The occupations described in Part I are the more elementary commercial employments for which excellent training is provided by both public and private commercial schools. This training lays a foundation for the more advanced business education which will be discussed in Part II. It is hoped that men who possess the necessary general education and physical health, supplemented by elementary business education or business experience, will consider these more advanced courses as they lead on surely to successful business careers.
Men who need the foundation courses should take them, and if necessary secure positions suited to their abilities at once. Such men should, however, immediately plan for an extensive course in one of the higher forms of commercial education. Promotion may result from successful office work without supplementary training, but it will surely follow the completion of such advanced business courses as are outlined herein. None should be satisfied until the last educational resource that will help in his progress upward is exhausted.
Accountancy has been raised to a professional basis during the past few years. Business has grown to enormous proportions and expert accountants are required as heads of the bookkeeping departments of big business. Then, too, public accountants are necessary for the public audit work required by law, the periodical inspection of books by a disinterested expert, the organization and reorganization of inadequate bookkeeping systems, and the preparation of financial reports desired for special purposes.
Men who have a good educational background, a sound knowledge of double entry bookkeeping, some aptitude for organization work, proven mathematical ability, and preferably some office or other business experience should have no difficulty in rising to a high place in the profession of accountancy, assuming of course the possession of other well-defined qualifications for success.
A man trained in accountancy will find many avenues of promotion open to him. He may become head accountant for a large concern; auditor for several branch organizations; or cost accountant in the production end of big business. He may establish a managerial connection with some large business organization, or become a consulting accountant with a business of his own. As a matter of fact, practically no executive position is beyond the reach of a trained accountant. Many such men develop into efficiency engineers, and devote their time to systematizing and reorganization work.
It is useless to state salary limits in terms of dollars and cents for such a profession as accountancy. The limits are wholly dependent on individual initiative and ability. The salary is commensurate with the importance of the work and no man can ask more.
As yet there is no crowding in this profession, and men will find opportunities for establishing themselves in this field in any industrial community.
A thorough study of the fundamentals of bookkeeping and business practice must precede the study of accounting. Theory of accounting, accounting practice, auditing, accounting systems, cost accounting, practical economics, business law, corporation finance, business organization and management, all enter into the training required for proficiency in the accounting field.
The training briefly outlined in the preceding paragraph must go hand in hand with experience in practical work. It is highly desirable that men who elect this course take it in one of the large industrial centers where part-time employment can be secured in a large business office at first and later with a firm of recognized practicing accountants. In many such centers courses are offered by the local colleges with this need definitely in mind. Classes usually meet between 5 and 10 p. m. daily, thus leaving the business day for practical work. Those who aspire to the certified public accountant degree given in most States, can thus gain the required experience while preparing in college for the stiff examinations set by the State examining board.
Two or three years must be devoted to study and practice before a man can lay any claim to recognition in this field, and the full four-year period is none too long for those who would achieve the highest places in this profession. It must be remembered, however, that during this entire time good incomes may be earned—often better than a man has been able to earn before in ordinary office work. Unit courses of varying lengths are also available to those who merely want special training for special work such as auditing, or cost accounting. The length of time for these courses will depend upon previous general education, special training, and experience, but should rarely require more than from eight to ten months.
With the inevitable expansion in business immediately following the close of the great war there will be an unusual demand for salesmen. Already requests are being received for salesmanship training in connection with the Federal Board for Vocational Education’s program of re-education for disabled soldiers. The trained salesman will find a ready market for his services.
Men who have had a good general education, and who have a liking for the sales end of business should consider this calling seriously. Those who object to being away from home much of the time will not find salesmanship agreeable, as the great majority of selling positions require much traveling.
The successful salesman must be able to talk fluently and convincingly. He must possess a good knowledge of English and a good working vocabulary; an understanding of human nature; a thorough knowledge of his wares; a familiarity with business customs; and appreciation of the value of business ethics; a fund of information regarding general business conditions; and many other qualifications that, like those mentioned above, can be acquired through courses of training. A familiarity with the principles of accounting and other business subjects also will prove helpful to a man who wishes to make the best possible preparation for the business of selling goods.
