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APPLICATION

NAME

ADDRESS

DATE

Janice R. Smith

375 nut. Vernon St.

June 5, 1907

POSITION APPLIED FOR.

EDUCATION

18

AGE

Messenger

"Just graduating from high school

RECOMMENDED BY 2 teachers letters encloses.

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positions for which the applicants are qualified. The officer notes upon the envelope the personal apearance of the applicant, and adds further data obtained by correspondence with references given; so that after a personal interview he is usually able to form a pretty definite idea as to whether the candidate is worth placing in the eligible list. If the system is faithfully followed, there will usually be on hand applications from persons about whom the officer in charge has some knowledge, and who will be available when a vacancy occurs.

Of the qualifications required in an applicant who is to be considered favorably, honesty is the fundamental thing. The writer is aware that the remark is trite, but believes that there is as much appropriateness in the remark now as there ever was. The restless and hurry-to-get-rich disposition of the average American of to-day can not be seasoned too much with the good, old-fashioned virtue of absolute integrity; and certainly the premium on that virtue should nowhere be greater than in the trust company. Next to honesty and general good character, education is important. Boys who have not finished the grammar school are continually applying for positions. Girls who have taken courses in stenography before they have learned to spell or to begin a sentence with a capital letter, want to become bank stenographers. Due consideration should be given to cases in which circumstances make it impossible for the applicant to continue at school; but as a rule the welfare of the applicant and of the company alike demand that boys and girls who have not had at least a high school education be discouraged from seeking permanent positions with trust companies. Particularly is this the case in companies whose aim is to develop men for its higher clerical or official positions from the ranks. In common with the business of the banks, the business of the trust company is in a state of evolution. Civilization is growing more complex, and the United States has taken its place among the "first powers" of the world, and the business of the trust company is coming to require more highly trained minds and a broader outlook. Undoubtedly the best material for trust company work, other things being equal, is found in the man with college training, pro vided, of course, he has used his opportunities and not merely "been to college." His mind is better trained, his outlook is broader, he puts more intelligence into his work, and he does not so soon reach the limit of his capacity.

The qualities which go to make up an attractive personality are next in importance-neatness in person and in dress, a cheerful disposition, and a courteous and friendly manner. Ordinary ability and willingness to work are of course assumed. If the position to be filled is advanced, previous technical experience is of course necessary; but in ordinary cases the man with the qualifications just named will pick up the technical knowledge and in a few months be of more value to the company than the experienced man who has not these qualifications.

In the matter of promotions civil service rules should be, and happily in most companies are, in force. "Influence" is coming to have

less and less power in the matter, and should have none. The filling of vacancies in the higher positions by promotion from the ranks when possible is demanded alike by justice to the employee and by the best interests of the company, for no one thing so tends to maintain a loyal spirit among the employees as the knowledge that a "square deal" in this matter is assured. This does not mean that every employee should be "moved up one peg" every time a vacancy occurs in one of the higher clerkships; nor does it demand that length of service should be a prime consideration. It means that the man who has shown his capacity and proved his merit in the service of the company should be given the preference over an outsider if he is competent to fill the position which is vacant. It will of course occasionally happen that no one of the employees is capable of filling the position; then and only then should an outsider be brought in.

Fair and liberal treatment of employees in other matters is dictated not only by the principles of justice but by wise policy as well. Salaries should be reasonably liberal, and in their adjustment the ability required, the responsibility assumed and the length of individual service should be among the matters considered. Vacations should be given to all employees each year as a matter of course. They should be arranged according to a definite plan and not be put off until asked for, and should be announced long enough in advance to enable each one to make his plans. The best-managed companies not only permit but require every employee to take a vacation each year, not only because the vacation will enable the employee to do better work, but because it gives opportunity to judge better the accuracy, faithfulness and integrity shown in his work. The average length of vacation for employees below official rank is about two weeks. In order to care for the work during vacations and during sickness and unavoidable absences for other reasons, one or more general clerks who are able to step in and fill any position should be employed.

In spite of a well-defined prejudice against them on the part of many officials, women have made their way into the ranks of trust company workers and are filling a variety of different positions, and in many cases filling them with exceptional merit. They are most frequently found in the position of stenographer, but there are many women who are capably filling the positions of bookkeeper, teller, clerk, etc.

All employees having any degree of responsibility-and this includes nearly all, if not quite all---should be bonded in reasonable amounts. Except perhaps in the smallest towns, the practice is quite universal to use bonds of surety companies, the premiums for which are paid by the employing company.

Every reasonable opportunity should be given to employees to learn the business in other departments than the one in which their own work lies. Occasional shifting of positions is a help in this direction, and on occasions when the work is especially heavy in any one department,

employees of other departments may be encouraged to help out-no one being permitted, of course, to slight his own work. He is a short-sighted official who is not willing to answer questions and explain puzzling problems to ambitious employees who are striving to become masters of different departments of the work. If an employee is lacking in education, he should be encouraged to utilize such opportunities as are offered by the night schools or the classes conducted under the auspices of Young Men's Christian Associations in the cities. An especially valuable medium for the acquirement of knowledge and of training, the strengthening and broadening of character and the stimulation of ambition is found in the work of The American Institute of Banking, of which local organizations or chapters are now found in most of the large cities, and in many smaller ones. This institute, which was organized by and is conducted under the auspices of The American Bankers' Association, is doing a splendid work among bank and trust company employees, both young and old, and should receive the most cordial support from every wide-awake trust company official.

E

CHAPTER XV.

SUNDRY TOPICS.

FEES.

XCEPT in the few communities in which trust companies are so well established that there is something approaching a standard schedule of fees, the question of the proper charges to make for services rendered by the trust department is often a difficult one. This is due not only to the fact that in most communities there is no set standard for guidance, but also to the fact that a number of matters must be taken into consideration-the amount of clerical work involved, the knowledge and training, or in other words the professional skill, required, the value of the service to the customer, and most important of all, the degree of responsibility, legal and moral, assumed by the company. The charge may be tempered, too, by the probable incidental profits of the work due to new business obtained thereby.

That there exists considerable difference of opinion among trust company officials regarding the matter of fees has been shown by discussions at the conventions of the Trust Company Section of the American Bankers' Association.76 These discussions also demonstrated that it is quite impossible, even if desirable, to devise a uniform scale of charges for given kinds of services which could be made applicable throughout the country or even throughout a state. Local conditions vary so greatly that a schedule of fees suitable for one locality would be too high for a second and too low for a third. Indeed, the actual value of the service and its cost in labor and in responsibility assumed differ so much that even in two cases of the same kind of services rendered by the same company there may justly be different scales of charges. So far as the service is professional in its character, the matter of fees is subject to about the same considerations as the determination of the fee of the lawyer, and is affected by the customs of the community. The country lawyer expects to receive a smaller fee than the lawyer in the large city, and he often gauges its amount in part by the value of the service to the client, and in some cases takes into consideration the latter's financial ability.

The simplest element of the problem is the amount of clerical labor involved. This is not always easy to determine in advance; as, for example, in the work of transfer agent, in which the amount of work will depend, after the original issue, upon the activity of the stock. When possible, it is wise to defer the matter of fee until enough experience has been gained to form a somewhat reliable estimate of the amount of work required. But even when known with exactness, the amount of clerical labor involved should be a matter of minor importance in the determination of the fee.

76 See Proceedings Trust Company Section, in particular 1904.

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