2018年可锐考研英语优秀阅读文章赏析（九）Recruitment 人才招聘 Work and play 工作兼娱乐 The gamification of hiring. 招聘游戏化 THE rules of Happy Hour are deceptively simple. You are a bartender. Your challenge is totell what sort of drink each of a swelling mob of customers wants by the expressions on theirfaces. Then you must make and serve each drink and wash each used glass, all within a shortperiod of time. Play this video game well and you might win a tantalising prize: a job in thereal world. 游戏Happy Hour的规则看起来十分简单。
你是一位酒保，你的挑战是察言观色，一群趾高气扬的黑帮客户进入酒吧，你需要根据他们的面部表情判断每个人要喝何种酒，然后斟酒擦酒杯所有这一切都需要在短时间内完成，如果玩这个游戏表现出色的话，你诱人的奖励是在真实世界获得工作 Happy Hour, which will be unveiled to the public on May 28th, is one of several video gamesdeveloped by Knack, a start-up founded by Guy Halfteck, an Israeli entrepreneur. Thegames include a version of Happy Hour in which sushi replaces booze, Words of Wisdom and Balloon Brigade .They are designed to test cognitive skills that employers might want, drawing on some ofthe latest scientific research. These range from pattern recognition to emotionalintelligence, risk appetite and adaptability to changing situations. 由一位以色列企业家Guy halfteck新创始的公司Knack开发的众多视频游戏中的一款Happy Hour预计在5月28日发布。
这一系列的游戏包含一个用寿司替代美酒的Happy Hour版本游戏，Words of Wisdom和气球大队游戏这些游戏都是借助一些最新的科学研究，测试雇主可能比较注重的认知能力，如模式识别、情商、风险承受度和对变化环境的适应性 A pilot now under way with students at Yale combines the results of games with academicgrades. As little as ten minutes of play can yield enough data to predict performance,says Mr Halfteck. 这款游戏现在正在耶鲁大学的学生中进行试点，将其游戏的结果与学业成绩结合在一起Mr Halfteck声称，只要玩十分钟就有足够的数据来预测个人的表现 Knack combines three fashionable trends: gaming, the use of massive amounts of data andthe application of behavioural insights from science. According to Chris Chabris of the Centrefor Collective Intelligence at MIT, a member of the Knack team, games have hugeadvantages over traditional recruitment tools, such as personality tests, which can easily beoutwitted by an astute candidate. Many more things can be tested quickly andperformance can t be faked on Knack s games, he says. The two biggest challenges,according to Mr Chabris, are ensuring the games are fun to play and convincing recruiters,who typically make no attempt to measure cognitive skills, to pay attention to these newdata. Knack将三种Fashion的潮流结合在一起：游戏，大量数据处理以及科学角度的行为预测。
麻省理工学院综合智能中心的Chris Chabri是Knack团队成员之一，他认为：游戏相比传统的招聘工具有非常大的优点，比如传统的个性测试，很容易被聪明的应聘者蒙混过关，而通过 Knack游戏，很多方面能够快速的测定而且不可能作假Chris Chabri表示最大的两个挑战来自于确定游戏足够好玩，并且能够说服那些往往不对认知技能进行测试的招聘者把注意力放在这些数据上 Some firms seem to see the potential. The GameChanger unit of Shell, which seeks out newdisruptive technologies for the oil giant, is about to test if Knack can help it identifyinnovators. Bain Company, a consultancy, is to run a pilot: it will start by gettingcurrent staff to play the games, to see which skills make for a successful consultant. If someonecan materially improve our ability to select the best talent, that is worth a lot to us, saysMark Howorth, a recruiter at Bain. And if not, at least the process will be fun.一些公司似乎看到了潜力。
