Recruitment
Recruitment techniques
Recruitment involves:
Finding possible candidates for a job or
function. It may be undertaken by an
employment agency or a member of
staff at the business oragnisation
looking for recruits. It may involve
advertising in the recruitment section of a
newspaper.
It is also an activity by which a retailer
generates a list of job applicants.
One of the criteria for recruitment is:
Merit recruitment - which is a system of
hiring public servants on the basis of
qualifications rather than on party
preference or other considerations
Beside by merit, candidates may be
considered for a job based on many
different criteria and methods, some of
them becoming more and more popular
A growing number of companies (General
Motors Corp. etc.) show some modern
tendencies:
 They are no longer satisfied with traditional job
interviews
 Instead, they are requiring applicants for
many white-collar jobs (doctors, lawyers, people
performing less laborious tasks)to write tests,
roleplay exercises, simulate decision-making
exercises and brainteasers (problems which
are fun to solve)
 Others put candidates through a long series of
interviews by psychologists
The tests are very elaborate
(complicated) and demanding:
 They are not about basic techical skills for
which many candidates have been tested
 Rather, employers want to evaluate
candidates on intangible qualities: Is she
creative and entrepreneurial? Can he lead and
coach? Is he flexible and capable of learning?
Does she have passion and a sense of
urgency? How will he function under pressure?
Will the potential recruit fit the corporate
culture?
The tests can be short or very long:
 Some tests take an hour, others take up to two
days
 Companies are becoming more careful about
hiring: ten years ago candidates could win a top
job with the right look and the right answers to
questions such as: Why do you want this job?
 Now, many candidates have to face questions
and exercises intended to find out HOW they
get things done
Here are some examples:
They may have to describe not one
career accomplishment but many (in
this way the patterns of behaviour emerge)
They get questions like: Who is the best
manager you ever worked for? What is
your best friend like?
The answers reveal much about
candidate’s management style
The reasons for this kind of interrogation:
Many hires (someone who starts to work
for a company) work out badly
About 35% of recently hired employees
are considered failures according to the
Center for Creative Leadership which
surveyed nearly 500 chief executives
The cost of hiring the wrong person is
sometimes huge: searching and training
can cost from 5000 up to 250000 dollars
The problem could be the following:
Years ago, employers looked for
experience (has a candidate done this
before?)
But, having experience in a job does not
guarantee that you can do it in a
different environment
Unfortunately, most companies have not
yet shifted to this practice
What happens in real life is:
Some do not see the need that such
testing is worth the cost
Still, the white-collar testing is growing
in popularity. The reasons for this is the
sense of limitations that is present in
old-fashioned interviews. With so little
information on which to base a decision
“most people hire someone they like,
rather than the most competent person”
Research has shown the following:
Most decision makers make their
decision whom to hire in the first five
minutes of an interview
The first impression seems to be the
strongest point of a potential employee
The rest of the interview time the decision
maker uses to rationalise their choice
The last researches show that:
 Even those companies that have not started
extensive testing have toughened their hiring
practices
 Many of them now do background checks
(looking for signes of drug use, violence or
sexual harassment)
 The newest testing aims to measure skills in
communications, analysis and organisation,
attention to detail and management style
An example: Cognex
 Cognex is the world’s leading supplier of
machine vision sensors and systems
 Cognex recognises employees who exceed the
company’s high standards with many rewards
 This company hires top professionals who are
interested in working in a high-energy, fastmoving, growth company with leading-edge
machine vision technology, strong values, and a
corporate culture unlike any other in the world
Career benefits:
Working at Cognex provides you with
many unique opportunities to enjoy:
Friday after-work “socials”, free movie
nights, a fitness centre and a game
room...and:
Medical insurance, dental insurance,
employee savings plan, disability
insurance, paid time off, holidays....
Cognex recruitment:
Cognex is always on the lookout for
bright new talent, and actively seeks to
hire recent college graduates with
intelligence, ambition and drive.