The formal instruction in salesmanship will not proceed very far before provision for contact with actual selling is made. Fundamentals can be covered in short intensive courses to be followed by more advance instruction on a part-time basis while the man is learning the practical side of his work in an actual sales department. When the foundations have been laid and the man has indicated the line of business he prefers to be associated with, the Federal Board for Vocational Education will through its placement department, secure for him a position where the practical side of the art of selling goods can be acquired.
The income possibilities of salesmanship are excellent, but incapable of definite statement, since so much depends on the salesman. In no other branch of business does a man have greater opportunity to demonstrate his worth. The salesman is the one employee who is quite sure to be paid all he can earn. His sales readily indicate his value to the firm.
In this profession men may choose their own location to a large extent. Salesmen are in demand throughout the whole country and men who have climatic preferences will be able to indulge them without jeopardizing their future.
Promotion to sales manager is within the range of possibilities for live men who make a conspicuous success of their work. The man who is ambitious will have ample scope for growth in this field.
Men who take up this profession should possess good general health, the ability to get about with a fair degree of facility, good hearing, and unimpeded speech. Personality counts for much in salesmanship, and since personal appearance is one factor in personality it should be suggested that facial wounds, which are soon forgotten by friends, often distract attention on first acquaintance and put a man at a disadvantage before his customer. The loss of a leg or an arm will not prove a barrier to this occupation so long as a man’s general activity is not interfered with seriously.
The passing from war to peace conditions will increase the demand for all kinds of advertising. Business has largely marked time during the war because of lack of goods to sell and lack of men and facilities.
Now, factories that have been on war work will have to keep their plants busy, win back trade lost through inability to supply old customers, and create new fields for their enlarged producing capacity. Retailers will have to keep pace with the new demands of readjusted commerce. All this means more advertising, and more men to plan and execute it.
Advertising to-day is as much a part of every business as clerking, bookkeeping, or stenography, for no manufacturer or merchant can do business without some form or many forms of it.
Consider the sign over the door, the labels on packages, the leaflet, circular, or catalogue describing goods, directions for using, sign cards, window posters, mailing cards, and the like; then, the business letter answering inquiries, or soliciting orders, the follow-up system that turns the inquiry into an order, the trade-aid work of many kinds that helps the manufacturer make good distributors of his dealers-and you have a bird’s-eye view of some forms of advertising work that are almost universally used, yet scarcely thought of as “advertising.” Add to these the demand for sales-producing “copy” for newspaper, magazine, and trade-paper advertising; the planning and preparation of illustrations and typesetting necessary to put the advertising into effect; and the vast quantity of such “copy” that appears daily, weekly, and monthly in various advertising mediums—and it is at once apparent that an army of workers is needed to carry on this work.
The permanence of such work is attested by the fact that there has been an increasing use of all forms of advertising, keeping steady pace with America’s business growth. Even without taking into consideration outdoor advertising—billboards, bulletins and painted signs, electrical advertising display, street-car advertising, propaganda campaigns, civic and organization advertising, each of which offers fields of great extent—the employment of trained advertising men is as yet only in its infancy.
The personnel of advertising staffs includes men officially designated as follows:
Advertising director: The man who plans and directs.
Space buyer: The man who knows advertising media and the value of space, and the one who places advertising contracts.
Copy writer: The man who produces copy for advertisements, catalogues, printed matter, letters, follow-up work, etc.
Layout man: The man who assists the copy writer by preparing typographical and art layouts.
Proofreader: The man who reads proof on advertisements and printed matter.
Copy helper: The man who has charge of engravings, drawings, and printed stock, and who supervises the making, shipping, return, and safe-keeping of the same.
Buyer of printing: The man who knows papers, printing processes, their relative values, and also their sources. He also places the printing orders.
Art work buyer: The one who knows advertising art work; where to get it and its value; and who also places orders for illustrations and engravings.
