket asked him if he  would like the job and Fred said yes.

Harry didn't hear anything for six weeks, so he phoned the company. They told him  that they had received a lot of requests for the job . After looking at the life stories of the

people asking for the job and looking at what exams they had passed during their  education , the company had chosen six people to interview, done tests on their personality  and intelligence and they had then given someone the job.

Exercise 4. Read this newspaper article and find the answers to the following questions in the text: 

1. What were the TWO reasons why Virgin Atlantic was considering redundancies? 

2. What were the TWO things Richard Branson invited his staff to do? 3. How many people volunteered to take unpaid leave? 

4. How did the long break affect the staff's attitude to their work? 

5. Why is the scheme attractive to new recruits? 

6. Is the scheme going to become permanent? 

Branson's new route to more jobs
by Celia Weston 

For many young people lucky enough to get a job after leaving school or college, the biggest shock of the transition to work is how few holidays they get. Having spent their academic years working an eight or nine-month year, it can be depressing to realize that for the rest of their working lives they will be able to take only four weeks off a year. Many would jump at the chance to take three months off - and that's exactly what happened at Virgin Atlantic, the airline run by Richard Branson. He believes the new initiative could help to reduce unemployment. Faced with last autumn with the recession and with its failure to acquire more flight slots out of Heathrow airport, the company was having to consider redundancies.Mr. Branson wrote to staff saying that cutting back on jobs was “something I have never wanted to do”. 15 Instead he invited employees to take up six months unpaid leave and to participate in a job sharing scheme. The immediate crisis passed but the idea of ​​a shorter working year took off. When the company later asked for 300 volunteers to take three months unpaid leave, 450 put their names forward. Mr. Branson said: “To be fair and share it around, in some cases we said that people could only take six weeks.” Most of the volunteers were cabin crew, but other staff, including secretaries and pilots, took advantage of the offer as well. “And when they came back from their break ... they definitely seemed to enjoy work more,” he said.The company tends to recruit and train its own staff from scratch. As Mr. Branson said: “If you've been at college or on the dole, working for only nine months still makes you a lot better off financially than you were before.” He believes there is a broader social benefit to be achieved. Nor was a shorter working year only applicable to young people. “If you are only taking on people for nine months, that will enable others who would otherwise have no work or be living on the dole to have a chance too.” And he goes further. “I think this should be the basis of a pattern across the whole European Community for the first few years of working life.”“If older women and men with children can afford it because one partner's working 12 months and the other nine, I think a lot of people would like to earn slightly less and be able to spend more time with their children,” Mr. Branson said . This year the scheme is on offer again, although not over the busy summer period. “All the people who took time off last year would like to do so again,” Mr. Branson said.But its realization depended on whether the company could recruit enough people to allow 400-500 existing staff to take three months off. The company was considering whether the arrangement should become a permanent feature, Mr. Branson said. “For new people being taken on in most departments, we're thinking about making nine-month working a standard contract.”

Exercise 5. Work in groups.Discuss these questions:

1. What are your views on Richard Branson's scheme? Would you like to participate  in such a scheme?

2. Would such a scheme succeed in the firm you work/have worked for?Why not?

3. Why do you think so many of Virgin's cabin crew took advantage of the scheme?

4. Could this kind of scheme only succeed with a youthful staff who have few family  responsibilities?

5. How could you persuade people who have considerable working experience and  are used to earning a certain wage that they should take a pay cut?

6. What do you think of the following: 

1. a four day week
2. a nine day  fortnight
3. seasonal work
4. job sharing

Exercise 6. Insert the following words in the gaps in the text below:

applicant, application, application form, apply, candidate, curriculum vitae, summary,

employment agencies, interview, job descriptions, job vacancies, references, short-listed

Many people looking for work read the ...................................... advertised in  newspapers by companies and .......................... . To reply to an advertisement is to  .................................... for a job. (You become a ............................ or an  ............... ............... .) You write an ........................ , or fill in the company's
............................. , and send it, along with your ............. ..................... et un  covering letter. You often have to give the names of two people who are  prepared to write ..................... for you. If your qualifications and abilities match the  ......................... , you might be .............. .............. , ie selected to attend an.............................. .

Exercise 7. When employees 'give notice', ie inform their employer that they will be  leaving the company (as soon as their contract allows), in what order should the company carry out the following steps?

A. either hire a job agency, or advertise the vacancy

B. establish whether there is an internal candidate who could be promoted  (or moved sideways) to the job

C. examine the job description for the post, to see whether it needs to be changed  (or indeed, whether the post needs to be filled)

D. follow up the references of candidates who seem interesting

E. invite the short-listed candidates for an interview

F. make a final selection

G. receive applications, curricula vitae and covering letters, and make a preliminary  selection (a short list)

H. try to discover why the person has resigned

I. write to all the other candidates to inform them that they have been unsuccessful

Exercise 9. Below you will see some extracts from wants ads. Fill in each blank with a

word or phrase from the following list:

competitive - initiative - suit kitchen staff - ability - outgoing - team - pension

plan - clear - contact - experience - preference - required - skills - willing - busy

office - hard work - potential customers - successful candidate - thorough training.

- Our new 200-seat restaurant is opening in May and we are looking for waiters,

waitresses and (1)……….

- If you are a friendly and (2)……….person who is not afraid of (3)………., we have  the job and hours to (4)……….you.

- For more information, (5)……….Helen at (415) 331-2012.

- Secretary/Receptionist (6)……….for a (7)……… . Typing and shorthand between

80 and 120 wpm. We will give (8)……….to applicants who have experience using  word processors and computers.

- We want a positive person who is (9)……….to work hard and can use their own

(10)………. . You must be lively and have a good sense of humor and a

(11)……….speaking voice.You will receive (12)……….to enable you to inform

(13)……….of the benefits of advertising with us.

- The (14)……….will have had (15)……….in booking and banking procedures. Tea  position calls for word-processing and secretarial (16)……….plus the (17)……….to  work as part of a (18)………. A (19)……….salary is offered as well as a company  (20)……….

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