Job That You Are Familiar

¶ … job that you are familiar with - that you've held in the past, are currently holding, or one that a friend or family holds. Describe the best internal and/or external recruiting methods for this position. Hint: you'll need to consider the strategy of the company (make assumptions about it if you don't know), the nature of the job, and the nature of the labor market, among other things.

One of the most intriguing HR recruiting strategies today is found at many major drug companies, such as Pfizer and Merck. These companies often chose to hire young, attractive female college graduates to sell drugs to physicians, rather than more experienced salespeople or even college graduates with degrees in the sciences. A friend of my mother's had a daughter who entered this position upon graduating from college, and described the process in detail to me. Her comments were later bluntly confirmed by an article I read in the New York Times "There's a saying that you'll never meet an ugly drug rep" (Saul, 2005:1).

According to the article, young, female, attractive women and athletic looking men are preferred for this profession because they sell more drugs. Recruiting takes place at colleges, but specifically targets individuals on athletic teams -- especially cheerleaders. Extroversion, enthusiasm, attractiveness, and people skills are prized over knowledge, although showing leadership in other areas of campus life are also prized. The job, even for students who have only been out of school for a year, provides a company car and salaries up to $50,000, $60,000 with bonuses.

The heavy compensation for these saleswomen and men is due to the fact that federal crackdowns the drug industry's complementary luncheons, vacations, and gifts to doctors have made personal appeal all the more important when selling a particular medication (Saul 2005:1). Drug names and a sales pitch can be taught, but a winning smile and the able to relate effectively to others cannot. Also, as there is more and more overlap between different drugs and patents go out of date, making less expensive generic drugs more readily available, the pitch and the person is equally important as the pharmaceutical components of the drug. A good salesperson is worth her weight in gold.

Question

Technology has changed our lives in many ways and this week's topics are no exception. In what specific ways have job duties been impacted? In other words, how have job descriptions and duties hanged as a result of technology?

One of the most obvious ways that technology has changed the modern workforce is the fact that computers are in evidence upon every desk in an office. Technology has made the old-fashioned typist and secretary a thing of the past. More files are kept as computer files, rather than in bulky file cabinets. It is necessary that every worker be technically fluent on some level in an office, and know how to trouble-shoot simple technical problems, rather than waiting for an expert. Technology has made things faster, but it has also required people to know how to do more, rather than less, as part of their general job descriptions.