Job Description and Specification
In the job market, one has to be able to find the perfect balance between being hopeful and realistic. This is something that new graduates who are going out for the first time in the job market to look for a job should be aware of. Most first time job seekers tend to be idealistic when it comes to looking for a job. They tend to forget the reality that companies tend to look for individuals who experience in the respective job vacancy they are applying for. Yes, educational experience is something but graduating from even an Ivy League educational institution does not equate to being able to land on a high paying job right after graduation.
Management Trainee (MT) is one of the most versatile jobs that one can have. Regardless whether there will be another economic crisis in the future, there will always be jobs for Management Trainees. This is because even if there is an ongoing crisis, there will always be businesses who will survive and those surviving businesses are ones that would most likely have solid fundamentals. This means that those businesses would be willing to pay expensively for those who can bring back the company from its crisis state to its pre-crisis state. Management Trainees are the future leaders of a company. They are the ones groomed to become future executives, directors, and managers.
According to America’s Job Exchange, one of the leading human resources-related websites today, an MT is “responsible for working alongside managers and accepting designated responsibilities and duties with the goal of eventually becoming a manager” . Based on this operational definition, a Management Trainee’s job description is essentially the same with that of a manager. One important thing to remember, however, that an MT is not yet a manager and so they would almost always require the supervision of a tenured manager whenever they fulfill their tasks. However, compared to entry level workers and associates, an MT is arguably higher ranked.
Most of the time, an MT stays beside the managers. They work in an office or a production floor to be trained and gain experience and there is no other better way to get paid than that. These trainees are essentially being paid to be trained; this is opposed to other regular employees who are getting paid to work. Management Trainees are also involved in the planning and policymaking processes of the organization.
For example, whenever there is a meeting amongst the key management team members of an organization, an MT would most likely be included. Because of this, high ranking officials within the company get to recognize them early; as a result, they get better exposure. This can come in handy when the time to get promoted already comes. Chances are the people who would be in charge of the candidate evaluation process would favor someone who they recognize. This is a job specification that an MT can use as an advantage.
Other job role and responsibility specification includes: analyzing sales and other metrics, publishing reports, reporting market activities, and working in different departments with an end goal of gaining perspectives and learning how each department operates. To sum this section up, the job of an MT is by no means an easy one; it is, in fact, one of the most complex jobs a one can have but with the right mindset, the rewards of being an MT can be handsome.
Compensation and Benefits Package
An appropriate C&B for an ideal MT should be higher than the existing market averages. In the United States, a Management Trainee earns an average of $39,646 annually . This is already inclusive of the basic salary and allowances. This sum is already the entire employment package. So, in order to retain a highly competitive MT, the rate should be higher than $39,646. A safe C&B for this dream job would be around $45,000 annually.
The ideal MT should also have access to the following:
A complementary Health Management Organization (HMO) Plan for the individual and at least two dependents.
A complementary wellness program (e.g. gym membership privileges)
24 Days’ Worth of Paid Time Offs Annually (inclusive of sick leave and vacation leave)
A supplemental life insurance for the employee and at least two dependents
Training and Development Benefits
Onsite and Offsite Training and Coaching conducted every year for skills upgrades
Employee Assistance Program
Educational Reimbursement
Annual Performance Reviews
401(k) Employer Contribution
Paid Parking
Employer Paid Short and Long Term Disability Programs
Discounts for the Company’s Products and or Services
Rationalization of the Compensation and Benefits Package
The process of hiring and keeping Management Trainees is generally considered by businesses as an investment. Investments are meant to be kept and the same is true for a Management Trainee. There is no other way to keep an employee, or in this case, an MT from leaving than to offer the most attractive compensation and benefits (C&B) package. Seeing an MT leave is the last thing that a company would wish to see and so this part is highly important.
One thing that is clear regarding the C&B package that was outlined in the previous section, however, is that it can be expensive, especially if the company aims to keep and invest on a large number of Management Trainees over the medium to long term—which is by the way important if the company wants to expand fast and establish stability at the same time. What is important to remember, however, is to at least establish a certain level of fairness when it comes to providing C&B to employees; this means that even though the focus is on members of the MT pool, employees who are from other pools and or departments should not be left out .
The truth, however, is that there can be many intrinsic benefits for employers if they have satisfyingly attractive C&B packages. The first is that they tend to be loved by their employees. Employees who are happy with their jobs tend to stay longer; some even develop a high enough level of loyalty to convince them that leaving their current company for another one is not an option. For a company that employs a sizeable number of Management Trainees, this should be their goal. They want to see an MT become one of their operations managers in the future so that they would be able to translate the learning and knowledge they obtained when they were still an MT into their jobs; this would ultimately benefit the company that trained and employed them.
Performance Appraisal Program
An ideal Performance Appraisal Program (PAP) for this dream job should be based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The entire PAP is outlined below:
Evaluation of Metrics (i.e. Did the MT manage to meet the minimum performance requirements)
Use of Negative Feedback (i.e. Did the MT manage to apply the feedback points that he received during all the feedback sessions)
Discipline Issues (i.e. Did the MT manage to have a clean record—no instance of disciplinary action in any form in the past twelve months)
Objectives (i.e. Did the MT meet all of the project objectives of the assignments given to him by his mentor or side by side manager)
The PAP for this dream job should focus on the four pillars enumerated above. In order to motivate the employee to continuously focus on performance improvement, a basic salary raise would only be given to those who will manage to meet all of the four major PAP requirements.
Rationalization of the Performance Appraisal Program
According to Mayhew (2016), the “chief purpose of any performance employment program is employee development; this goal is accomplished by helping the employee to do a better job and by developing in the employee the knowledge and skill to meet the future needs of the work unit and the institution”. This was the philosophy used when the PAP outlined above was drafted. This philosophy also rationalizes the existing PAP.
It can be observed that a stingy and unforgiving approach was used in the PAP as opposed to the almost overly generous approach used in the drafting of the C&B package. The reason behind the use of such approach for the PAP is because the company can afford it. Being overly generous opens the door for employee abuse; one has to be able to find the perfect balance between stinginess and generosity.
Moreover, an MT is made to perform objectively. The use of an all or nothing approach may arguably be considered as a part of their training. Ideally, this PAP would make them realize that managing a business process or operation is a tough job and that it tends to be a black and white job—i.e. it comes down to whether they succeeded in doing something or not, that there is no room for half-done jobs and mediocre performance. Through the use of a stingy approach for the PAP, the MT would be able to develop the right mindset, one that they would be able to use when they are already the ones manning the production floor or any other department as the managers.
References
America's Job Exchange. (2016). Management Trainee Job Position. America's Job Exchange, http://www.americasjobexchange.com/management-trainee-job-description.
Cole, N., & Flint, D. (2005). Opportunity Knocks: Perceptions and Fairness in Employee Benefits. Compensation and Benefits Review, 55-62.
Mayhew, R. (2016). Six Steps of the Performance Appraisal Process. Chron, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/six-steps-performance-appraisal-process-1912.html.
Pay Scale. (2016). Management Trainee Salary United States. http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Manager_Trainee/Salary.