Commercial artist: The man who produces sketches and finished drawings in pen and brush work, in tone and color, and who retouches photographs.
Photographer: The man with special training in posing, lighting, and photographing industrial subjects to secure pictures illustrating features of the product, texture, and construction, who works often with living models.
Correspondent: The man who produces orders from inquiries received through advertising, or who solicits orders through the mails.
Advertising promoter: The man who sells the advertising done by a house to its distributors, and who teaches them how to take advantage of the demand created, and how to use the trade-aid matter furnished by the house to its dealers.
Advertising investigator: The man employed to discover the needs, buying habits, buying power, consumption of competing lines, price limits, etc., of groups of consumers, dealers, or jobbers by actual contact with the individual.
Advertising solicitors: Men employed by publishers to solicit advertising for their publications; by manufacturers of calendars, advertising novelties, etc., to sell their products; and by advertising agencies to sell their service to the advertiser. Every newspaper, magazine, and trade paper must have one or more, perhaps many, solicitors, as must also the advertising agency and the maker of advertising novelties, the bill poster, the bulletin painter, the car-sign proprietor.
While this general list is in no way complete, it serves to show the vast field open to men in advertising and may serve as a guide in selecting the line of work to be undertaken.
Any wide-awake, intelligent, ambitious, optimistic man can become a useful advertising man in some one of its many branches. Physical disabilities will prove no handicap, providing general health has not been too seriously impaired. A knowledge of practical salesmanship helps, for all advertising is only a form of selling. Men of exceptional education and executive ability find a field as managers and production men. Good merchandise salesmen make good advertising solicitors. Commercial artists can be made into advertising artists. Commercial photographers and amateurs develop into photographers of advertising subjects. Most of the other positions can be filled without much previous training by men of ordinary general ability. The humblest advertising position can be made a stepping-stone to something higher.
The kind of men that make good soldiers are needed in this profession—sturdy, honest, determined, versatile men of good common sense, adaptability, and capacity for work. Such men will soon acquire the knowledge of detail necessary for advertising work.
No more inviting field of labor awaits the returned soldier than that of advertising, and there are few occupations in which the pecuniary rewards for high-grade service are more attractive. A man’s natural ability and training for this work are the only measure of his earning capacity.
Men who elect this vocation will be given a short intensive course of from four to six months in a day school, and will then be placed with a good advertising firm for practical experience. They will, at the same time, be enrolled in unit extension courses for further training on a part-time basis. The time required for this advanced part-time training will vary according to the ambition of the man himself, the higher he wishes to rise in the profession, the longer will be the period of training, but correspondingly higher will be the reward. Then, too, he will be earning as he learns, and qualifying for a promotion at the same time.
For many years past there has been an active demand for men who would be willing to represent American business in the foreign field, and this demand has never been fully met. Just now at the close of the great war there will be an expansion in the foreign trade of the United States, and trained men for this field will be needed as never before. Men who have seen overseas duty may be interested in preparing for overseas commercial service. The living and working conditions are pleasant in almost every commercial center of the world. Of course, hardships are encountered in certain backward countries and in some tropical commercial centers, but in the main a position as representative of an American house in a foreign commercial center is an enviable one. In those foreign commercial centers which have come to be of importance, the American or European colony is a community in itself and frequently one whose social life is delightful. Social position and prestige are so important for commercial representatives in almost all foreign countries, that the term “Ambassador of commerce” has been applied to those who qualify and successfully represent American business houses in overseas commerce.
The possession of a merchant marine adequate to the needs of the time will lend a great impetus to our business activities in foreign countries. More men will also be needed for the large number of tasks connected with the handling of our shipping. The head offices of the shipping lines are at home, and these offices have branches throughout the world. Many employees are needed for the various duties in these offices. Positions in the shore end of shipping include important document work, and other work of a more routine character; salesmen who can sell transportation to foreign trade concerns; ship brokers who devote their time to the chartering of ships; insurance brokers who handle the insurance end of foreign shipping; wharve superintendents and master stevedores; warehouse managers; traffic managers, and port and harbor experts.