壳牌公司中为石油巨头寻找突破性新技术的GameChanger部门即将测试Knack是否能帮助它去发现创新者贝恩咨询公司在这方面将启动一次试点：它将让现有职员参与去玩些游戏以帮助决定哪些技能是有助于去做一个成功的咨询者 如果有人能显著提高我们挑选最好人才的能力，那么这对于我们是非常有价值的 贝恩公司的招聘者Mark Howorth如是说当然，如果不能，起码这玩意儿有点意思二．American property 美国房市 The great realtor rip-off 房地产经纪人大敲竹杠 Why is it so expensive to buy or sell a house in America? 在美国，买卖房子怎么就这么贵? IN BRITAIN, if you want to sell your home, an estate agent will list the property, find abuyer, help you negotiate a deal and guide you through the transaction, all for acommission of 2-3% of the sale price. In America, realtors provide the same services forroughly double the fee. 在英国，如果你想卖掉自己的房子，房地产中介就会列好财产清单，找买家，帮你达成协议并指引你完成交易，做这么多只为赚取房屋售价2-3%的佣金。
而在美国，房地产经纪人提供同样的服务，却要两倍的价格 Are they worth it? The shouty realtors in David Mamet s film Glengarry Glen Ross certainly think so. Othersdisagree. Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago finds that American propertybrokers cause social waste of $8 billion a year via overcharging and inefficiency. 这个高价真有所值吗?David Mamet的电影《拜金一族》中大吵大闹的房地产中介肯定认为值他人却不这么认为芝加哥大学的谢长泰发现，美国房地产经纪人的高收费和低效率引发的一年80亿美元的 社会浪费 Economists are baffled. The internet has squelched inefficient middlemen in other industries,from insurance brokers to travel agents. Why not American realtors? Although scores ofdiscount brokers and for-sale-by-owner websites have sprouted up, traditional full-servicerealtors have somehow maintained their market share of 80% without reducing fees. 经济学家有些摸不着头脑。
互联网已经消除了从保险业到旅行业等其他行业的混日子的中介可是为什么这些行业中没有美国的房地产界?虽然贴现经纪人人数和for-sale-by-owner网站的点击率不断蹿升，传统的全包式服务中介在不减少佣金的情况下仍保持了80%的市场份额 The business used to operate like a series of local cartels. In a typical area, a handful ofbrokers controlled a shared database of available homes, and limited their cheaper rivals access to those listings. In 2008 in the United States and 2010 in Canada, regulators struckdeals with realtors to open up these databases. Yet since then the average commission hasactually risen, from 5.0% in 2005 to 5.4% in 2011, according to REAL Trends, a researchfirm. 该行业以前的经营模式就像当地垄断联盟组织。
在典型的地区，一群中介控制了闲置住房的数据库，并避免出低价的对手得到这些数据在2008年的美国和2010年的加拿大，监管人士没能和中介们达成一致公开他们的数据库而从那以后，平均佣金就从2005年的 5%涨到2011年的5.4%，研究机构REAL Trends表示 Why are high fees so persistent? One counterintuitive theory is that America s housing busthas buoyed them. Selling a home is easy when prices are rising. But when financing dries upand volumes dip, sellers may need an agent s expertise and energetic marketing to find abuyer. 为什么手续费高居不下?一个反常理的理论是美国的房屋业的低迷反倒振奋了房地产中介房价上涨的时候是卖房的好时期但是由于资金短缺，待售房数量减少，卖家可能需要中介的经验和充满活力的营销手段来找到买家。
Never give a sucker an even break 绝不能轻易放过一个傻瓜 Another theory is that clients are suckers. Agents routinely tell buyers not to worry about thefat commission because the seller pays it. Meanwhile, they tell sellers not to worrybecause they will jack up the price of the home to cover it. According to Steve Murray of REALTrends, two-thirds of clients choose an agent because of a prior personal relationship orreferral. They may be reluctant to haggle with realtors to whom they have social ties. 另一个理论是客户都是傻瓜。
