Unit 13 Jobs and Careers 3.1 Who should we short-list? Listening note-taking A. Before you listen to the recording look at this advertisement and decide what kind of person the advertiser is looking for. Highlight the important points in the ad Assistant Marketing Manager We are a well-known international manufacturer, based in the UK, and we are expecting our export marketing activities in our European eadquarters in London We are looking for a lively and intelligent person to join our team as The work will involve working in our London office, telephoning and corresponding with our overseas clients and agents, and some travel mainly to European countries. Applicants should be fluent in at least one reign language. Experience in marketing would be an asset but not sential. The successful applicant will be paid top London rates and provided with generous removal expenses B. You'l hear three telephone messages. Each of the speakers has held interviews with applicants for the job. 1)Listen and take notes. You ll need to pause the recording frequently 2)Compare your notes with the notes in the Answer K 3) Decide which of the job applicants sounds most promising: which of them will you put on the short list for a second interview in London Which of the three candidates do you rate most highly, judging from what youve heard about them? If possible, compare your views with another student who has done this exercise REPORT FROM: Best candid Education Work experience Personality Availability
1 Unit 13 Jobs and Careers 13.1 Who should we short-list? Listening & note-taking A. Before you listen to the recording, look at this advertisement and decide what kind of person the advertiser is looking for. Highlight the important points in the ad. B. You’ll hear three telephone messages. Each of the speakers has held interviews with applicants for the job. 1) Listen and take notes. You’ll need to pause the recording frequently. 2) Compare your notes with the notes in the Answer Key. 3) Decide which of the job applicants sounds most promising: which of them will you put on the short list for a second interview in London? Which of the three candidates do you rate most highly, judging from what you’ve heard about them? If possible, compare your views with another student who has done this exercise. Assistant Marketing Manager We are a well-known international manufacturer, based in the UK, and we are expecting our export marketing activities in our European headquarters in London. We are looking for a lively and intelligent person to join our team as soon as possible. The work will involve working in our London office, telephoning and corresponding with our overseas clients and agents, and some travel, mainly to European countries. Applicants should be fluent in at least one foreign language. Experience in marketing would be an asset but not essential. The successful applicant will be paid top London rates and provided with generous removal expenses. REPORT FROM: Best candidate: ______________________________________ Age: __________ Education: __________________________________________________________ Languages: _________________________________________________________ Work experience: _____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Personality: _________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Availability: ________________________________________________________ Suitability: __________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________________________________
13. 2 Have a nice day Reading Read this article and then fill each gap below with one word Employee loyalty in service firms Have a nice day New york Hotel, shop and restaurant chains, which employ thousands of people in low-paid, dead-end jobs, are discovering that high labor turnover rates resulting from the indiscriminate hiring of cheap"workers can be extremely costly Cole National, a Cleveland-based firm which own Child World, Things Remembered and other speciality shops, declared a" war for people "in an effort to recruit and keep better staff. Employees were asked: What do you enjoy about working here? In the past year, have you thought about leaving? If so, why? How can we improve our er place to work? Employ ed the better training, supervisors and, above all, wanted their bosses to"make me feel like I make a difference". Labor turnover declined by more than half; for full time Marriott Corporation, a hotel and restaurants group, has also decided to spend more money on retaining employees in the hope of spending less on finding and training new ones. In one year, it had to hire no fewer than 27, 000 workers to fill 8, 800 hourly-paid job slots To slow its labor turnover, Marriot had to get a simple message accepted throughout its operating divisions: loyal, well motivated employees make customers happy and that, in turn, creates fatter profits and happier shareholders Improved training of middle managers helped. So did a change in bonus arrangements At the same time, Marriot became more fussy about the people it recruited. It creened out job applicants motivated mainly by money: applicants which the ompany pejoratively described as "pay first people". Such people form a surprisingly small, though apparently disruptive, part of the service-industry workforce. Marriot found in its employee-attitude surveys that only about 20% of its workers are Roy Rogers restaurants and about 30% of its workers at Marriot hotels regarded pay as their primary reason for working there Many middle managers in service industries are more comfortable coping with demands for more money than with demands for increased recognition and better communications. They will have to change their ways. Surveys say that when 13, 000 employees in retail shops across America were asked to list in order the 18 reasons for working where they did, they ranked"good pay"third In first place was"appreciation of work done, with"respect for me as a person"second