Plans for giving training to men who desire positions in connection with the shore end of ocean transportation with foreign trade houses are well under way, and adequate vocational training of this type is now available for the first time in this country.
No longer is it necessary for men interested in foreign-trade service to contemplate a four-year collegiate course of study before they can form connections with firms sending their wares to foreign markets. The Federal Board for Vocational Education in co-operation with the United States Shipping Board and in the United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce is actively promoting throughout the United States courses in foreign trade and shipping. These courses are being offered in evening, part-time, full-time, university extension, and correspondence schools, and are open to graduate engineers, lawyers, graduates of collegiate commercial courses, men who have had general college training, men of technical or business training in any branch of commerce and industry, graduates of secondary schools and, in fact, to all intelligent men with a background of business experience combined with a serious interest in international commerce or shipping activities.
Recent conferences with the Export Managers’ Club show that all enterprising export managers are in need of trained men, or men capable of taking such training as will be necessary to the successful carrying of their important work.
There are two general divisions in foreign trade occupations. The first includes active service in the foreign field, and the second service in the home country. In the foreign field clerks, assistants, salesmen, and managers are required. Some concerns send traveling salesmen into foreign countries to cover the field and report back to the home office, while others send men abroad with instructions to take up their residence there and establish an office for the permanent conduct of their employer’s business. The establishment of such branch offices calls for the employment of the usual types of office help. Banks and other financial agencies also are created in foreign countries for the benefit of American exporters and importers.
Men of the American expeditionary forces who have seen something of the world, and who have gained an interest in and a taste for things outside of the United States, will find in foreign trade service great opportunities. This is particularly true of those who have learned a foreign language, and who are so situated with reference to family ties that they can easily take up an occupation in a foreign country.
The list of positions that will be opened in this field is so extensive that a man may find in it an opportunity to elect just the kind of work he is best fitted to do.
Men who prefer foreign trade service in home offices will find excellent opportunities as soon as they have completed the necessary preparation for such service. Well-defined, intensive co-operative courses of study have been worked out and are being offered in the large foreign trade centers for men who desire to enter this service. Home office positions include those requiring clerical work in connection with the preparation of commercial documents, positions that have to do with financial affairs and foreign exchange, adjustment work, foreign correspondence, foreign advertising, transportation, credits, and collections. Superintendents for packing and loading departments also are required. Men who have had experience in the Quartermaster’s Department of the Army during the war, and who have learned something about scientific handling of merchandise, will find in the foreign trade field opportunities to cash in on their special experiences.
A thorough study of the general technique of the home office in connection with foreign trade and shipping is considered a necessary foundation in any scheme of foreign trade education. A part-time plan, in accordance with which men may pursue their studies while securing practical experience with foreign trade houses has been worked out, and it is now possible for men to get training under a co-operative basis scheme of instruction and work. Courses offered will be given intensively for short periods and on a unit basis. They will vary in length from 15 to 30 weeks. The same provision is being made for the study of languages and the geography of various countries that are of interest in connection with foreign trade education. The United States Shipping Board is taking steps to establish permanent nautical training schools, as it is expected that more than 10,000 officers will be needed to man the United States merchant marine. This means that men who desire service in the actual transportation end of the business will find an opportunity to secure training and a very ready market for their service upon the completion of their courses.
Since special training is required for most of the positions referred to in this connection salaries are proportionately high. Clerks and other office men earn from $1,600 to $2,400 a year. Those who qualify as junior clerks and senior clerks may hope to rise to assistant managers of departments and general export managers. Advancement should be rapid in view of the present shortage of men and the expected expansion of business. In large export departments there are export managers who receive from $5,000 to $10,000 a year. Even the latter amount is by no means the limit for men of unusual executive ability.
The positions referred to in connection with the actual operation of the merchant marine pay from $120 to $275 per month with subsistence. It is possible that these amounts may be somewhat reduced after the war demand for such service ceases, and yet it is certain that the financial returns for this kind of work will be above those for similar service on shore.
