Careers Convention

REPORTS ON THE EIGHT SESSIONS

FIRST SESSION SOURCES OF CAREER'S INFORMATION AND ADVICE

In the opening session, there were three talks, two of immediate relevance to any boy in need of advice about possible careers. The third speaker, Mr. R. Coxon, who is York Youth Employment Service Officer, outlined the national character of his concern, and its affiliations with the Ministry of Labour, and gave some idea of the main problems of fitting the right person to the right job; and he has two thousand a year to deal with.

Many are already aware of some of the facilities offered by the Public Schools Appointments Bureau; Miss Joan Hills, B.A., the Administrative Secretary, gave full details of all that it can offer: 1. boys can be put in the way of practical experience from industrial courses, holiday jobs and visits; 2. they provide a steady stream of information from their bulletins, and technological and commercial publications; 3. their six interviewers can give about five thousand advisory interviews a year, and offer their wide experience as a supplement to schools' own careers departments to suggest occupations that will be congenial to a particular boy.

Mr. A. A. Bridgewater, M.A., is the Director of the Careers Research and Advisory Centre, which he helped found only a few years ago. CRAG, as it is known, is already noted for a number of its publications, which give details on a wide variety of careers matters, such as courses offered by businesses and professions, qualifications required by different bodies, or perhaps information to business about what happens in schools. There are also longer-term projects on, for example, quantitative prediction of the shortage of the mathematically-or scientifically-qualified.

SECOND SESSION OPPORTUNITIES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Few people realised, said Mr. T. C. Benfield, Town Clerk of York, how vast was the range of services the local authority had to provide. It was responsible for such things as public health, housing, roads and bridges, social services and public amenities; and those involved the recruitment of a wide variety of personnel: doctors, dentists, nurses, architects, surveyors, engineers, solicitors, social workers. Training, especially for the higher specialised positions, was the normal training appropriate to the particular profession. However, there was an increasing tendency to provide opportunities for in-service training and to attend specialised courses. This enabled the personnel recruited to acquire a sound training, closely adapted to the special requirements of local government and to earn reasonable renumeration at a relatively early age. Possibilities of movement between one authority were good, and it was clear from the Town Clerk's lucid survey that local government was a wider field than most school leavers suspect and was well worth exploring.

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MR. C. E. QUEKETT, Recruitment Officer, Guest, Keen and Nettlefields Ltd.

In his introduction Mr. Quekett defined the twofold aim of the interviewer: to ascertain whether the candidate suited the job and whether the job suited the candidate. Three problems were immediately apparent: the candidate usually knew little about the firm or indeed about industry, though this was a problem largely overcome if he had attended any Short Works Course; secondly the interviewer's knowledge of the candidate was provided only by the application form and testimonials; and thirdly, the interview was conducted during the short period of thirty minutes in an atmosphere foreign to the candidate, which made a relationship of understanding difficult to establish.

Mr. Quekett then outlined in five points what he intended to learn about a boy and how he assessed what he learnt. (i) Educational achievements—Considered carefully, these gave a clear indication whether the boy had reached the educational standard required for succeeding in the job. (ii) His personality—To what degree was he gregarious, acceptable in a community, adaptable to industrial discipline and environment? (iii) His "motivation"—What effort did he actually make in his activities? What initiative had he actually shown as a monitor, as a member of a school society? Was his interest in cars only superficial and could he discuss the books he claimed to have read? Did he himself initiate his foreign travel or was he merely joining his parents, who lived abroad? Had the boy a background which encouraged his work and interests or was the boy striving under a hardship?. (iv) Knowledge of possibilities—Was he alive to the possibilities which the job presented? (v) Health—Did his health record at school suggest he could support the physical and mental fatigue the job demanded?

Throughout his talk Mr. Quekett emphasised that honesty on the part of interviewer and candidate alike was essential if the appointment was to prove a success, and that an unsuccessful appointment was bad for both boy and firm.. No good interviewer would use tricks, gimmicks or traps; his task was to find facts in order to make an assessment. A boy ought to be punctual, of clean appearance, must not take offence if a question may seem too personal, and above all must talk freely. The basis of a successful interview was one of mutual trust.

