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Abilities Overview |
Career
Clubs International Reprint: Work Abilities
Chapter 6
"Composing A Man Power Specification"
Intro | Prelim | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
9 | 10 | 11 |
Comment
Note: This is recommended reading.
This chapter lays out the core concepts of developing the Work Ability
Statements. |
p. 51 |
CHAPTER VI
COMPOSING A MAN POWER SPECIFICATION
IN OUR hurry to get things done we are prone to skip over the
preliminary steps of preparation, in order to get what we are pleased to call
"action." This description of how to go about making up your Man Power
Specification is intended to enable you to do so without having read all that has gone
before. You can get "action" of a sort just as quickly as you want it.
On the other hand, as a result of careful study of the several hundred
cases that have profitably used the Rahn Plan, a word of advice may not be out of place.
It has been found that unless one's mind has been conditioned by an extended steeping in
the principles and reasons for the success of this method of defining oneself, old habits
of thought and action prevail and the result is only to a small degree satisfactory. The
description of one's entire personality in work language is a new approach to the problem
of finding satis- ... |
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p. 52 |
| fying work. It presupposes a desire on the part of the
reader to better himself, not only financially, but mentally and socially as well. If you
can inspire yourself, you can enthuse others. The results to be obtained
from this chapter depend on you and what you know about what you are doing. It is yours to
choose between "ac tion" and action guided by knowledge and logical thought. It
has been found that the older we are, the more experience we have had, and the more we
know, the harder it is to get our minds straightened out so that we can attack this task
with a changed and correct point of view. For the high school graduate it is easy.
INSTRUCTIONS
See Skeleton Specifications On Page 57
GENERAL
For the sake of clarity and convenience of reference the major paragraphs
of this explanation of how to draw up a Man Power Specification have been numbered to
correspond with the numbered sections of the skeleton Specification on Page 57. These
numbers serve another and more important purpose. On the first page of each of the sample
Specifications at the back of this book there appears under each paragraph a series of
reference numbers. These relate the statement of ... |
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p. 53 |
| capabilities in each paragraph to the sustaining evidence
in the account of "What I Have Done." In making up your own Specification,
number only those paragraphs to which you will want to refer. For instance, Name, etc.,
seldom need reference numbers. Number only those paragraphs which will give evidence
sustaining the truth of your statements of "Functions I Can Perform."
Make every part of your narrative of "What I Have Done" complete but not
wordy. See that the information is accurate, sufficiently detailed to tell the whole story
- and, above all, expressed in work language.
1:-SPECIFIC SCHOOLING
2:-EDUCATION
The most important influence on the character and ability of a man just
out of high school or college should have been his education. His going through the
prescribed courses is of minor importance compared to how the courses went through him.
His tools for work he acquired there, and those tools he must describe so that others can
appreciate his powers. Specialization or interest in any particular subjects should be
emphasized to show the trend of his mind and inclinations.
In the case of a man who has had some business experience, the educational
record is of less importance, of more general interest, and need not be so detailed except
as some special activity may have affected his business or professional life. The record
should, however, be complete.
3:-EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
The same comments and suggestions as found under EDUCATION apply here.
4:-SPORTS
Use the same criteria under this heading.
5:-EMPLOYMENT
Anyone who has wholly or partially paid for his education or amusements by
profitable work during school years ... |
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| has gained a most valuable experience and training. Even
though the work to be done in the business world may bear no direct relation to the work
done at school, the details of that work should be fully described. 6:-SOCIETIES AND
FRATERNITIES
A list is ample unless one of them has involved some active participation
in a definite interest or activity. The holding of office indicates executive ability and
popularity and should be stated.
7:-HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
The importance and bearing of this item must be judged by the writer. It
may be incidental or of vital importance as has been shown. It warrants serious
consideration.
8:-TRAVEL
Use judgment on this as on Paragraph 6.
9:-MILITARY RECORD
Here again, what you did in military circles may show abilities that you
have not used in business.
10:-SUMMARIZED ACQUISITIONS
This is a hard paragraph to write. It should act as a connecting link
between our preparations for an active business life and our experience in that life. It
should point out the connection between our studies and early life and the powers we have
used and are now offering. Two sample paragraphs are included in the skeleton
Specification as a guide and help.
11:-LITERARY WORK
Important where there has been any.
