Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1917 — Fitting the Man to the Job. [ARTICLE]

Fitting the Man to the Job.

The largest industrial plants, in aU parts of the country, are now establishing employment departments. In the old days, the foreman had the privilege of "hiring and firing.” It was a prerogative which he jealously guarded. However, he seldom performed his duty with much skill or ■ intelligence. He was notoriously a person of likes and dislikes; he had no system, Beyond & few crudely asked questions; appraising human nature was pot usually his strongest point. Prejudice entered largely into his choice of underlings; not infrequently he was venal, demanding a bribe as a prerequisite to giving a job, and securing pay increases on condition that he obtained a percentage. But this old-fashioned foreman is rapidly losing his power. In hundreds of our largest establishments he now does no “hiring or firing” at all. The modern employment superintendent has succeeded this functionary. This office, usually having a large staff, passes candidates for all positions through its hands. Foremen, when they need steel, iron, or other material, make out written requisitions; now, in the places having up-to-date employment, departments, they do the same thing for their materials- of brain and muscle. The employment superintendent’s business is to supply precisely the kind of men and women needed to do the particular work. If the person sent does not fill the bill, the foreman can refuse him; the employment department sends another mail, and then sends the rejected person somewhere else, where his services seem mote clearly indicated. The employment department thus performs two functions: first, it studies the requirements of the shop; secondly. It studies minutely the miscellaneous human beings who offer themselves at its doors. Its theory is that every person can do something. It submits all its applicants to physical and mental tests, canvasses their past successes and failures, learns their habits, their aptitudes. By the aid of a competent medical man, it examines their eyes, noses, throats, teeth, heart, lungs and digestive systems. After the employee is once engaged, the department’s work has really only begun. It gets periodical reports; if the man is not doing well, it finds out why; and it makes a point of shifting him around until he finds his appointed place.—Harper’s Magazine. you can’t push ahead by patting yourself on the back.