TESTING BOYS FOR JOBS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21512, 29 June 1935, Page 16

TESTING BOYS FOR JOBS

SCHOLASTIC AND OTHER QUALIFICATIONS TENDENCIES OF EMPLOYERS IN NEW ZEALAND Whether New Zealand employers, in considering the claims of boys who applied to them for positions, placed too much stress on scholastic attainment, was discussed yesterday by Mr L. F. de Berry, headmaster of the West Christchurch District High School, and Mr S. G. Holland, past president of the Employers' Association. Their remarks were made in comment on a statement by Lord Eustase Percy, M.P., a former Minister for Education in England, that: "Tiie chief enemy to-day of freedom in education, ana therciore of freedom in society, is tne employer wnu judges a ooy at JO accorunig 10 winj..ner ne nas got maincuiation stanuard m tne seuool ceruncaie examination ramcr luan uy nis cnaracLer and general .intelligence." Mr cie x>erry said ne uiougnt that the average employer in iNew Zealand seemed to place a good deal of importance on the acauemie qualifications of applicants lor positions, xnc lirst quc\»uon, according to the type of position oilermg, was wnether a boy had passed tne proficiency examination or the matriculation examination. Character and general intelligence likely ty make a boy suitable for the job in view came next, though Mr de Berry believed that all employers gave these factors very definite consideration. The general tendency, however, was to rely on the academic qualifications as a test of suitability.

Desire for Standard The reason for this tendency appeared to be that employers felt the need of an established standard by which a boy s suitability for a position could be measured. Apart Irom certain general factors, most employers seemed not to know how to losi a boy to find out his suitability for the work to be done. Really they lacked adequate knowledge of what qualities they were looking for, and so were naturally unable to devise their own tests. Consequently they fell back on the accepted standards—-proficiency or matriculation —even though these might not [jive all the information wanted. Mr de Berry referred to the work at nrcscnt being done in England to find out what qualities—physical, mental, and psychological—were wanted for different types of employment. From the knowledge gained in this research activity it was becoming possible to devise tests to determine fairly closely whether applicants were suitable for any given job. Some employers in Christchurch in recent years had shown that thc-y appreciated the value of this type of work, and had sent applicants for jobs to the psychological laboratory at Canterbury College so that it might be shown by lest whether the v possessed' certain aptitudes. There was a growing tendency to a wider outlook among the more enlightened employers, said Mr de in conclusion. They did not look, on academic attainment as a rirrid test of a candidate's suitability, and relied more on character and general intelligence.

Employers' Point of View "I do not think it can be said that in Mow Zealand employers place more importance on mauucuiatiou or other scholastic qualifications than on character and general intelligence when boys apply to them for positions," said Mr Holland. "Hie first thins an employer wants to know is what is the boy's general character. Then he has to satisfy himself of the boy's potential adaptability to the work he will have to do. If he is satisfied on those points then the scholastic qualifications of the various candidates have to be weighed. "That seems to me to be the general procedure. Of course, there are some positions, as in the professions, for which a certain minimum of scholastic attainment must lie possessed by a candidate before he can be considered. Even there, however, the determining factor ro any appointment, is not academic, but is based on character, general intelligence, and suitability for the work to be done." "If the average employer in England is of the type described by Lord Eustace Percy then England has something to learn from New Zealand in this matter," Mr Holland added.