12:-CULTURAL ACQUISITIONS
As above. These may come from association with others in organizations,
social work, or study continued after the com pletion of formal education.
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
This series of paragraphs should be composed of separate descriptions of each function
performed in each position held. |
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| If several years were spent with one company doing
different things, put the years covered and the name of the company as a heading and then
start numbering the paragraphs that describe work done. In each description
be brief and exact. Give the information you think others would be interested in reading,
not what you think about your work.
Make it a functional history; express it in work language that anyone can
understand.
Continue the series of numbers for the paragraphs that you have started
above.
XY:-BUSINESS REFERENCES
The XY represents the next number in the paragraph sequence. One number
covers all the references. Give complete name, official position, company and address.
Offer as many as you think advisable.
XZ:-PERSONAL REFERENCES
The same comments apply here as to the Business References.
NOTE
Not everyone will need all the headings covered above. Some may think of others that
should be added. You are not filling out a form; you are using all the brains you possess
to present yourself truthfully and interestingly. Each Man Power Specification, properly
made out, will be the expression of its author. Use or add whatever is useful, whatever
helps to tell your story.
. . . . |
This description of "What I Have Done," the
functional history of your past expressed in work ... |
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| language, must be completed before a start is made on
writing "What I Can Do." In few cases can it be written offhand in a
satisfactory final form. Memory plays queer tricks and after every- thing seems to have
been covered, some little word may start a train of thought that will bring to mind an
important experience out of what had seemed oblivion. Re-write this functional history as
often as needful to give a complete finished picture of your entire life. |
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NOTE:
Do NOT use
the "Born Date, Place, Parentage (Original Nationality)" "Height"
"Weight"
"Health" "Dependents" or "Religion" terms.
Federal and State Employment Laws
written since this book was written would make it unlawful in some circumstances for
employers to inquire about such things, and they should not be listed. |
p. 57 |
NAME
ADDRESS TELEPHONE
BORN DATE
PLACE
PARENTAGE
(Original Nationality) |
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HEIGHT
WEIGHT
HEALTH (Be Truthful)
DEPENDENTS
RELIGION1. SCHOOLING
(Names and Dates and Degrees)
2. EDUCATION
(This covers the results of those activities which have helped you to develop yourself
as distinguished from formal schooling.)
3. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
(This will cover all activities not prescribed in school or college, indicating what
was of interest to you during the formative years.)
4. SPORTS
5. EMPLOYMENT
(If all or part of tuition cost was earned.)
6. SOCIETIES AND FRATERNITIES
7. HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
(This will cover all the things done outside of business hours for
relaxation or entertainment that show trend of thought and interests.) |
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8. TRAVEL
9. MILITARY RECORD
10. SUMMARIZED ACQUISITIONS
(Examples:-
| (A) |
By reason of developments and associations beginning with boyhood and
continuing through college and busi ness experiences, and by contacts with ideas and
people, rather than confinement to specialized jobs, I am able to deal with and in people.
I have developed an appreciation of attitudes, local environments, and traditions of the
business mind, and for that reason my judgment in different lines of endeavor becomes an
asset, given an opportunity to apply it to fields in which I become associated. |
| (B) |
By reason of the nature of my business experience and of its
responsibilities, and the interrelation of that busi- ness to other business and
commercial problems of both land and sea, have from necessity and circumstances kept in
constant touch with subjects involved in general business methods and procedures. This
involved law, finance, markets, maritime practice, foreign currency, as well as the
relation between geography, commodities and seaports.) |
11. LITERARY WORK
12. CULTURAL ACQUISITIONS
13. BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
14.
15. ETC.
XY. BUSINESS REFERENCES
XZ. PERSONAL REFERENCES |
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| HOW TO WRITE "WHAT I CAN Do" See
Sample Paragraphs, Page 65 And Sample Folders, Page 110
Attention has been called earlier to the fact that five functions with
their various combinations describe satisfactorily what a man can do. The five paragraphs
will be you, defined, described, limited and extended into as broad a field as you think
the facts already written up will justify. In writing this very important page of your Man
Power Specification you are very definitely on your own. There are principles to be
followed, but no fixed form to be copied. If you have grasped the principles stated in the
earlier chapters, the sample paragraphs on page 65 will help to guide you, but they cannot
be copied with any hope of a satisfactory result.
