IV. Required qualities

1. Here's the list of adjectives describing qualities certain professions need. Read the sentences and fill in the correct adjective.

persuasive brave creative patient intelligent

polite accurate fair friendly

1) Salespeople need to be …………………….… to get people buy their products.

2) A scientist has to be ……………….….in order to understand complex theories.

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3) Receptionists should be ………………....in order to make people feel welcome.

4) Surgeons must be very …….…....as they shouldn't make mistakes in their work.

5) A shop-assistant has to be …………… even when dealing with a rude customer.

6) Lifeguards have to be ..…..................as they often find themselves in dangerous situations.

7) Teachers need to be very ................…as students sometimes take a long time to learn things.

8) Judges should be …………………and give all the evidence equal consideration.

9) Fashion designers should be very …………………so that they can come up with new designs.

2. Make a list of other qualities needed for specific professions.

3. What qualities do you think are needed for a

a) taxi-driver,

b) manager,

c) debt-collector,

d) private investigator?

V. Recruitment

The process of finding people for particular jobs is recruitment, or hiring. Someone who has been recruited is a recruit, or in American English, a hire. The company employs or hires them, they join the company. A company may recruit employees directly or use outside recruiters, recruitment agencies or employment agencies. Outside specialists called headhunters may be called on to headhunt people for very important jobs, persuading them to leave the organizations they already work for. This process is called headhunting. Managers found in this way are headhunted. Executives may be persuaded to move company by the promise of a golden hello: a large sum of money or some other financial enticement offered by the company they move to.

1. Read the article from the Financial Times about the headhunting profession, then answer the questions below.

Poacher turned tv star- do headhunters deserve their bbc image?

Last night's episode of Headhunters, a new BBC drama, does not present the trade in its most flattering light. Hall works for one of London's foremost headhunting firms, where he spends his time on the mobile phone in constant search of bodies to "poach". A client wants to hire an entertainment lawyer: Hall

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does better by persuading him to poach a whole team. When the head of the old law firm finds out that his valuable assets are about to leave he is so upset he kills himself.

Headhunters have never been the most respected profession, but the message from the BBC seems to be that their ruthless tactics are pushing them to new depths of unpopularity.

Tim Clark, an expert on headhunters at the Open University, argues that the business doesn't deserve a bad name. He says that from the beginning people have viewed headhunting as a secretive, underhand business, disliking the process by which individuals are approached discreetly and persuaded to move jobs. "It's an easy industry to pick on. So much of the business is confidential. People don't know the full facts."

So, what are the facts? Is there a moral problem with poaching? Might it be the responsibility of the headhunter to think about the mess that a person leaves behind when they change jobs?

"The work is very sensitive," says Ian Butcher of Whitehead Mann. "You can create problems if you take out key people. But most senior businessmen recognize that that is part of the game. In any case, our loyalty is to the client."…

1) What is normally "poached" and from where?

2) If you use ruthless tactics, do you consider the feelings of other people? Does ruthless show approval or disapproval of these tactics?

3) If you describe activity as underhand, do you approve of it?

4) If X picks on Y, is Y able to defend himself of herself properly?

5) Does Ian Butcher sympathize with the companies that he persuades people to leave?

2. Read the text below and decide if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

1) Traditionally, candidates for executive positions have been evaluated on their technical skills.

2) The principal aim of testing is to find out how candidates have performed in the past.

3) Today, choosing the wrong person for a position can have more serious consequences than 10 years ago.

4) Most interviewers select candidates for their professional abilities.

5) Candidates are now better prepared for interviews than they were in the past.