At Cognex you’ll have the opportunity not
only to apply your education but to
continue it, as you work side-by-side with
leading machine vision experts
Cognex intern programs
Cognex has a variety of internship and
co-op positions available on a yearround basis
These positions are open to bright,
dedicated and enthusiastic college
students who are eager to obtain realworld experience from an industry leader.
A personal experience: a Cognex
employee testifies
“By working at Cognex as a co-op student
from Northeastern, I learned the skills
necessary to become a successful
electrical and computer engineer. These
skills benefited me both while in school
and in the work force. The knowledge that
I gained led to a full time position at
Cognex that continues to provide me with
challenging and rewarding work.”
The letter of application:
The letter of application can be as
important as the CV in that it often
provides the first direct contact between
a candidate and an employer. If this
letter is not well written and presented, it
will make poor impression. The letter of
application normally contains four
paragraphs in which you should:
 Confirm that you wish to apply and say where
you learned about the job
 Say why you are interested in the position and
relate your interests to those of the company
 Show that you can contribute to the job by
highlighting your most relevant skills and
experience
 Indicate your willingness to attend an
interview (and possibly say when you would be
free to attend).
Job advertisements in three European countries: Are
executive positions in different countries
advertised in the same way?
 Most British advertisements mention not only
salary, but also other material incentives. This
is not the case in French and German ads: it is
left to applicants to raise this question
themselves.
 The reason for this may be that in France and
Germany the information about salary is
given by the level of experience and
qualifications demanded.
 On the other hand, French and German adverts
are very precise about qualifications: they
usually demand “a degree in...” not simply “a
degree”.
 French ads go even further: they may specify a
particular set of institutions or schools to which
they give priority.
 In UK they usually seek “graduates”, and their
ads suggest uncertainty. It often happens that
those who are qualified beyond degree level
make employers nervous.
In France and Germany it is difficult to
be overqualified: many people in their
executive boards have doctorates which
they regard as ideal training.
British managers are not selected primarily
for their intelligence. Instead, the British
give importance to social, political and
leadership skills.
 As to personal qualities, the British look for
energy, ability to communicate and motivate.
The German adverts want candidates with
sound knowledge, experience and competence
in their field. They rarely recruit at all.
 French ads refer to intellectual qualities like
analytical capacity and independence. Even the
tone of the job ads is different in the three
countries: French and German ads are boringly
direct while British sound exciting.
Compound nouns
Present simple and present
continuous II
Compound nouns: match one noun from
each column to form a compound noun
 Risk
 Computer
 Problem
 Award
 Wage
 Wine
 Law
 trouble
 Earner
 Winner
 Breaker
 Shooter
 Programmer
 Solver
 Importer
 taker
Complete the following sentences with
the correct compound nouns:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
I don’t like John. You never know how the deal is going
to end with him, you just can’t have certainty. He’s a
real ___________.
Mary is extremely intelligent: she can deal successfully
with just about anything. She truely is a ___________ .
He never respects regulations of any kind. He’s a
typical ___________.
Our father is the only ____________ in our family. All
of us depend on him for food and clothes.
The __________ did not show up to collect his prize,
so we’ll have to send it to him by mail.
Present simple and present continuous:
put the verbs in brackets in either of the
two tenses
You (enjoy) yourself or would you like to
leave now? – I (enjoy) myself very much. I
(want) to stay to the end.
How you (get) to work as a rule? – I
usually (go) by bus but tomorrow I (go) in
Tom’s car.
Ann (make) a dress for herself at the
moment. She (make) all her own clothes.
This car (make) a very strange noise. You
(think) it is all right? – Oh, that noise (not
matter). It always (make) a noise like that.
Why you (smoke) a cigar, Mrs Pitt? You
(not smoke) cigars as a rule. – I (smoke) it
because I (want) the ash. This book (say)
that cigar ash mixed with oil (remove) heat
stains from wood.
That film (come) to the local cinema next
week. You (want) to see it?
Stop! You (not see) the notice? – I (see) it
but I can’t read it because I (not wear) my
glasses. What it (say)? - It (say) “These
premises are patrolled by guard dogs”.
I (think) it is a pity you don’t take more
exercise. You (get) fat.