The only copying that you can do is the heading for this first page. This has been
standardized and condensed so that it says everything necessary in as few words as
possible. This heading reads as follows:- |
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TYPES OF WORK IN WHICH I WOULD BE OF
BEST SERVICE
| NOTE:-The purpose of this
resume of functions is to indicate fields of activities. A position may require one of
these functions or a combination of them. The references indicate specific points of
experience in the attached augmenting records. |
Now read that heading again carefully. Read the note a
couple of times and study its meaning. They establish the medium of understanding between
you and those to whom you present your Man Power Specification. It is your guide in
writing the "Functions I Can Perform"; it tells the reader how he should view
this presentation of abilities; it states your position as a power for service, available
for application to whatever need it might meet.
From here on you are on your own. You, and you only, can write the answer
to that question "What Can I Do?" No one else knows, nor can you explain your
abilities to anyone else so that they can write up the "you" that should be
expressed either as a Product For Sale or as a Service Available.
On page 65 are shown sample paragraphs from Specifications that have put
people to work. They ... |
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| cover different types of abilities and will serve to
illustrate the form as well as the end to which you are working. So that you can see what
not to do, there is given a sample paragraph written in job language and rewritten in work
language. In the complete folders shown on page 110 and follow- ing you can see the
connection between this page of Functions and the pages of Functional History as written
by others. In order to describe yourself to the best advantage you must
bear several principles in mind at all times. The objective is a description of your
abilities, confined and defined, extended and limited. The work you can do must be
confined, not to a description of what you have done, but to an accurate statement of what
you can do. Your mind is so constituted that if you can think of and define a type of
work, you can do that work. You may not like it, you may not think that you can do it very
well, but you can do it. In order to think of it in work language, to be able to describe
it, you must know how to do it. Remember, this does not mean thinking of a job name. You
should therefore confine your statements to work that you ... |
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| can think of and can define in work language. Do that and
you will make no mistake. The fields in which you can do the work you have
described must be limited to those in which you can actually perform to advantage, but at
the same time must be extended to every field in which you can operate. Your mental
processes will again determine what you should include. If you can think of and describe a
field in which you can do a defined type of work, include it. Limit these fields to those
in which you know you can per- form, but be sure to extend them to include every such
field. Describe the fields in work language so far as possible, avoiding too tight a
definition, so that others can read into your words their knowl- edge of their particular
needs.
The answer to the question "What Can I Do?" is, as shown on the
chart facing page 50, "Functions I Can Perform." In writing these remember that
three steps are necessary. These are shown on the chart, but study them here and get them
clear in your mind before you start. Each Function must include this type of presentation
if it is to help you to know yourself and to find work. |
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If you have trouble in working out your functions and fields, refer back
to the chart and study the way a general principle has been thought through to a detailed
method. Once you get your mind working along the lines laid out on the chart, the rest
will be easy.
The numbers after the word "Reference" at the bottom of each
paragraph on the first pages of the Specifications following page 110 refer back to the
numbers of the sections in the "What I Have Done" pages of each man's folder.
They make it easy for anyone interested to check offered abilities against past
preparations and experiences.
Time spent in writing this page will be well spent. Even though we are
often told about it in talks and books, we certainly ought to have sense enough when
approaching a prospective employer to wash our hands, clean our nails, and shine our
shoes. We surely want him to get a pleasant impression of our general appearance. And this
first ... |
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| page is the general appearance of your man power. See to
it that it makes a good and lasting impression. In the upper right hand
corner of the "What I Have Done" section of the skeleton folder there is a space
marked "picture." To make the story com- plete and to add to its usefulness when
sent by mail it is advisable to have a small portrait there. It is not essential, but
everyone likes to know what the person they are reading about looks like, so why not
satisfy them? A good snap shot is satis- factory. It can be pasted or printed on, if you
have a printer who can do that kind of work inex- pensively.