THE UNIVERSITY'S POINT OF VIEW

MR. A. H. ILIFFE, B.A., Senior Tutor, The University of Keele.

Mr. Iliffe opened by suggesting that if the Tutor in charge of Admissions had perhaps a harder task than the interviewer in Industry in that he had to select candidates, not for a particular post, but for an intensive three-year course culminating in a difficult examination, he was most certainly worse at it. The professor, bent on the pursuit of scholarship, on teaching and edifying his pupil by taking him one more step up the vast mountain of knowledge, was all too inclined to treat an interview as

one more tutorial, and having expounded his original views on the breeding of Hannibal's elephants before his sympathetic candidate, who had in fact bathed in Lake Trasimene, would in the warm glow of satisfaction welcome him to the college to read Law, little aware that his candidate had not uttered a word except out of courtesy to proffer information on his holiday bathing. While admitting his exaggeration, Mr. Iliffe asserted that the Admissions Tutor, considering himself a professor rather than an interviewer, often lacks some of the efficiency one comes to expect in interviews in industry.

Mr. Iliffe said that as a university interviewer he had three targets in mind. He had to assess the candidate's (i) "Motivation"—Did the boy really want this intensive three-year course, studying, writing essays, existing on little pocket money, or did he want a gay "varsity life" with parties and glamour, or to go to university merely because it was "the thing to do"? (ii) Knowledge and ability—Could he express himself clearly, present a convincing argument, show flexibility in admitting the possible validity of an opposing view? in short, was he flexible as well as independent, revealing both quickness and toughness of thought? (iii) Personality—Did the boy show the stability and resilience required for three years' study, or would the going be too hard?

In conclusion, Mr. Iliffe stressed that if a boy could not answer a question, the interviewer wanted to know why. Had the boy not been taught, had be forgotten, was he confused disagreeing with what had been taught, or perhaps he just did not care? In short, the candidate must talk without being talkative, and "always remember the interviewer does not know what to say."

FOURTH SESSION

WHY TRAIN FOR FARMING?

MR. JOHN DALLEY, B.Sc., Farm Director of Headley Hall Farm, The University of Leeds

Mr. Dailey said that Farming is to-day a highly technical and scientific industry and stressed the need for training as much for the farmer's son as for anyone else entering the profession. Farming is often thought of as a way of life and therefore it is often felt that those engaged in it can learn by living with it. However, the farmer today has to know how to present his point of view and has to be able to deal with many well trained experts. He should himself become professional and should know something of science, economics and accountancy. He should be able to take his business to pieces and to stream-line it to meet modern demands. He should be able to assess new fashions in agriculture and to do this he needs a trained mind and up-to-date information. The development of big units in farming makes it more imperative that the young man entering the profession should have the training which will enable him to compete. Finally, Mr. Dailey made the point that it is a good thing for everyone to be educated to the limit, to find an education to suit the person and not merely the job.

COMMUNITY SERVICES :

For the Police Force, MR. C. T. G. CARTER, Chief Constable of York; for the Fire Service, MR. G. DAWES, Chief Fire Officer of York; and for the Probation Office, MR. C. TEALE.

Integrity, reliability, humour and common sense would be needed by the prospective candidate for the Police. It was not all "beat" to start with and the Force had its own training schemes. Technical advances were eliminating much of the loneliness of the beat. Starting from £700 (£800 if over 22) pay went up to £1,820 as a superintendent, through the ranks of sergeant (£1,170) and inspector (£1,375). At the top salary was linked with the size of the force.

The prospective fireman would expect to be one of a team. Only 60% of the Service's work dealt with fires; life and property had to be safeguarded, and an endless variety of situations met with. Whatever his eventual position, one had to be first and foremost an efficient and operational fireman. A cadet training scheme was run (normal joining age was between 18 and 31) and there were standard national promotion exams. Junior officers were selected from college at Dorking. Work in a 48 hour week was in shifts and one must expect restrictions on private life. Fire prevention was a young science and a real challenge. Pay was in line with the Police Force.

