The right person for the job

How does a small business become a big business? A company can’t grow unless it employs the right staff to do important jobs. It is easy for companies to make mistakes and recruit the wrong people for important jobs. Sally Thomson is the managing director of Thomson Norton Consultants in Surrey, England.

The company’s annual turnover is £500,000. The company needed a new project manager to work with important clients. It took a long time to advertise the job, check applications and interview and test candidates. Finally Ms Thomson chose the new project manager - but the person left after only six weeks.

How can employers recruit the right staff? Perhaps existing staff have got the right skills for a new position in the company. For example, a marketing person can have good financial skills. The ideal person for the job could already be working in your company.

From FT.com

1. Read the article again and answer the questions.

a) What is Sally Thomson's job title?

b) Which company does Sally work for?

c) Where is the company?

d) What job did the company advertise?

2. Are these sentences true or false?

a) It is easy for companies to employ the right person.

b) The annual turnover of the company is £100,000.

c) The company needed a new sales manager.

d) It took a long time to choose the right candidate.

e) The new employee left the company after six weeks.

Over to you

Put the recruitment steps into the correct order. Can you add any others?

How to recruit a new employee

• interview candidates

• employ staff

• check applications

• advertise the job

Unit 4 Travel

The travelling office

Level of difficulty **

Before you read

Look at the words in the box. Tick (•) the things that a person can take on a plane when travelling on business.

Filing cabinet mobile phone desk photocopier laptop palm pilot

Reading

Read this article adapted from the Financial Times and answer the questions.

Hi, I'm on the plane at 39,000 ft

What do you do when you are flying on business? How do you use the time? Do you work? Or do you use the journey to relax before a meeting or conference? At the moment it can be difficult for businesspeople to work on the flight. They cannot use the same technology that they have in their office. But that is about to change. New technological developments allow passengers to send and receive

e-mails and text messages on some flights. A new system called Connexion allows travellers to use the Internet, too. “Anything you can do on your computer at home, you can now do in the sky,” says Scott Carson, presidentof Connexion by Boeing. The technology can also help passengers relax by listening to their own music and watching favourite videos.

Why are airlines investing in this technology? Air Canada’s market research shows that business travellers want to work any time, any place. Last year Air

Canada asked frequent fliers what technology they were carrying on flights: 83 percent had mobile phones, 70 percent had laptops and 46 percent had palm pilots. Perhaps we want our office to travel with us everywhere we go.

From the Financial Times

1. Number the paragraph summaries in the correct order.

a) The things people carry on planes

b) New technology helps passengers work and relax on flights.

c) Why business travellers find it difficult to work on planes

2. Use words from the text to complete the sentences. Paragraph l

a) It isn't easy for ………………..to work on a plane.

b) …………………is when you travel from one place to another.

Paragraph 2

c) New technological …………………..can help people to work when they travel.

d) People can ……………by listening to music or watching videos.

Paragraph 3

e) When you want to discover what customers want, it is a good idea to do

some ………………..

f) People who often travel by plane are called……………………. …………..

Over to you

What things do you always take with you when you travel? Do you prefer to relax or work on the journey?

Unit 4 Travel

Travel agents or the Internet?

Level of difficulty ***

Before you read

Match the title with the definition.

1. Mrs a) an unmarried woman

2. Mr b) a single or married woman

3. Miss c) a married woman

4. Ms d) a single or married man

Reading

Read this article adapted from the Financial Times and answer the questions.