“Train people well enough so they can leave.

Treat them well

enough so they don’t have to.”
Sir Richard Branson, British entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group

1. HR & Recruitment Discussion

1. What it the purpose of a human resources department in a company? What responsibilities and
functions does it have?
2. What can HR help you with? Why might you want to speak to someone in HR?
3. What communication problems have you experienced with HR?
4. Why are some members of staff suspicious of HR?
5. When is it better to hire a contractor instead of recruiting a permanent employee? What are the
pros and cons of hiring contractors?
6. What employment laws does your company have to comply with? Does your country have
strong employment rights?
7. Have you ever interviewed a candidate for a job or promotion? If so, how did it go?
8. Should humans (i.e. people) be referred to as 'resources'?
2. HR & Recruitment Vocabulary
• candidate (noun) – a person who applies for a job or stands for election.
• (staff) turnover (noun) – the rate at which employees leave an organisation.
• (staff) retention (noun) – the ability of a company to keep its staff.
• gross misconduct (noun) – serious or unacceptable behaviour in the workplace that justifies
dismissal.
• to discipline (verb), disciplinary (adjective) – to give a punishment or warning in order to improve
behaviour.
• to be made redundant/to be laid off (verb), redundancy/layoff (noun) – when members of staff
are let go because they are not needed or because the company can no longer afford them.

Using the vocabulary words above, complete the following sentences (remember to use the
correct form of the word, e.g. verb conjugation or plural noun)
1. should always arrive early to the interview.
2. Jordan was sacked for after he was caught stealing company funds.
3. Keeping an eye on what competitors are paying their staff and adjusting wages accordingly can
help with the of staff.
4. Martin was subjected to a procedure after complaints were raised over his
conduct with other members of staff.
5. The technology sector has historically experienced a high due to the high
demand for workers and lucrative employment packages on offer elsewhere.
6. When the price of oil collapsed, PetroOil was forced to make as it could not
afford to maintain current staffing levels.

HR & Recruitment vocabulary comprehension questions

1. How can HR ensure the best candidate for a job is hired?
2. How is the staff turnover at your company? What are the different reasons why a company
might experience a high turnover?
3. What does your company do to improve staff retention? How can companies improve staff
retention?
4. What kind of things would be considered gross misconduct in your company?
5. Why might someone be subjected to a disciplinary procedure?
6. What are the different reasons a company might have to make redundancies? Have you ever
worked in a company that had to make redundancies? If so, what was the reason?
3. Video: Expect the Unexpected in an Interview
You are going to watch a TEDx Talk by Itziar de Ros called “Expect the Unexpected in an Interview.”

Watch the video here: https://yourenglishpal.com/blog/business-english-conversation-lesson-plan-

human-resources-recruitment/

Watch the video and after, discuss the following questions:

1. How would/should you prepare to interview someone?
2. What are the most important things that an interviewer needs to find out from a candidate?
3. What should you never ask a candidate in an interview?
4. How could you make an interviewee feel comfortable enough to really open up in an interview?
5. What questions could you ask an interviewee to find out their stories?
6. Have you ever had a great conversation in an interview, either as an interviewer or interviewee?

4. HR & Recruitment Conversation Questions

1. Is it more important for HR to find the candidate with the best skills for the job, or the candidate
most likely to fit in with the team?
2. The current trend in recruitment is to favour soft skills (such as empathy, creativity, and
emotional intelligence) over hard skills (such as qualifications, language, and technical skills).
Which skill type do you think is more important when recruiting the ideal candidate?
3. What kind of unconscious biases might exist in recruitment processes that unwittingly
discriminate against certain groups of people?
4. Should interviews be conducted 'blind' (where the interviewer cannot see the interviewee) to
avoid biases in the recruitment process?
5. Is it easy or difficult to fire people in your country? Do you think it should be easier or more
difficult for a company to dismiss someone?
6. How is recruitment different for a small business compared to a large business? What extra
challenges would a small business have to face?
7. Automation is expected to affect around half of all jobs to some extent. How will this affect the
job market in the future?
8. Should HR be transparent about the salaries it pays, so all employees know how much everyone
earns? Why or why not?

5. HR & Recruitment Writing Task

Your CEO has become concerned because of the company’s high staff turnover and has asked you, as
HR manager, to investigate the issue. Write the executive summary of a report, explaining why turnover
is so high and what recommendations you can think of to improve staff retention.