2 13.2 Have a nice day Reading Read this article and then fill each gap below with one word. Employee loyalty in service firms Have a nice day New York Hotel, shop and restaurant chains, which employ thousands of people in low-paid, dead-end jobs, are discovering that high labor turnover rates resulting from the indiscriminate hiring of “cheap” workers can be extremely costly. Cole National, a Cleveland-based firm which own Child World, Things Remembered and other speciality shops, declared a “war for people” in an effort to recruit and keep better staff. Employees were asked: What do you enjoy about working here? In the past year, have you thought about leaving? If so, why? How can we improve our company and create an even better place to work? Employees replied they wanted better training, supervisors and, above all, wanted their bosses to “make me feel like I make a difference”. Labor turnover declined by more than half; for full time sales assistants, it declined by about a third. Marriott Corporation, a hotel and restaurants group, has also decided to spend more money on retaining employees in the hope of spending less on finding and training new ones. In one year, it had to hire no fewer than 27,000 workers to fill 8,800 hourly-paid job slots. To slow its labor turnover, Marriot had to get a simple message accepted throughout its operating divisions: loyal, well motivated employees make customers happy and that, in turn, creates fatter profits and happier shareholders. Improved training of middle managers helped. So did a change in bonus arrangements. At the same time, Marriot became more fussy about the people it recruited. It screened out job applicants motivated mainly by money: applicants which the company pejoratively described as “pay first people”. Such people form a surprisingly small, though apparently disruptive, part of the service-industry workforce. Marriot found in its employee-attitude surveys that only about 20% of its workers are Roy Rogers restaurants and about 30% of its workers at Marriot hotels regarded pay as their primary reason for working there. Many middle managers in service industries are more comfortable coping with demands for more money than with demands for increased recognition and better communications. They will have to change their ways. Surveys say that when 13,000 employees in retail shops across America were asked to list in order the 18 reasons for working where they did, they ranked “good pay” third. In first place was “appreciation of work done”, with “respect for me as a person” second
1)Many workers in service industries are badly and their work 2) Service firms with large numbers of low-paid workers often have a high staff Cole national conducted a among its staff, because they wanted to recruit and 4) Staff replied that they wanted their managers to show that they were 5)Marriot discovered that customers are happier when the staff are motivated. They found that most of their workers were mainly motivated by pay 6) For most US shop workers pay is the most important reason for job satisfacti 13.3 Employment Vocabulary Fill the gaps in these sentences. 1) In American English, you an application form 2)She's going to make engineering her 3) Are we going to a new sales 4) He was the most promising for the job 5) The past tense of seek is 6) All our production workers are paid top 7)The applicants will be interviewed by the of directors 8)Mr and Mrs Smith supplement their by renting out rooms. 9) A well-prepared will do well at any interview 10)The applicants were interviewed by a of three managers you you re your own boss 12)Could you explaining to me what the 13)How much will I have to pay? 14)What is your present annual 15)A company car, subsidized meals or low-interest loans are all 13.4On. Fill the gaps in these sentences with a suitable prepositional phrase from the list below on a large scale on approval on behalf of on business closer inspection on condition on display on loan on order er on the phone on request on schedule on the spot on time on vocation/on holid 1)They produce this kind of material on a large scale so they should be able to supply us quickly 2) You will fond our new product at our showroom who can fix the fault this week 4)We can supply samples and demonstration equipment 5)We have had the goods for three months, but they havent arrived yet. 6) We accepted delivery of the goods as undamaged, but we find that five of the 7)I spoke to him last week about this 8)We can have the goods for four weeks Then we can return them or pay for them
