RIGHT MEN, RIGHT JOBS.

Evening Star, Issue 25673, 22 December 1945, Page 4

RIGHT MEN, RIGHT JOBS.

Demobilisation in Britain is proceeding apace, and more and more of the men being released will, under the relaxation in man-power controls lately Announced by the Minister of Labour, Mr G. Isaacs, be able to choose their own jobs. Thousands of men leaving the Army will be much better equipped for industrial occupations than they were before the war, thanks to scientific methods adopted by the Army to see that their qualifications were used to tbe best advantage. The swift absorption of five and a-halif million persons into the armed forces presented a mass problem of tremendous proportions, and one whose solution was urgent. The Army, of course, absorbed the greater part of those five and a-half million, and its need for machinery to ensure the best utilisation of man power was the greatest. All difficulties were surmounted by aid of a highly-developed technique which it is expected will prove equally decisive in the transition from war to peace. In the British Army there are more than two hundred trades, and hundreds of other jobs, more or less specialised. For maximum efficiency the qualities needed (for any of these jobs had to he scientifically correlated with the qualities of available man power. After a period of experiment and investigation, including the analysing of five hundred jobs, in July, 1942. a Genera] Service Corps was established. Herein all men after recruitment served six weeks.

They were first given the elementary training common to all arms, and then they were passed through a selection procedure which included tests to assess a man's intelligence and particular aptitudes. Eventually a special .officer, taking into consideration all mental, psychological, and physical aspects, determined two or three jobs for which a man was best fitted for training. Then, according to fluctuations of demand, the War Office decided to which of these'jobs he should be finally allocated, and he was accordingly posted to the specific arm where he could be trained for that job. It has been claimed that this system of dealing with recruits reduced man-power wastage due to misfits to no more than about 5 per cent, of the total intake. In addition to training for specialised purposes potential leaders were sorted from the recruits and given further training at an Officer Cadet Training Unit. Thanks to this procedure' thousands qualified to resume, and in some cases, because of low age levels when recruited, to begin a post-war life. The Army experiment has been followed with interest bv British industry, and it is believed that it will be applicable in the post-war period when new problems will arise and new qualities be demanded. It is held that any efficient form of machinery for selecting men and women with these qualities will be of deepest value to industry, and with the prospect of full employment for years to come the reduction of wastage to the lowest possible minimum is essential. One British concern has already intimated that it plans to provide some five thousand men returning from the services with up to a year's traininsr. From this number about one-fifth will be selected for special training in industrial " officers' training corps " to fit them for administrative and executive jobs. The application to industry of the technique of selection and training pursued by the Army during the war will be closely watched. It is believed that the technique can be very suitably adapted to industrial and that it will play a great part in fitting Britain's industry for the tasks of postwar reconstruction.