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Human resource 36

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Human resource 36

 

General says:

Score one for good,

Score two for bad.

Count up your score

Twelve means you’re hired

More means goodbye

That’s what general rule says

Hello human resource 36

Welcome to your...

Just  follow drills

You are now a section of track

And there is no I in team

We want rectilinear motion

You’ll be trained

And the train will go one way

So all tracks lead one way

And,

Don’t stop, whatever you do

Don’t stop, whatever you do

Don’t stop, whatever you do

And the train will have momentum

 

Uniform days:

Score one for good

Score one for bad

Count up your score

And ignore the category types

Twelve means it’s lunch

Less means it’s not

Half ten means - maybe - banana

There’s no I in

Dietary fibre

You are now working with Graham

Psychometric testing means:

You are now thinking like Graham

You’ll be trains

Build up a good head of steam

Just practise your drills

And

Just do - whatever you do

Just do - whatever you do

Just do - whatever you do

Minds out, arms stretched

ra ra ra

 

Leadership skills:

Score one for good

Score none for bad

Twelve means you have

Less means you don’t

Don’t means goodbye

Here’s what leadership skills says:

Hello, human resource 36

Welcome to your...

Just follow drills

You are now a section of track

And there is no I in team

We want rectilinear motion

You’ll be trained

And the train will go one way

So all tracks lead one way

And,

Don’t think, whatever you do

Don’t think, whatever you do

Don’t think

Have yourselves a jolly little Christmas poem ►

Comments

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Chris Dawson

Sun 7th Dec 2008 13:55

Haven't read the foreword you mention, though in general - I rather like Huxley. I'm not in a profession that uses psychometric testing at all - it has a much crueller selection process! - but I do know many people that either use it or have been subjected to such testing; the general opinion from both sides seems to be that, as a selection by suitability tool, it is as useful as throwing all the C.V.s in the air and picking up the one that lands nearest to you.
Anyway, my comment was on the effect your piece had on me, and the questions mere musings from such effect.
Cx

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DG

Sun 7th Dec 2008 13:07

Haven't been affected by either, although I enjoyed both (particularly Huxley's foreword that I read after reading the book about how he had been asked to do a revised edition, and when he re-read it for that prupose, he found it quite embarassingly rubbish and naive in places, but felt that overall, it was as good as it would ever get regardless and left it as it was - anyone whose ever read it will probably agree), and I'm very happy in my job. This poem is in line with an overarching idea that runs through most of my poems and prose that people should use their brains a lot more and rules/traditions/old wives' tales/principles/deontologies etc. a hell of a lot less. The above is meant to imply that large companies very often interview people to the same criteria regardless of how unsuitable those personality traits may make them to their eventual role. They look for leadership, ambitious, team playing, confident rather than competent sporty individuals, even if they need an introspective maverick to sit in a backroom somewhere doing clever things and only occassionally reporting back to a team, a person whom they want to stay in that job and feel that it's ideal and that they wouldn't want to be doing anything else. This combined with psychometric testing seems to be homogenising personalities into a characterless mulch.

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Chris Dawson

Sat 6th Dec 2008 16:11

This feels slightly menacing, slightly claustrophobic ..... maybe you've recently been affected by something like '1984'/'Brave New World'? ... or maybe you should change you job?
Interesting work.
Cx

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