3 1) Many workers in service industries are _________ badly and their work is __________. 2) Service firms with large numbers of low-paid workers often have a high staff _________. 3) Cole National conducted a __________ among its staff, because they wanted to recruit and __________ better workers. 4) Staff replied that they wanted their managers to show that they were __________. 5) Marriot discovered that customers are happier when the staff are __________ and _________ motivated. They found that most of their workers were __________ mainly motivated by pay. 6) For most US shop workers pay is the _________ most important reason for job satisfaction. 13.3 Employment Vocabulary Fill the gaps in these sentences. 1) In American English, you ___________ an application form. 2) She’s going to make engineering her __________. 3) Are we going to __________ a new sales manager? 4) He was the most promising __________ for the job. 5) The past tense of seek is ___________. 6) All our production workers are paid top __________. 7) The applicants will be interviewed by the __________ of directors. 8) Mr and Mrs Smith supplement their __________ by renting out rooms. 9) A well-prepared __________ will do well at any interview. 10) The applicants were interviewed by a __________ of three managers. 11) If you’re __________ you’re your own boss. 12) Could you explaining to me what the __________ of the job are? 13) How much __________ will I have to pay? 14) What is your present annual __________? 15) A company car, subsidized meals or low-interest loans are all __________. 13.4 On … Prepositional phrases Fill the gaps in these sentences with a suitable prepositional phrase from the list below. 1) They produce this kind of material on a large scale so they should be able to supply us quickly. 2) You will fond our new product __________ at our showroom. 3) We have a sales engineer _________ who can fix the fault this week. 4) We can supply samples and demonstration equipment __________. 5) We have had the goods __________ for three months, but they haven’t arrived yet. 6) We accepted delivery of the goods as undamaged, but __________ we find that five of the components are unusable. 7) I spoke to him __________ last week about this. 8) We can have the goods for four weeks __________. Then we can return them or pay for them. on a large scale on approval on behalf of on business closer inspection on condition on display on loan on order on paper on the phone on request on schedule on the spot on time on vocation / on holiday
9) The goods arrived 10) He traveled to England but managed to do a little sightseeing while he was there 11)Im afraid Ms Smith is till the end of the month. Can I help you? 2)We can offer you the job that you start work on the first of next month 13)This candidate doesn't look very good but she is very impressive in person 14)You can t keep this permanently, but you may have it till the end of the month 15)She signed the letter her boss 16)Our relocation plans are proceeding and we will be making the move on January I next year 13.5 High-flyers Listening You' ll hear part of a broadcast about high-flyers ---people who will be given special training and experience to make them into the top managers of tomorrow. Answer these multiple-choice questions about the information and opinions given in the recording. According to the presenter. 1)High-flyer sch a. found in all kinds of companies b. most common in multinational companies 2)In a large company a. only a high-flyer can climb the promotion ladder more quickly b. a bright person can quickly climb the promotion ladder even if there is no high-flyer c. the career structure is normally quite flexible 3)A member of a high-flyer scheme will a. obtain wide experience in different departments b. already have wide experience in different fields c. become a special ist in his or her chosen field According to rod scott a. is the worlds largest multinational company b. has about 130,000 employees worldwide c. has about 130,000 employees in the UK 5)There are people participating in BP's"individual development progran b.180 6)BP's high-flyers join the scheme when a. they have just joined the group c. they have already shown their potential According to heather Stewart 7)A high-flyer scheme may
4 9) The goods arrived __________. 10) He traveled to England __________ but managed to do a little sightseeing while he was there. 11) I’m afraid Ms Smith is __________ till the end of the month. Can I help you? 12) We can offer you the job __________ that you start work on the first of next month. 13) This candidate doesn’t look very good __________ but she is very impressive in person. 14) You can’t keep this permanently, but you may have it __________ till the end of the month. 15) She signed the letter __________ her boss. 16) Our relocation plans are proceeding __________ and we will be making the move on January 1 next year. 13.5 High-flyers Listening You’ll hear part of a broadcast about high-flyers ---- people who will be given special training and experience to make them into the top managers of tomorrow. Answer these multiple-choice questions about the information and opinions given in the recording. According to the presenter … 1) High-flyer schemes are _____ a. found in all kinds of companies. b. most common in multinational companies. c. common in large companies. 