You have now completed your "Man Power Specification." If it is
good it has taken time and perspiration. Now that you have it, let's see what can be done
with it. |
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TYPES OF WORK IN WHICH I WOULD BE OF
BEST SERVICE
| (Typical paragraphs from the first sheets of several folders. The
explanatory notes indicate the type of person who wrote them.) |
From the folder of a man adjudged a Moron.
| Can engage in a work which requires the use and knowledge of Spanish
either written or spoken and where a knowledge of Cuban or Latin life and customs is
essential to trade or in the conduct of the business and its dealings. The duties might
involve that of interpreter, handling correspondence or dealing with Cubans or South
Americans. |
From the folder of a High School graduate with no business experience
after school.
| By reason of inclinations and a liking for such work can serve (after
apprenticeship) in sales, either as part of the sales force or in connection with
assignments to sales efforts, advertising activities and programs. Necessarily it will
take time to develop in such work, but can enter it based on whether my past preparations
lend them- selves as raw material for such development. |
From the folder of a High School graduate with some outside business
experience after graduation.
| As a result of experience, associations, and viewpoints, can serve in the
field of dramatics involving plays and playlets of the modern classifications in the
lighter entertainment field for clubs, societies, churches, radio, or institutional
activities. Can carry on either as a participant or assist in the work of coaching,
organizing, or directing in such performances as a part of the cast or as working with
units requiring such performances. |
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From the folder of a man who became a partner of his
friend.
| By reason of obtained and existing viewpoints and associations, can carry
on in the field of investigation and research for the purpose of obtaining facts,
reactions, and opinions relative to public, business, economic, or political issues. This
to the end of organizing material to provide the basis for action and procedure in sales,
advertising, public relations, and public questions. |
From the folder of an engineer whose hobby was his own elaborate machine
shop and laboratory.
| Able to serve in the work of development engineering as related to
mechanical and electrical equipments and apparatus-preparing product for manufacture and
marketing through the stages of laboratory and investigation, design and construction of
models, test and approval. This work also has its application to processes in manufacture,
methods of procedure, service functions of co-ordinating merchandising or technical sales
complaints, and may involve the fields of engineering, manufacturing, sales, or operating
engineering as a staff function. |
From the folder of a man with three engineering degrees, a law degree
and who is a member of the Bar.
| I can engage in the practice of electrical engineering, either as it
applies directly to the design, manufacture, installation, or maintenance of electrical
equipment or of electrically operated mechanical equipment, or as its fundamentals enter
into or are associated with the legal aspects of patents, litigation, advice, counsel, or
service in connection with those matters in view of related legal and business
involvements. Likewise I can carry the responsibility of such work in the supervision and
administration of an engineering unit, or in the over-all relationships of such functions
as they may enter into the ... |
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| coordination of engineering, law, and business with regard to customers'
service or competitive relationships. |
From the folder of a young woman who had majored in
psychology and done only a few part time jobs after graduation.
| Can engage in the work of industrial relations and personnel fields in
their various aspects of sociological research, operating procedures, and employee
activities (educational, recreational, and social) as well as in the phases of
psychological and trade testing and personal adjustments. Given time for acquaintance with
people and nature of business could develop into carrying a degree of this responsibility.
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From the folder of a woman who was hired back by the organization who
had only recently let her go.
| Can assist in the editorial work of moving picture production, adapting
current events, history, or literary classics for scenario use; likewise pursuing research
in and organization of historical matter for the production of plays where facts and
corroborative material are essential for accuracy and artistry. |
From the folder of a woman whose family lost its money, whose references
included many of the foreign royalty and who did not "think she could do
anything"; she is working today.
| Can serve in the work involving the social secretaryship to a business
person wherein is required the ability to meet people, entertain, supervise or suggest
useful pursuits of visiting time of themselves or family while in ... |
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| the city on business, as well as performing the duties of
office work required of a secretary to an executive office. |
. . . . . .
.
The two following paragraphs show the differences between the "job" approach
and the "work" attitude. Note the indefiniteness of the first, the definiteness
of the second. Both cover the same work.
JOB DESCRIPTION
I can fill the job of a mechanical engineer in designing any tools, jigs, and fixtures
for use in production. Can do the engineering job of plant equipment, counter- shafts,
pulleys, millwrights' work, machine placement. Likewise can engineer power. |
WORK DESCRIPTION
Can serve in mechanical engineering work which pertains to manufacturing functions in
determining the sequence of production operations involving the design of tools for punch
press, milling machine, multiple drill press, planer, shaper, gear cutter and grey iron
foundry practice and production. Likewise can serve as engineer for shop equipment,
machine purchase and maintenance applicable to small interchangeable parts held to close
limits of manufacture. This applies to the fields of telephones, business machines,
novelty manufacture, automobile accessories or any fields wherein my technique and
viewpoints may be useful. |
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