PLACEMENT SERVICE NEWS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3827, 30 October 1936, Page 7

PLACEMENT SERVICE NEWS

ITEMS OF INTEREST. A HINT TO EMPLOYERS. (Special to the Courier.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. There appears to be a tendency on the part oi some farmers and other employers residing in districts where there is no State Placement Service office to apply to the nearest place ment officer when they need employees on the farms or in their business. Their wants in this respect will in most instances be more promptly dealt with ii they get in touch with the local certifying officer and advise him of their labour requirements. If that officer cannot supply the men, he will immediately notify the nearest placement officer of the nature of the vacant positions, and every effort, will then bo made to meet the employers’ needs. By taking this action an employer will not only have a choice ol the available local men but. will avoid any unnecessary delay. FARM HaND “STAGGERED”! A cowman-gardener who is expert in both branches ot his calling is a valued adjunct to the staff on a farm. The combination of duties is almost akin to the marriage ot “pro” and “con,” so widely divergent are they, and therefore when one individual can successfully discharge them both he is entitled to the homage due to a master craftsman. It is rare for a specialist of this kind to be out of employment, but when a lady farmer advised a placement officer that she desired to engage such a worker the only man on the placement roll claiming these occupations was sent to the farm. His experience of the accom modation provided in such a case led him to suppose that it would be “a structure of the kind used for storing gardening tools," and when he was shown his quarters he was, in the’ words of his employer, “staggered." For instead of what he expected he was given the free use of a small new cottage equipped with electric light, hot and cold water and a bathroom. Small wonder that he is putting all his talents into his dual roles. A BUSY DAY. The Invercargill placement officer was kept on the move during one day last week. The first demand made upon him came from a farmer at Arrowtown, 124 miles distant, and a teamster was despatched to meet the call. Then came a 60 mile ring from Five Rivers where a farmer required the services ot a married couple, and these were quickly on their way. An •enquiry from r. lady living 16 miles out of the city was whether the offi cer could find an unemployed man who was willing to saw up and cart away 20 pinus insignus trees that had been felled on her property. One of the enrolled men had a circular saw and a decrepit lorry, and he accepted the windfall, which he estimates will net him about 60 cords of, firewood. Various tradesmen were asked for and supplied during. the day, and shortly after reaching his home at 7 o’clock the officer received an urgent call for four carpenters to proceed to Bluff. These were interviewed that evening and proceeded tithe port by the first train in the morning. This activity is being duplicated every day in the 22 placement centres, and from this fact it is apparent that the service is meeting in a practical way the needs of both employers and workers. A FIRM’S THANKS. The manager of a city branch of one of the largest stock and station firms in the Dominion has a very high opinion of the State Placement Service, and he has placed his views on record in the following letter to a southern placement officer: “We have to thank you for the assistance you have given us this season in obtaining labour for clients' requirements. In no instance have you failed us, and we must compliment you on the choice of men you have supplied for the different jobs.” The judicious selection of men is one of the chief planks in the organisation of the Placement Service. PROMPT SERVICE. A striking example of the effective co-ordination that is a feature of the State Placement Service was reported last week in the Dannevirke evening newspaper. A local business man applied at the employment bureau at 10 a.m. for a tradesman, but as there were no men with the necessary quallocations on the occupational roll, the request was relayed to the placement officers at Hastings and Palmerston North. A man with the right credentials was enrolled at the latter centre, and at 2 p.m. that day he had reached Dannevirke and was appointed to the permanent staff of a flourishing business. A further instance is quoted by an Auckland employer, who challenged the local placement officer to obtain for him the services of a man to fill an important professional position. No man of the particular type required war. enrolled at any placement office, but a systematic search resulted in the discovery of an unemployed man with the exact qualifications asked for. The employer admitted that his challenge had been successfully accepted, and the man is now in receipt ot a salary in keeping With his ability.