Job selection

There is some excellent as well as amusing advice from Ashley Davies (Perspective, 27 August) on job interviews.

Quite rightly, Ashley draws attention to the “terrifying” competition for jobs, especially for many younger people.

However, she has a certain healthy human scepticism about the process of choosing people to be interviewed.

Would the language code be somewhat different if there wasn’t a “reserve army of the unemployed?”

Or now as it’s reported that in some areas there is an acute shortage of skilled engineers?

Perhaps attitudes of recruitment consultants, or head hunters change depending on the state of the market. An intriguing question is: how does one become a recruitment specialist and who selects the selectors?

Seemingly, if self-employment continues to grow apace there will be less work for recruitment agencies.

Moreover, the language code may not be too psychological, offering a zero-hours, minimum wage job. Also, is there any follow-up of those who get the job and how they perform?

Arguably calling people for interview isn’t the only “inexact science”: Selecting for a job may be just an art.

Ellis Thorpe

Old Chapel Walk

Inverurie