BACK TO CIVIL LIFE.
POSTS FOR THE DEMOBILISED.
By Our Parliamentary Correspondent Everybody concerned knows, or should know, the mission of the Appointments Department at the Ministry of Labour. When this branch of the Ministry was created for the purpose of assisting exofficers, and men of similar educational qualifications, to re-enter civil life wide publicity was given to the fact. Such publicity was essential, because, naturally, the success of the work must largely depend upon the extent to which employers notify the department of vacancies for employment or for training which are open for suitable candidates. A valuable and important feature of the Ministry’s operations in this particular sphere is the administration of the Government training scheme. This makes provision for grants for maintenance and fees to approved exservice men belonging to the professional or business classes. “These grants,” to quote an official circular, “enable them to take a course of training which would otherwise be beyond their means, and so help to restore the supply of fully qualified professional and business men.” How is the organisation working? What results has it to show? These questions were answered by an official of the Ministry of Labour in the course of an interview. “On a Wednesday morning a little while ago,” he said, “the manager of a great London store came into the Appointments Department with the offer of a £500 per annum post in his pocket. By a happy accident a man with exactly the qualifications he required registered his name, and was interviewed on the same day. A meeting between the two was arranged immediately. By eleven o’clock on Thursday the bargain had been struck, and there were two well-satisfied men in London. That was, perhaps, the speediest feat yet accomplished by the department. It does not always enjoy so soothing an experience.
MANY POSTS FILLED.
“For instance, not long since an individual came in whose ambitions were apparently boundless, though he was somewhat vague as to the direction in which they were to be employed. It says something for the department’s resources that it was able to place before him some twenty excellent posts at salaries of £400 a year and upwards. However, the applicant was able to find twenty excellent reasons for declining to apply for any of them. Undaunted, the department arranged an interview for him with an employer with a £500 position to offer. The applicant was, however, quite equal to the emergency, as he failed to turn up for the interview! “Quite recently an important Allied Mission came to the department for help. It had thirty-eight posts to offer, many of them demanding highly varied technical knowledge. Within a short time the department had filled nearly all these posts, some of which carried salaries, including expenses, ranging from £1,200 to £1,600 a year. It has been gratified to learn that in every case its selection has met with the complete satisfaction of the authorities concerned. Within the same space of time the department has filled two other £1,200 a year posts. That is admittedly the bright side. But it certainly shows that the department can fill posts if they are offered. “What of the dark side? The number of those applying for posts is increasing with ominous rapidity compared with the number of posts offered, and, roughly, it may be said that about twice as many applicants as vacant posts are registered each week. That is serious. It is certain that the disparity could be enormously reduced if every employer throughout the kingdom would make it his invariable policy to notify the department of any vacancy he has to offer.
THE TRAINING SYSTEM.
“The strongest plea has to be made for the technically ill-equipped candidate. We do not want to force such men to emigrate. Anyone who came through the ordeal of the war with a clean sheet, the respect of his superiors, and the trust of his men, may not possess high commercial qualifications; but if he is not the best raw material for training for any job which requires a cool head and a certain, quick resourcefulness, then there is nothing to be said in favour of character, self knowledge, and experience of men as commercial assets. “Many men come to the department who can put down no impressive catalogue of qualifications. Their life has consisted of little more than a few years at school and four years of the fiercest ordeal in history. Employers are naturally inclined to contemplate them with a doubtful eye but many of them possess that faculty of initiative and readiness to take a decision. Readiness to obey is a great virtue, but readiness to command is a pre-eminent virtue “It is for just such men that the department has organised its system of ‘Training Vacancies.’ Any employer who takes such a man and trains him in his business will be doing a real service to the State. And since the department is at the greatest pains to ensure that he gets the right man, he will, in the end, do himself a real service also.”