What is meant by an employment opportunity?

A monetary relationship, where one individual performs a set of services for another individual or organization under a mutual agreement and gets remunerated for providing such service, is said to be an employee. The individual who provides the services is known as an employee and the individual who pays for the service is known as an employer. In simple terms, the employee is said to have a job.

The employee keeps searching for different employment opportunities related to their domain, or different domains that match their skillset. These employment opportunities are provided by the employers of different organizations.

Process involved in employment opportunities

The various processes for an individual to get employed and/or search for an employee are discussed below:

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A vacant position for employment in an organization is declared by an advertisement. This is termed as job announcement. In this job announcement, the details of the position are mentioned along with the salary details. An individual after visiting various job openings from different sources lands at a certain job announcement and applies for the job. Various job openings have their deadlines for applications. It is usually mentioned as 'open until' in the job advertisements. A job seeker can skip certain advertisements that are irrelevant to his qualifications. Apart from these, job seekers also establish different job alerts for themselves from various sources. A job alert informs a job seeker regarding a recent employment opportunity.

Application

The individual goes through the job criteria and fills out an application form to apply for the job. This application is also known as an employment application. There are multiple candidates applying for the same job. They are known as job applicants. The job applicants can either be from different domains and different educational backgrounds, or the same background. Everyone fills out the same application for the job opening. The application can be in the offline mode such as filling out an individual's personal and educational details, using a pen and a paper, or can be in an online mode, where the individual fills the details on the internet or web portal.

Scrutiny of applications

After receiving the employment applications in the respective departments, the human resources perform the verification process of all the applicants regarding the open positions. Once the applications are validated by the department of human resources for the said open positions and all the educational qualifications are verified, the applications are processed further. An irrelevant application is skipped by the human resource department.

Background check

In the background check, the department of human resources e-verify the applicant's proof of identity. E-verify stands for electronic verification, which is done through computers and internet connectivity.

Interview

When the applications meet the prescribed criteria of the organization and the applicant passes the verification check, they are called for an interview to evaluate their capabilities and suitability for the position. If the candidate is found suitable, they are provided with employment or a job offer. The interview process generally happens face-to-face, but due to the ongoing coronavirus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, all face to face interviews have switched to an online mode. COVID-19 pandemic has also permitted the selected employees to work remotely.

Qualities of a good employer

There are certain qualities that should be possessed by an individual in order to be called a good employer. Some of the qualities are outlined below:

• An employer does not see their employee's background: Such kinds of employers are called equal opportunity employers. An equal opportunity employer does not check applicants' backgrounds regarding their religion and color. They provide the same opportunities and treat all the employees equally.
• Proper training: An employer induces proper training to their employees to enhance their skill set and make them a good fit for the job position. On performing well throughout the training period, if an individual gets an employment opportunity, then that employee is termed as a prospective employee.
• Provides support and feedback: A good employer always provides feedback to their employees so that an employee can learn and improve. A good employer should also provide compliments to keep their employees confident and motivated. Providing reasonable accommodation to the employees, in case the individual is far away from home is also a matter of responsibility of a good employer. Providing reasonable accommodation is a gesture of support by an employer to an employee.

Ways of communication between an employer and an employee

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as many of the businesses have shifted their works in the online mode, effective communication between an employee and an employer is necessary for the smooth functioning of the organization. A few of the ways are outlined below:

• Communication through mobile phones: This is the basic and most necessary mode of communication between an employer and an employee. All important work-related communications can be communicated over the phone.
• Online presentations: PowerPoint presentations are another most important mode of communication. It not only provides an insight into the work progress that the employee has achieved so far but also brings out new ideas to do the project. The employee just needs to point the cursor arrow right to the slide show tab. After pointing the cursor arrow right toward the slide show tab, they can present their entire screen to the employer for discussion.

• Messenger applications: There are a variety of messenger applications where employees can share work-related documents and join work-related discussions.

Context and Applications

The topic has its importance in the following university degrees such as:

• Masters in Business administration (Human Resource).
• Bachelors in Business administration (Human Resource).

Practice Problems

1. Which of the following is the first step for an applicant to apply for a job?

1. Read details in a job application.
2. Fill out the application form.
3. Call the employer for employment-related opportunities.
4. None of these.

Correct option- a

Explanation: The first step for an individual to apply for job opportunities is to read the job-related details carefully.

2. Which of the following is a part of an employment opportunity?

1. Job application.
2. Applicant's background check.
3. Offer letter.
4. All of these.

Correct option- d

Explanation: Job application, applicant's background check, and offer letter are all terms related to employment opportunities.

3. Which of the following phrases present in the job applications describe the deadline of a job advertisement?

1. Closed now
2. Open till now
3. Open until
4. None of these

Correct option- c

Explanation: In a job application, the phrase 'open until' is often mentioned regarding the deadline for a job application.

4. Which of the following is true for an equal opportunity employer?

1. An employer provides other job opportunities to his employees.
2. An employer provides training opportunities to his employees.
3. An employer does not check his employee's background related to caste and religion.
4. All of these.

Correct option- c

Explanation: An opportunity employer is the one who does not discriminate based on an individual's color and race before providing them employment.

5. Which of the following best describes prospective employees?

1. One who applies for a job.
2. One who gets employment.
3. One who completes training successfully and gets full-time employment.
4. None of these.

Correct option- c

Explanation: A prospective employee is an employee, who after successful completion of training, gets a full-time job opportunity.