To the Probation Officer's task fell the duties of serving the courts, enforcing their decisions and providing opportunities for rehabilitation. It was much involved with prison reform. Above all it was a job dealing with people and, since these were in many cases muddled and pathetic people, it called for a balanced personality. 22 universities ran courses related (e.g. Social Studies), which would be followed by a more specialised training. Maximum starting salary was £820 and one did not expect to go above £1,500.

SIXTH SESSION

"WHERE GRADUATES GO"

Mr. B. J. Holloway, M.A., B.Sc., Secretary, Manchester University Appointments Board, spoke on the opportunities for graduates. This was a lively lecture intended to dispel the conviction that any degree is a qualification for most careers. The speaker sub-divided degrees according to the studies undertaken into "useful" (medicine, engineering perhaps), "semi-useful" (legal, scientific) and the "useless" (the arts degree). These last he maintained were qualifications to compete for training in a profession or occupation and although he agreed that they were highly regarded by many professional and commercial bodies, he insists that they must be regarded as valuable in themselves, rather than as necessary or practical parts of training for a career. Several speakers from the floor heatedly defended the values of degree courses in the humanities for the training they afforded in a great understanding and the speaker as warmly defended the analytical and practical values of technical training. Whilst the occasion was entertaining to those professionally engaged rather than enlightening to parents considering the choice of their son's career, it stimulated some vigorous discussion after the meeting, in which individual parents were soon involved.

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SEVENTH SESSION BUSINESS STUDIES

The Seventh Session was devoted to a lecture by Mr. Philip Lowe of St. John's College, Oxford. His lecture, "Business Studies", was a development of the thesis with which he was successful in winning a Trevelyan Scholarship.

The Business Studies of which Mr. Lowe spoke are carried out in Technical Colleges and are distinct from professional, sandwich and degree courses. Fifty-four Technical Colleges at present run these courses, which last two years (full-time) and lead to the National Higher Diploma. The courses are not uniform in all Colleges, and there is no organisation of centralised information. The courses are not technical or professional, and such qualifications are firmly excluded. What they do provide is a course of study normally including Economics, Accountancy, Commercial and Industrial Law, Transport, Human and Industrial Relations, and Market Research, with, as subsidiaries, perhaps languages, shorthand, typing and some liberal studies such as politics and psychology. Entry requirements also vary, but an "A" pass in Mathematics or Economics is often required, and all need proof of a candidate's mastery of English.

In addition, six Colleges provide courses of similar content, but lasting four or even five years, for a qualification of degree equivalent under the scheme set up by the Council for National Academic Awards. For these two "A" levels, including Mathematics, are needed.

Business studies of these two types have certain advantages over the other courses. Some employers, for example, are wary of graduates, alleging that it takes years to overcome the more academic, leisurely influence of University environment. Again, these courses provide a wider education than that of professional or sandwich courses, and, besides thus providing a broader base, give time for a wider acquaintance with the business world before a decision has to be made upon which branch to enter.

Mr. Lowe said that while some employers remained antagonistic to Business Studies, most were impressed by the idea of trained, educated men for managerial posts—after proper experience, of course—rather than of reflection by the process of "floating up" with attendance at evening classes as the sole contact. Men are required who can adapt themselves to requirements which may in the future be very different, and Business Studies should encourage the flexibility of outlook and method which these changes will require. Of course, the personal qualities of integrity, enthusiasm and drive are essential additions if top managerial posts are to be reached.

FINAL SESSION EDUCATION FOR WHAT?

MR. P. M. THOMAS, D.S.O., T.D., M.A.,

Managing Director, William Beardmore and Co. Ltd., Glasgow.

Mr. Thomas began by saying that it was his task in addressing us to rove over a wide field rather than give an amusing talk on one career. For a thinking man, his job helps him fulfil the purpose for which he is here, and democracy works because men feel responsibility to the community in work and other ways. Yet a boy must choose his job when he is little

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