Executives in responsible positions are finding it necessary more and more to rely upon efficient secretarial help. Such an executive must generally have some assistant who is thoroughly familiar with every detail of his activities, and able to assume responsibility for innumerable details connected with the day’s work. The comparatively small number of available secretarial workers and the hazy conception that has heretofore existed regarding the real distinction between a stenographer and a secretary have forced many executives to be satisfied with stenographic help in the positions where secretarial help is essential. Just now much attention is being given to this vocation by colleges and schools, and there are many opportunities for securing the kind of training needed for secretarial service.
There is a wide gap between secretarial and stenographic duties. Skill in writing shorthand and in typewriting is now recognized as desirable for the secretary, but the possession of this skill does not insure secretarial efficiency. Since no training has been available for this vocation in the past secretarial workers have been recruited from the stenographic staff, and it is quite likely that a period of apprenticeship as a stenographer will continue to be a very desirable part of one’s training for the higher duties of a secretarial position.
The trained secretary relieves the executive of all detail by keeping him informed as to important happenings in the business world that may be of particular interest; by making notes of appointments and calling attention to them at the proper time; by gathering data for the preparation of papers and speeches; by standing between him and the public, when the demands upon his time make it necessary to deny requests for interviews without in any way offending those who are refused; by attending conferences, and making notes on important points; by arranging for transportation and hotel accommodations in connection with traveling, and, in every way, by keeping the executive’s time free for the more important managerial responsibilities devolving upon him.
Men who possess a good general education, sufficient maturity, tact, judgment, business sense, and knowledge of people may hope to succeed in this vocation providing they have the right kind of training and preliminary experience. Integrity, alertness, ambition to advance, initiative, courtesy, and loyalty are prime essential characteristics. Soldiers who have been attached to headquarters’ division in the capacity of aides and secretarial workers will find in this field opportunities to make their war experience count for the most.
No occupation offers larger opportunity for advancement. A secretary is in the closest possible contact with the executive who is in a position to recognize ability by promotion and to whose advantage it is that such promotion shall be granted. The secretary has an exceptional opportunity to learn all the details of the managerial side of the business, and when executive positions become vacant his superior is quite likely to regard him favorably for advancement.
As a foundation for secretarial work, a man should possess a working knowledge of shorthand and typewriting, and if these subjects have not already been mastered, they will form the basic part of the secretarial course. In addition, instruction will be needed in business English and correspondence, fundamental principles of accounts and business practice, commercial law, business ethics, and secretarial technique. Many colleges are prepared to give instruction suited to the requirements of secretarial work.
For those who already have a knowledge of shorthand and typewriting, or who have had a course in bookkeeping and related subjects, or who have had valuable office experience, an intensive course of from 8 to 12 months may be sufficient to complete a secretarial course. For those who must acquire this foundation work a longer period will be needed. It should be said, however, that those who know shorthand and typewriting or bookkeeping can usually begin to earn wages in an office position while continuing their study in part-time extension classes.
Secretarial workers may hope to earn salaries from $1,500 up. There is almost no limit except the man’s ability and ambition to rise.
Opportunities in this field are found throughout the country. Men who are interested in social, philanthropical, religious, or political activities may find secretarial openings that will enable them to be intimately associated with the activity of their choice.
A secretarial worker should be able to get about with a fair degree of facility; he should have a personal appearance that is not repugnant to the public with which he is constantly in contact. He should possess physical endurance sufficient to enable him to meet the rather severe strain that secretarial work makes upon a man; and he should possess good hearing and eyesight. An artificial limb would not be a serious handicap providing it did not interfere with getting about too seriously. It is also quite likely that one hand would suffice for the accomplishment of the ordinary tasks of such a position. The main requirement is that a man shall be keen and alert, and that he shall be able to go about his work with vigor and cheerfulness.