2) In a large company _____ a. only a high-flyer can climb the promotion ladder more quickly. b. a bright person can quickly climb the promotion ladder even if there is no high-flyer scheme. c. the career structure is normally quite flexible. 3) A member of a high-flyer scheme will _____ a. obtain wide experience in different departments. b. already have wide experience in different fields. c. become a specialist in his or her chosen field. According to Rod Scott … 4) BP _____ a. is the world’s largest multinational company. b. has about 130,000 employees worldwide. c. has about 130,000 employees in the UK. 5) There are _____ people participating in BP’s “individual development program”. a. 130 b. 180 c.260 6) BP’s high-flyers join the scheme when _____ a. they have just joined the group. b. they have been with the group for ten years. c. they have already shown their potential. According to Heather Stewart … 7) A high-flyer scheme may _____
a. produce a management team who can work well together b. lead to a lack of flexibility in the management team c. prevent the business from changing 8)A company with a high-flyer scheme tends b. not to recruit senior staff from outside the company c. to lose good managers, who leave to join their competitors 9)High-flyer schemes tend not to recognize the importance of a. academic qualifications b. people who join the company later. c. the experience and knowledge of older people 10) Women managers are excluded from high-flyer schemes because a. they are expected to leave to have babies b. they prefer to have babies instead of a career c. this is the age they are most likely to have babies 11)Other able, enthusiastic managers a. consider high-flyers to be better than then b. lose their motivation c. leave the company if they aren t selected as high-flyers 12)In medium-size companies high-flyer schemes a. are usually experimental c. are unnecessary because the career structure is flexible References 13.1 Who should we short-list? Suggested answers REPORT FROM: GUS MORRISON IN GLASCOW Best candidate: Duncan McCabe Age: 21 Education: Graduate of Edinburgh University (MA in modern languages) Speaks fluent French and quite good German Work experience: Publicity department of Glasgow City Council(about a year) Very pleasant, a bit shy when you first talk to him, but when you get to know him he has a lovely sense of humor Availability: Not available until September 1 Very bright and eager and hed fit in well with your people down in London 145 Pentland Gardens. Glasgow C5 8TG 0416678092 REPORT FROM: LAURA STEELE IN SHEFFIELD
5 a. produce a management team who can work well together. b. lead to a lack of flexibility in the management team. c. prevent the business from changing. 8) A company with a high-flyer scheme tends _____ a. to be less competitive. b. not to recruit senior staff from outside the company. c. to lose good managers, who leave to join their competitors. 9) High-flyer schemes tend not to recognize the importance of _____ a. academic qualifications. b. people who join the company later. c. the experience and knowledge of older people. 10) Women managers are excluded from high-flyer schemes because _____ a. they are expected to leave to have babies. b. they prefer to have babies instead of a career. c. this is the age they are most likely to have babies. 11) Other able, enthusiastic managers ____ a. consider high-flyers to be better than them. b. lose their motivation. c. leave the company if they aren’t selected as high-flyers. 12) In medium-size companies high-flyer schemes _____ a. are usually experimental. b. are unpopular. c. are unnecessary because the career structure is flexible. References 13.1 Who should we short-list? Suggested answers REPORT FROM: GUS MORRISON IN GLASCOW Best candidate: Duncan McCabe Age: 21 Education: Graduate of Edinburgh University (MA in modern languages) Languages: Speaks fluent French and quite good German Work experience: Publicity department of Glasgow City Council (about a year) Personality: Very pleasant, a bit shy when you first talk to him, but when you get to know him he has a lovely sense of humor Availability: Not available until September 1st Suitability: Very bright and eager and he’d fit in well with your people down in London Address: 145 Pentland Gardens, Glasgow, C5 8TG Phone: 041 667 8092 REPORT FROM: LAURA STEELE IN SHEFFIELD
Best candidate: Mrs Slyvia Sabbatini Age: 25 Education Paper qualifications not all that good: left at 16 to do secretarial course Speaks Italian fluently(father Italian, mother Work experience: Johnson Brothers in Marketing since leaving school Lovely personality ----very cheerful and bright Husband has just got a job in London, so able to start work in London right Suitability Very intelligent young woman----she impressed me very much Address 78 Pennine Avenue, Huddersfield, LS34 7QT 0484078432 REPORT FROM: TERRY WILLIAMS IN CARDIFF Best candidate. Miss emma harris Age: 20 Education Had right exam results to get into university, but decided to go into industry Languages Speaks Spanish and French(not exactly fluent, but so confident this doesnt matter) Work experience: Working in marketing for small light engineering firm, had become Export Marketing Manager. Firm taken over and she was made redundant ---they decided to close her department ity: Full of confidence, makes friends easily No ties here, could start work next week if you wanted Has really good potential --- would work well in a team Address. 