23. Work in pairs. How many different ways can a company recruit applicants to fill a job vacancy?
24. Read the magazine article about recruiting staff. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each recruitment method? The right person for the right job
Finding the right job applicant to fill a vacancy is never easy. Julie Bain looks at the pros and cons of different recruitment methods.
Recruiting the right candidate to fill a vacancy can be a difficult and costly task. Appointing the wrong person could be an expensive mistake which could cause personnel problems for the whole department. And, as every HR Manager knows, it is much more difficult to get rid of someone than it is to employ them.
The HR Manager's first decision is whether to recruit internal applicants or advertise the vacancy outside the company. Internal applicants are easy to recruit by memo, e-mail or newsletter. Furthermore, they are easy to assess and know the company well. However, they rarely bring fresh ideas to a position. Moreover, a rejected internal candidate might become unhappy and leave the company.
Recruiting outside the company means either advertising the vacancy directly or using an employment agency. If the company decides to advertise the vacancy directly, it has to decide where to place the advertisement. Traditionally this has meant newspapers and professional journals but now the Internet is also very popular. The decision normally depends on the vacancy. Companies advertise blue-collar or clerical jobs in local newspapers and senior management positions in national papers or professional journals, while the Internet is one of the best ways of advertising IT vacancies or recruiting abroad. However, with the Internet there is a risk of receiving unsuitable applications from all over the world.
An agency can be either a commercial business or a government employment centre. A company often uses a government agency to recruit: blue-collar workers but normally prefers a commercial agency for its white-collar staff. However, a commercial agency could be very expensive and the applicants are less likely to stay with the company for a long time.
25. Read the article again and answer the questions.
How could the wrong candidate cause problems for the whole department?
Why is it difficult to get rid of someone?
Why don't internal applicants have fresh ideas?
Grammar Review
Hypothetical situations
We can use would to talk about the expected results of a hypothetical situation.
A large company would advertise in a national newspaper.
We can use could/might to talk about the possible results of a hypothetical situation.
Appointing the wrong person could/might be an expensive mistake
Why might an unsuccessful candidate leave the company?
26. Look at the graphs a-h below. They show how a company has recruited its staff over a three-year period.
Which method does each sentence 1-5 describe?
For each sentence, mark the correct letter. Do not use any letter more than once.
A B C
2006 2007 2008 2006 2007 2008 2006 2007 2008
D E F
2006 2007 2008 2006 2007 2008 2006 2007 2008
1. The number of employees recruited on the Internet rose steadily throughout the period.
2. Recruitment through national newspapers remained steady in 2006 and 2007 but fell in 2008.
3. After a sharp rise in 2007, internal recruitment levelled off.
4. The number of employees recruited directly from universities peaked at the end of 2007.
5. Over the three-year period there was a continuous decline in recruitment through local newspapers.