There are more than 200 life insurance companies in the United States having their head offices scattered throughout the chief cities in different parts of the country, with branch offices in each of the larger cities in each State, and resident agents located in most towns of importance. In the smaller towns the life agency is often combined with the fire and accident insurance.
Life companies are divided into the “Ordinary” and the “Industrial” companies, and, combined, employ about 125,000 field agents and about 75,000 persons of other capacities such as clerical, accounting, building and general employees, exclusive of casual employees such as doctors, lawyers, etc.
Life insurance has been made nearly mandatory by modern business practice. It has been popularized by adoption in the Army and Navy, as a scientific method of providing for personal dependents. It is in harmony with the trend of modern social, civic, industrial, and financial-betterment movements. It is progressive within itself—constantly devising new services to meet the requirements of the public and thus opening new avenues to its salesmen.
Life insurance salesmanship requires at the outset but a minimum of training, equipment, and capital, and these are being supplied more and more commonly by sales organizations to their members who qualify for the profession.
The work affords opportunities for personal advancement by extension of acquaintance and by choice of associates and customers. It is consistent with the attainment of social, civic, and business prominence and financial independence.
Opportunities for promotion to positions as agency managers, superintendents, and field supervisors are constantly presented to those whose ability and experience justify such advancement.
Age, experience, and growing clientele become assets of increasing value. There is no “dead line” and a permanent clientele of expanding value can be built up from year to year.
While, of course, the agent physically able to devote full time to the work is likely to succeed best, it is nevertheless true that one physically handicapped may succeed measurably although able to work only part of time daily or weekly. Regular office hours and days are advisable but not necessary.
Candidates should have at least a grammar school education, and more advanced professional or technical training will be a valuable asset although not essential for success.
Previous experience in either life insurance or general salesmanship is not necessary, but will be of value, and those who have had to do with insurance work in the Army will find this experience helpful.
Many organizations are equipped, and others will be, to conduct preliminary central office training courses for men intending to locate at distant points. A list will be furnished later of localities, companies, or agency organizations where definite courses of training are now being given.
The novice will be given theoretical and practical instruction. Field experience will be given under the guidance of qualified field supervisors.
In the following classification certain types of diseases and injuries are grouped according as they are regarded as being wholly, partially, or not in any degree disqualifying for the profession of life insurance salesmanship.
| 1. Prohibitive.—Disqualifying for successful field salesmanship. | ||
| (a) | Diseases: | |
| Advanced tuberculosis. | ||
| Loss of voice and similar bronchial affections. | ||
| Heart diseases not permitting ordinary activity. | ||
| Contagious or infectious diseases, chronic or acute. | ||
| Epilepsy. | ||
| Nervous affections preventing mental concentration or seriously affecting locomotion or speech. | ||
| Nervous affections causing involuntary grotesque muscular movement of face, hands or body. | ||
| Insanity. | ||
| Complete loss of sight or hearing. | ||
| (b) | Wounds: | |
| Unsightly and repelling facial or head wounds. | ||
| Loss of both arms. | ||
| Loss of both legs and one arm. | ||
| Preventing distinct or audible speech. | ||
| Any wound rendering soldier an object of extreme pity. | ||
| 2. Partially handicapping.—Each case requiring individual judgment; many such men might be able to devote part time if not all to salesmanship. | ||
| (a) | Diseases: | |
| Mild tuberculosis of the lungs or throat. | ||
| Recurrent rheumatism of severe type. | ||
| Heart diseases interfering with usual activity. | ||
| Nervous affections causing involuntary marked movements of the face. | ||
| Serious varicose veins forbidding reasonable activities. | ||
| Indistinct hearing or sight. | ||
| (b) | Wounds: | |
| Loss of both legs but not arms. | ||
| Injury to arms or limbs compelling extremely awkward attitudes to be assumed. | ||
| Entire loss of one hand and noticeably unsightly dismemberment of the other. | ||
| Unsightly face or head wounds that can not be covered by hair, beard, or glasses. | ||
| 3. Not handicapping at all— | ||
| (a) | Diseases: | |
| Chronic diseases not preventing ordinary activity and not easily noticed by others. This includes chest and head diseases, rheumatism, deafness in one ear, Bright’s disease, shell-shock, etc. | ||
| Temporary diseases from which recovery may be slow but certain. | ||
| (b) | Wounds: | |
| Loss of one leg if artificial limb can be worn. | ||
| Loss of one arm or hand with or without artificial arm. | ||
| Wounds to arms or legs not requiring amputation. | ||
| Moderate disfigurements that can be covered by hair, beard, garments, or glasses of usual type. | ||
| Scars on face or hands that are not repellent. | ||
| Loss of teeth—if plate can be worn. | ||
| Hernia—if truss can be worn. | ||
The companies selling ordinary life insurance can absorb rapidly 10,000 candidates for sales positions, reasonably evenly distributed between the two classes of partly handicapped and not handicapped. If the latter class predominates, even a larger number could be used.
