Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-25
DARTMOUTH'S COURSE in HIRING HELP
Profession of Employment Manager Will Help Eliminate Business
Waste and to Keep Workers Out of Blind Alleys.
By HENRY 7. CLAUS

WYE HAVE had the science of methods of
w materials and of machinery, and in all
these things Philadelphia, through its star
of management experts, has been foremost;
now we are to have the science of men. AT
last the employe, the human element, Is 10
come into his own as a factor in industrial
and commercial progress The development
may require months even years, but there
seems to be general agreement that Dart
mouth, in inaugurating a course In employ
ment as a function of management, is decid-
edly on the right track. It's about time to
recognize the fact that the hiring of large
numbers of workers for a plant or store Is
not a simple process to be left in the hands
of an ordinary subordinate. The task Is one
that demands unusual judgment and discre-
tion and calls for a specific training-a train
ing akin to that exacted in any profession
which concerns the welfare of human souls
and bodies.
Dartmouth College, then, in it's school of
administration and finance, will give spe-
cal consideration to all problems relating to
employees The sources of supply proper
methods of securing help, classification ac-
cording to aptitude training, guidance, pro-
motion labor exchange, and the organization
and functions of the employment staff Will
all be treated in detail AS a leading feature
portunity to secure actual experience and
make Investigations along the right lines In
representative commercial and industrial con-
Germs
A Unique Proposition
The proposition from every point of view
is unique There are almost any number Of
business men who feel the need of better
trained employment managers but no college,
heretofore has offered to help them solve
their problems. The plan has the distinct
approval of the Employment Managers AS
sociation of Boston and the course itself has
been outlined by the Boston Vocation
| Bureau. In the opinion of A. Lincoln Filene,
himself a large employer of skilled labor
| there is no question more vital to the busi-
ness man of the present than that which
| involves the securing of the right kind of
| help, the right men and women for the right
| jobs, and providing the basis for right re-
| lations,
| In the average business house today the
| number of different persons employed during
| the course of a year is anywhere from one
| and a half to three times as large as the
| number of places the permanent payroll.
| Plainly there is here economic waste,
! a financial leak. The cause is largely poor
selection of employees in the first place. and
! the remedy, which Dartmouth proposes to
! supply, consists in having employment man
! ayers who on the one hand, are acquainted
with the needs and traditions of their firms
and, on the other. are trained to know where
to seek, how to obtain, develop and distribute
| the employees.
Dealing in Futures
From the fact that big Boston employers
are lending their assistance to Dartmouth in
| this new undertaking. 1t must not be inferred
| a, aff IN loIk fha
human worker. The purely material side OF
| their several businesses has about reached
the limit OF efficient management. With
/ them II IS no longer question of how to get
| the most out of their men, but how to ar
range affairs so that the men themselves
may best grow and receive the full reward
! Of their ability. If the employe is to be con-
! tented and his work satisfactory to himself
and his employer, he must never be in the
| position where he sees ahead OF him a stone
wall a professional deadline beyond which
! he must not and cannot go. Much OF our in
dustrial unhappiness is the result OF wrong
! distribution of employees. In their present
jobs many men and women really up
blind alley Shift them to other depart
ments, give them more congenial work to
do, and they are Immediately transformed
! from sullen, detected help to willing and
energetic employees. To arrange affairs so
that every worker win have future is thus
one Of the duties OF the trained employment
manager.
Here is a situation which every so often
! confronts all department stores. A girl, neat
in her personal habits. normally intelligent
| ana with hrst-class recommendations in re-
spect to honesty and integrity applies for a
job At once 1t is evident that her schooling
has been neglected and that her social at
tainments are conspicuous by their absence
Is she TO be rejected because OF her de-
hcieneies OF is she to be hired IN the hope
that contact with people will smooth the
rough sDots2 Right here Is where the trained
judge 81 help comes into the equation He
neither turns her down nor leaves her g ae-