THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB

Finding the right man.

Some companies consider that their management trainee schemes are useful as a bait to catch
able recruits. These schemes do give the graduate who is unused to industry a chance to look
around before committing himself to a particular job. But such schemes have run into difficulty
that graduates of any worth quickly get bored going from department to department without job
to do.
University education, say some business men-especially if they own firms in declining
industries-spoils young men, destroys their simple enthusiasm for, say, the product, and makes
them too sophisticated to be loyal to the firm.
Among the traits mentioned as essential for the young man applying for the first job in an
industrial empire are: drive, decisiveness; determination; push; analytical ability; an inquiring
mind; ability to get on with colleagues- this last is highly prized by business men- the
“dependable, combinable type”, as Andrew Carnegie put it. Above all they want “ good mixers
” ; and, of course, drive. These are alpha and omega of desirable traits for entering management,
if not for going into business. There is wide agreement that academic distinction is less
important than personality.