中介经常告诉买家不要担心高昂的佣金，因为 卖家付这些钱 同时，他们告诉卖家不用担心，因为他们会把佣金加在房屋售价里据REAL Trends的Steve Murray称，三分之二的客户选择中介是因为有私交或是受人推荐他们可能也不愿意和与他们有人际交往的中介讨价还价 A third theory is that the industry is less competitive than it looks. In most areas a few bigbrokers handle most transactions. They set high fees, which lure ever more people into theprofession: between 1998 and 2005 the number of members of America s National Associationof Realtors grew by 67%. These agents waste time competing with each other for theexclusive right to sell each home, sapping productivity. According to Norm Miller of theUniversity of San Diego, an average agent in Britain closes 40-50 deals a year, comparedwith just seven in America. 第三种理论是房地产行业并不像想象的那样竞争激烈。
在大部分地区，少数大型的经纪商掌控大部分交易他们定高手续费，引诱更多的人进入该行业：在1998 年到2005年之间，美国房产经纪人协会的成员数上涨了67%这些中介机构浪费时间，彼此竞争卖掉每个房屋的经手权使行业生产力走向衰竭根据圣迭戈大型的Norm Miller称，英国一所普通的房屋中介一年经手40-50个交易，而美国的一年平均只有7个 Cynics say the industry has captured its regulators. The property commissions of Americanstates are usually made up of brokers. Perhaps this is why many states have bannedcommission rebates-a form of discounting-or set up minimum-service standards that stopbrokers offering fewer services for less money. 愤世嫉俗的人称该行业俘获了它的监管者美国房地产业佣金一般是给中介经纪人的。
也许这就是为什么许多州禁止了佣金回扣——一种折扣形式——或是设立 最低限服务 标准以阻止经纪人少服务少挣钱的原因 The biggest cause, however, is probably the interdependent nature of the business. Sinceboth the buyer and seller are represented by agents in most transactions, brokers mustcollaborate to close deals at the same time as they compete for listings. Buyers agents havean incentive only to show their clients homes whose sellers offer them a standard 3%commission. 然而，最主要的原因大概是该行业相互依赖的本性由于在大多数交易中买方和卖方都有经纪人，而经纪人必须在互相竞争得到房屋资产数据的同时协作达成交易当房屋卖家给他们提供3%的佣金时，买方的经纪人才向他们客户展示代售房屋。
To solve this problem, many sellers agents offer to cut their own fee while still offering thefull price to the buyer s agent. Alas, word soon spreads that they are giving rebates. Thatmakes many buyers agents steer their clients elsewhere-either in solidarity with full-servicebrokers or because they fear a discounter will leave them with the lion s share of the work. 为解决这一问题，许多卖家的代理商削减自己的佣金同时仍向买方中介报全价这样的话，马上就有谣言传他们给了回扣这就使许多的买方中介把客户带到其他的地方看房子——或是与提供全包服务的中介团结一致，或是因为他们害怕贴现会给他们惹上大部分的交易工作 Such stealth discrimination is hard to prove: buyers agents can always say they ignored alisting because it did not meet their client s needs. But Colby Sambrotto, the founder ofForSaleByO and USR, a discount broker, says that after trying to sellhis own home in New York by himself, he was forced to hire an agent to get it shown topotential buyers. 现在还很难证明这种隐形歧视的存在：买家的代理商可以永远称他们忽略财产清单是因为其并没有满足客户的需求。
但是 ForSaleByO和USR网站的创始人Colby Sambrotto称，在自己尝试卖掉位于纽约的房产后，他不得不雇一个中介向潜在买家展示房子 Such retaliation is hardly universal: Mr Sambrotto says it was a regular exception ratherthan the rule for his firm s clients in most markets. But because discounters need to make upfor lower commissions with higher volumes, even a small amount of discrimination is oftenenough to drive them out of business. The demise of the 6% commission may still beinevitable. But for now, it seems a long way off. 这样的报复心理并不是普遍的：Sambrotto称对于他公司的各个市场的客户来说，与其说是规则，不如说是 正规的例外 。
但是由于折现需要用更高的数额弥补较低的佣金，就算是小丁点的歧视都足以把他们赶出这个行业6%佣金时代的终结可能仍是不可避免的但是就现在来说，仍是长路漫漫。