These men can be assigned profitable and suitable new business locations either of their own or of the insurance companies’ selection, as they prefer, or they can be used at their former place of residence no matter in what sections of the country this may be.
The industrial companies, about 25 in number, can absorb about 4,000 candidates presenting disabilities of a nature that would not preclude the physical activity required, since the nature of the business demands that the routes assigned be fully covered each week.
The average earnings of all life insurance men, whether devoting all or but part of their time to it, and including the unsuccessful and the beginners but a few months in the production field, on the sales of 1917 was $1,000 per capita. The average of those giving it their entire time is nearer $2,000 per agent. An additional yearly income for a number of years is paid on first-year sales through the annual renewal commissions on such business as renews, which in 1917 yielded an additional $1,000 per agent. By reason of renewals accruing in future years, the annual income of a life insurance man maintaining a uniform production will increase steadily yearly.
While the rate of compensation is based upon the commission plan under which the income closely follows actual earnings and is in ratio to the salesman’s efficiency and the intelligent effort he puts forth, the methods of compensation are varied according to individual preference. Such methods include straight commission, commission plus salary, straight salary, drawing accounts against contingent commissions and guarantees, and combinations of these methods as may be arranged.
The items of interest are that incomes are without limit as to maximum and that earnings can begin even during the period of preparation and study. The commission plan is thus not a difficulty, since the candidate will be assisted by his Government allowance until he is prepared to undertake work under a compensation plan which guarantees pay exactly according to earnings.
To those qualifying for executive positions correspondingly larger salaries and opportunities are open, and men having the capacity to direct the activities of others are in constant demand. For this work Army and Navy men, as a class, have had fundamental training.
Salaries varying from $10 to $25 per week are paid to the field men of industrial insurance companies, depending upon the size of the district covered. Such agents are expected to make the weekly collections assigned to them and to maintain the volume and number of such collections.
In addition to this salary, the right and opportunity is given to earn liberal commissions on new business secured, which in turn may operate to increase the compensation for collecting future premiums.
Opportunities for promotions to positions as superintendents and district managers are frequent, and the tendency is toward the retention and development of efficient employees indefinitely.
This position is one that is usually filled by promotion and one to which any man who qualifies for business by taking a complete commercial training may reasonably aspire. Men who have executive ability; knowledge of men and ability to handle them; the ability to organize the work of an office on an efficiency basis; and a good general knowledge of business are needed for office managers.
Extension courses in preparation for advancement to this grade of commercial employment are available in many places. Those who already have the necessary training for office work will be helped by definite courses of instruction to prepare for this desirable line of promotion. Others who have had neither business training nor business experience may prepare for office work first in accordance with the plan suggested earlier in this monograph, and may later qualify for office management by extension courses under the direction of the Federal Board for Vocational Education.
The banking business is one in which the higher positions are usually recruited from the lower. Many younger men are employed as messengers, clerks, runners, etc., and it is comparatively easy to find promotion material already in the organization. Since these lower positions pay very small salaries and make no appeal to men, it is not likely that large numbers of men will break into the banking business through rehabilitation channels. However there are many men in our Army who have had banking experience and desire to secure training for further promotion in this business. Then, too, some of the larger financial institutions in the big cities are in the habit of taking on men for a period of training with a view to service in their foreign branches. This practice will grow as our foreign trade expands. Men who have the necessary general education and special training, supplemented by overseas service, will find in this field an opportunity that will challenge their interest.