214 Gower Road, Swansea, SA2 4PJ 079298672 Transcript Gus Morrison: Good afternoon This is Gus Morrison calling from Glasgow. Now, most of the people I've talked to today have been pretty hopeless. One of them was obviously lying when he filled in the application form. Do you know, he claimed to speak German, but when I started talking to him in German, he couldnt understand! Well, now the best of the bunch was er.. where is it.. er Duncan Mc Cabe (thats D-U-C-A-N M-C-C-A-B-E). He's quite young, he's only 21 and he's graduate of Edinburgh. Edinburgh University. He's got an MA and it's in modern languages. Now, he's been working for the publicity department of Glasgow City Council for about a year. He speaks fluent French and his German is quite good too. Hes a very pleasant lad, he seems a bit shy when you first talk to him, but when you get to know him he's got a lovely sense of humor, and I think he's very bright, he's very eager and I think he'd fit in well with your people down in London. Now unfortunately he's not available until September But if you want to contact with him, his address is 145 Pentland (I'll spell that, thats P-E-N-T-L-A-N-D)Pentland Gardens, Glasgow, and the postcode is g5 &TG, and his phone number is 041 667 8092 Laura Steele: Hello, this is Laura Steele, I,'m calling from Shefield. Ive spent this morning interviewing four candidates and the best one is a Mrs Sylvia Sabbatini(thats S-Y-L-V-1-A 6
6 Best candidate: Mrs Slyvia Sabbatini Age: 25 Education: Paper qualifications not all that good: left at 16 to do secretarial course Languages: Speaks Italian fluently (father Italian, mother English) Work experience: Johnson Brothers in Marketing since leaving school Personality: Lovely personality ---- very cheerful and bright Availability: Husband has just got a job in London, so able to start work in London right away Suitability: Very intelligent young woman ---- she impressed me very much Address: 78 Pennine Avenue, Huddersfield, LS34 7QT Phone: 0484 078432 REPORT FROM: TERRY WILLIAMS IN CARDIFF Best candidate: Miss Emma Harris Age: 20 Education: Had right exam results to get into university, but decided to go into industry Languages: Speaks Spanish and French (not exactly fluent, but so confident this doesn’t matter) Work experience: Working in marketing for small light engineering firm, had become Export Marketing Manager. Firm taken over and she was made redundant ---- they decided to close her department. Personality: Full of confidence, makes friends easily Availability: No ties here, could start work next week if you wanted Suitability: Has really good potential ---- would work well in a team Address: 214 Gower Road, Swansea, SA2 4PJ Phone: 0792 98672 Transcript Gus Morrison: Good afternoon. This is Gus Morrison calling from Glasgow. Now, most of the people I’ve talked to today have been pretty hopeless. One of them was obviously lying when he filled in the application form. Do you know, he claimed to speak German, but when I started talking to him in German, he couldn’t understand! Well, now, the best of the bunch was er … where is it … er Duncan McCabe (that’s D-U-C-A-N M-c-C-A-B-E). He’s quite young, he’s only 21 and he’s graduate of Edinburgh …Edinburgh University. He’s got an MA and it’s in modern languages. Now, he’s been working for the publicity department of Glasgow City Council for about a year. He speaks fluent French and his German is quite good too. He’s a very pleasant lad, he seems a bit shy when you first talk to him, but when you get to know him he’s got a lovely sense of humor, and I think he’s very bright, he’s very eager and I think he’d fit in well with your people down in London. Now unfortunately he’s not available until September 1st . But if you want to contact with him, his address is 145 Pentland (I’ll spell that, that’s P-E-N-T-L-A-N-D) Pentland Gardens, Glasgow, and the postcode is G5 8TG, and his phone number is 041 667 8092. Laura Steele: Hello, this is Laura Steele, I’m calling from Shefield. I’ve spent this morning interviewing four candidates and the best one is a Mrs Sylvia Sabbatini (that’s S-Y-L-V-I-A
S-A-B-B-A-T-I-N-I). Now, shes 25, she's married and has been working for Johnson Brothers, in Marketing since leaving school. She has a lovely personality ----very cheerful and bright She speaks Italian fluently(her father is Italian, her mother is English). Her qualification on paper are not all that good, she left school at 16 to do a secretarial course, but she's very intelligent young woman--- she impressed me very much. She's been married for two years, no children, and her husband has just got a job in London, so she'd be able to start work in London more or less right away. Her address is 78 Pennine Avenue, Pennine(P-E-N-N-I-N-E)Avenue, Huddersfield(that H-U-D-D-E-R-S-F-I-E-L-D), and the postcode is LS34 7QT. Her telephone number is 0484 078432 Terry Williams: Hello, this Terry Williams calling from Cardiff. I've just finished a very frustrating day interviewing people for you. There were really only two applicants that you should