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Checking out job advertisements is popular
with executives
worldwide. But though the activity is universal,
is the
same true of the advertisements? Are executive positions in different
countries advertised in the same way? A comparison of the jobs pages of
The Times of London, Le Monde of Paris and Germany's
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung suggests not.
First, what UK
job seekers consider an
essential piece of information -what the post pays- is absent from French
and German
adverts. It is often left to applicants to raise this
themselves. In contrast, most British advertisements mention not only
salary, but also other material incentives including a car and
fringe
benefits. French or German advertisements
rarely refer to these.
The attention given to
rewards in the UK
indicates the importance of the job and its responsibility. In Germany and
France, that information is given by the level of experience and
qualifications demanded. Salary can be
assumed to correspond with this.
If French and German adverts are
vague about
material rewards, they are precise about qualifications. They usually
demand "a degree in ...", not simply "a degree". In Germany, for example,
a technical director for a machine tool company will be expected to have a
Dipl.-Ing degree in Mechanical Engineering.
French advertisements
go further. They may
specify not just the type of grande école degree, but sometimes a
particular set of institutions (Formation supérieure X, Centrale,
Mines, HEC, ESSEC), these being the most famous
grandes écoles.
All this contrasts with the vague call for
"graduates" (or "graduate preferred") which is found in the UK. British
companies often give the impression that they have a particular type of
applicant
in mind, but are not sure about the supply and will consider
others. Their wording suggests hope and uncertainty, as in this
advertisement from The Times: "Whilst educational standards are
obviously important, a large measure of personal enthusiasm
is likely to
secure the success of your application."
In the UK, qualifications beyond degree
level make employers nervous, but in France or Germany it is difficult to
be "overqualified". Many people on German executive boards have doctorates
and the French
regard five or six years of intensive post-bacealauréat
study at a grand école as ideal training. British managers are not
selected primarily for their intelligence, as managers are in France or
for their expert knowledge, as in Germany. Instead the British give
importance to social, political an leadership skills.
This difference also shows in the personal
qualities mentioned. British advertisements stress energy, ability to
communicate and motivate. German advertisements like
achievement, but it
tends to be less personality-driven. German companies want candidates with
sound knowledge, experience and competence in their field. They rarely
recruit novices as do British employers. French advertisements refer more
to intellectual qualities like analytical aptitude and independence.
Even the tone of the job advertisements is
different in the three countries. By French and German standards, British
advertisements are very
audacious: They attract young executives with
challenges such as: "Are you reaching your potential?", whereas French and
German advertisements are boringly direct,
aiming to give information
about the job rather than to sell it.
All this points to three
different conceptions of management. The French regard it as
intellectually complex, the Germans as technically complex, and the
British as interpersonally complex. But they agree on one thing: it's
complex. |