Foundation work in the general business subjects such as bookkeeping, business writing, business English, correspondence, business arithmetic, and commercial law will be followed by instruction in economics, money, banking, and finance. While there are comparatively few business schools equipped to give the more advanced technical instruction required, the Federal Board for Vocational Education will aid any man who is interested in this business, not only to secure adequate training for it, but also an opportunity to enter this field under the most favorable circumstances possible.
Male teachers are in great demand for all kinds of educational work, but in no department is the need for men greater than in that which has to do with the training of young people for business. The commercial teacher must associate himself with the industrial and business activities of his community; he must mingle with business men and keep in close touch with their business methods so far as they affect commercial training. In practically every city and town in the United States having a population of 5,000 or more commercial courses are being offered in the high school. There are over 1,000 private commercial schools giving intensive training for business positions. All these schools, both public and private are in very active competition with each other for the services of capable men teachers. Not only are these schools in competition with each other for the services of men who are qualified for this kind of work, but they are also in competition with business which is constantly recognizing that successful commercial teachers are usually well qualified for important business positions. To the men who are contemplating training for a future career this fact is of the utmost importance. The training that he takes for commercial teaching and the experience that he gains in such a position will not only lead to high-grade educational positions, but also to business openings of more than ordinary importance.
Commercial teachers are naturally divided into two groups, those who teach shorthand typewriting, and related secretarial subjects, and those who teach bookkeeping, business arithmetic, commercial law, economics, commercial geography, and other subjects known as the business group. While it is possible to make a preparation for either of these two departments of teaching, it is more desirable for a man to qualify in both departments in order that he may be qualified for a position as department head where the supervision of teachers in both lines of work will fall upon him.
A man who contemplates commercial teaching as a profession should possess the following qualifications: Good personal appearance, abundant energy, resourcefulness, cheerfulness, good general health, and the ability to move about easily. It is undesirable for anyone who is to be brought constantly in contact with the public to have physical disabilities that will be offensive or will seriously distract attention. In dealing with young people in educational work it is even more necessary that unsightly wounds shall not be conspicuously apparent in those with whom such young people come in contact in their work. This does not mean that one who has lost a leg or an arm should consider himself in this class. Among the best teachers that have ever presented commercial education to boys and girls are men who find it necessary to use a crutch or a cane.
Commercial teachers should be thoroughly qualified to handle all of the commercial subjects named above. Their training should also include thorough courses in psychology, pedagogy, school management, and history of education. Such courses of training are provided in a few of the State normal schools, and in a number of the best universities. Men who contemplate this profession are urged to be satisfied with nothing less than the complete course of training in one of these institutions. This is of the utmost importance in view of the fact that for public school commercial teaching State licenses are required and the qualifications therefore, are such that graduation from an institution of high standing is the surest way to qualify for such a certificate. It should be said, however, that for private school commercial teaching there is no license requirement in most of the States. Men who have a good general education and are well qualified in the technical subjects named above, will have no difficulty in securing profitable employment in such schools. Training for such positions can be secured in much less time than is required for the full course referred to above.
An intensive course of one year, assuming a good foundation with which to begin, should prepare a man for a position as commercial teacher in a private business school. The same will suffice for training a man to accept a position as commercial teacher in a high school providing he has completed a normal school or college course. For those who have only a high-school education, two years in a State normal school, or from two to four years in the commercial department of a college, will be required to complete the full training for commercial teaching.
The salary range for men commercial teachers may be stated as from $1,200 to $8,000, depending upon experience, general and special education, and personal qualifications.
Chart summarizing data relating to 133 cases of disabled persons who have taken commercial courses—Tabulation of replies to questionnaires sent out to schools.[34]