have invited for interview and i discovered after half an hour that one of them isn 't available: hed already accepted another job but decided to come to the interview anyway So the only person I have to tell you about is Miss Emma Harris(thats E-M-M-A H-A-R-R-I-S). She is only 20 but she has really good potential. She had all the right exam results to get into university when she left school, but decided to go into industry. She speaks Spanish and French, though she's not exactly fluent in either, but she's so confident I dont think that matters She's been working in marketing for a small light engineering firm and she had just become their Export Marketing Manager when the firm was taken over and she was made redundant because they decided to close her department. She is full of confidence, makes friends easily and she would work well in a team. She has no ties here, and she could start next week if you wanted. I think she'd be a real find and you should get in touch with here right away Her address is 214 Gower Road(thats G-O-W-E-R) Swansea(S-W-A-N-S-E-A), SA2 4PJ Her phone number is 079298762. All right. Ah, cheerio them 13. 2 Have a nice day 1. paid unrewarding/dull 2. turnover 3. survey keep 4. appreciated 5. loyal well highly not 6. third 13.3 Employment 1. fill out 2. career 5. sought 6. wages 7. board 9. candidate 10. panel 11. self-employed 12. responsibilities 13. tax 15. fringe benefit 3. on the spot 4 on request 5. on order 6. on closer inspection on the phone 8. on approva 9. on time 10. on business I1 on vacation /on holiday 12. on condition 13. on paper 14 on le 5. on behalf of 16. on schedule 13.5 High-flyers
7 S-A-B-B-A-T-I-N-I). Now, she’s 25, she’s married and has been working for Johnson Brothers, in Marketing since leaving school. She has a lovely personality ---- very cheerful and bright. She speaks Italian fluently (her father is Italian, her mother is English). Her qualification on paper are not all that good, she left school at 16 to do a secretarial course, but she’s very intelligent young woman ---- she impressed me very much. She’s been married for two years, no children, and her husband has just got a job in London, so she’d be able to start work in London more or less right away. Her address is 78 Pennine Avenue, Pennine (P-E-N-N-I-N-E) Avenue, Huddersfield (that’s H-U-D-D-E-R-S-F-I-E-L-D), and the postcode is LS34 7QT. Her telephone number is 0484 078432. Terry Williams: Hello, this Terry Williams calling from Cardiff. I’ve just finished a very frustrating day interviewing people for you. There were really only two applicants that you should have invited for interview and I discovered after half an hour that one of them isn’t available: he’d already accepted another job but decided to come to the interview anyway! So the only person I have to tell you about is Miss Emma Harris (that’s E-M-M-A H-A-R-R-I-S). She is only 20 but she has really good potential. She had all the right exam results to get into university when she left school, but decided to go into industry. She speaks Spanish and French, though she’s not exactly fluent in either, but she’s so confident I don’t think that matters. She’s been working in marketing for a small light engineering firm and she had just become their Export Marketing Manager when the firm was taken over and she was made redundant because they decided to close her department. She is full of confidence, makes friends easily and she would work well in a team. She has no ties here, and she could start next week if you wanted. I think she’d be a real find and you should get in touch with here right away. Her address is 214 Gower Road (that’s G-O-W-E-R), Swansea (S-W-A-N-S-E-A), SA2 4PJ. Her phone number is 0792 98762. All right. Ah, cheerio them. 13.2 Have a nice day 1. paid unrewarding / dull 2. turnover 3. survey keep 4. appreciated 5. loyal well / highly not 6. third 13.3 Employment 1. fill out 2. career 3. appoint 4. applicant 5. sought 6. wages 7. board 8. income 9. candidate 10. panel 11. self-employed 12. responsibilities 13. tax 14 salary 15. fringe benefit 13.4 On … 2. on display 3. on the spot 4. on request 5. on order 6. on closer inspection 7. on the phone 8. on approval 9. on time 10. on business 11. on vacation / on holiday 12. on condition 13. on paper 14. on loan 15. on behalf of 16. on schedule 13.5 High-flyers
Presenter: 1)c 2)a 3) Rod Scott: 4)b 5)c 6)c Heather Stewart: 7)b 8)b 9)c 10)c ll)b 12)b Transcript Presenter:.. the first high-flyer schemes were introduced in the 1960s and now many sectors of commerce, industry and the civil service pick out their most promising younger managers as " high-flyers". You find schemes of this kind mostly in large companies or groups of companies, where the fairly rigid career structure can only be broken by by-passing the normal steps in the promotion ladder It can take a company many years to develop a top-level manager, if he or she joins them straight from university. Such people must obtain wide experience in different parts of the company and this can take up to 20 years. This means that someone who joins the firm from university works for the company in different capacities, and is identified as a high-flyer,can expect to reach top management at around the age of 40 Rod Scott has been looking at what is called the "individual development program"at BP. Rod Scott: BP is one of the largest multinational companies in the world. It employs 130,000 people. It has 260 managers involved in its own"individual development program"who will compete for 180 senior positions in the group. They don't join the scheme until they are in their late 20s, by which time they will have established themselves in their special field, they will have built up their professional reputation and they will have a record of high performance committee of 15 senior managers. One of the main purposes of the scheme is to provide them with experience outside their own field -- in finance, working in an overseas division, oI experience in information technology Presenter: But high-flyer schemes have their drawbacks, according to Heather Stewart,a Heather Stewart: One weakness is that you may be creating a management team who think and act in the same ways. That means, if your business changes, they may not be able to meet the challenges. As outsiders tend to be excluded as senior recruits, the company may be cutting itself off from a pool of talent which their competitors can draw on. Another problem is that late-starters are also excluded ----not everyone is at their peak in their 20s and such qualities as experience and in-depth knowledge may be undervalued Another weakness is that women are often excluded from high-flyer schemes, since schemes identify high-flyers at the very time when women are most likely to have children: they are forced to choose between career and family Worst of al though is the resentment that high-flyers create among other managers who arent chosen to be high-flyers. Developing a sort of elite, a chosen few, within an organization is quite simply bad for company morale -- it makes everyone else feel they are being undervalued and takes away their enthusiasm and dedication and clearly this is counter-productive. This is particularly noticeable in medium-sized companies, where high-flyer schemes seem to be particularly controversial and divisive. There have been various experiments
8 Presenter: 1) c 2) a 3) a Rod Scott: 4) b 5) c 6) c Heather Stewart: 7) b 8) b 9) c 10) c 11) b 12) b Transcript Presenter: … the first high-flyer schemes were introduced in the 1960s and now many sectors of commerce, industry and the civil service pick out their most promising younger managers as “high-flyers”. You find schemes of this kind mostly in large companies or groups of companies, where the fairly rigid career structure can only be broken by by-passing the normal steps in the promotion ladder. It can take a company many years to develop a top-level manager, if he or she joins them straight from university. Such people must obtain wide experience in different parts of the company and this can take up to 20 years. This means that someone who joins the firm from university works for the company in different capacities, and is identified as a high-flyer, can expect to reach top management at around the age of 40. Rod Scott has been looking at what is called the “individual development program” at BP. Rod Scott: BP is one of the largest multinational companies in the world. It employs 130,000 people. It has 260 managers involved in its own “individual development program” who will compete for 180 senior positions in the group. They don’t join the scheme until they are in their late 20s, by which time they will have established themselves in their special field, they will have built up their professional reputation and they will have a record of high performance. While they’re on the scheme (and this lasts 5 to 10 years), their progress is supervised by a committee of 15 senior managers. One of the main purposes of the scheme is to provide them with experience outside their own field ---- in finance, working in an overseas division, or experience in information technology. Presenter: But high-flyer schemes have their drawbacks, according to Heather Stewart, a management consultant. Heather Stewart: One weakness is that you may be creating a management team who think and act in the same ways. That means, if your business changes, they may not be able to meet the challenges. As outsiders tend to be excluded as senior recruits, the company may be cutting itself off from a pool of talent which their competitors can draw on. Another problem is that late-starters are also excluded ---- not everyone is at their peak in their 20s and such qualities as experience and in-depth knowledge may be undervalued. Another weakness is that women are often excluded from high-flyer schemes, since schemes identify high-flyers at the very time when women are most likely to have children: they are forced to choose between career and family. Worst of al though is the resentment that high-flyers create among other managers who aren’t chosen to be high-flyers. Developing a sort of elite, a chosen few, within an organization is quite simply bad for company morale ---- it makes everyone else feel they are being undervalued and takes away their enthusiasm and dedication ---- and clearly this is counter-productive. This is particularly noticeable in medium-sized companies, where high-flyer schemes seem to be particularly controversial and divisive. There have been various experiments …