Chapter I 
THE JOB OF THE SELECTING AGENT 
The CCC "Personnel Department* 1 
Each CCC selecting agenti/ is an official representative of 
the Civilian Conservation Corps* He is a member of that "personnel 
department" which is concerned with selection of the large working 
force employed in its camps* He and his 4*000 associates deal with 
young men in every State and in every county in the country* Select¬ 
ing a quarter of a million youths from a much larger group of appli¬ 
cants is the annual job of this "personnel department." 
The work of CCC selection has many fundamental similarities 
to the activities of the personnel department of a large business con¬ 
cern. Both the selecting agent and the business personnel director 
have responsibility for selecting the man-power which carries their 
enterprises forward. In order to accomplish his work effectively, 
each must follow a well-recognized procedure. 
Knov/ledge of CCC Camp Operations 
The first step in that procedure is to obtain a thorough 
understanding of the purposes of the organization, the requirements 
of the jobs, and the opportunities for training, employment, advance¬ 
ment, and wage or salary increases. As the business personnel direc¬ 
tor must know these things about his business, so must the selecting 
agent know them about the CCC camps - what they do, how they operate, 
what they require of and offer to the men they employ. The selecting 
agent uses every possible opportunity to visit the camps and talk with 
the operating staff - the camp commander, the camp superintendent and 
the educational adviser. He watches the men at work. He observes 
living accommodations, training opportunities, and becomes well ac¬ 
quainted with camp regulations and routines. If, as in a few cases, 
he is located too far away from camps to be able to visit them, he 
obtains information about the operating phases of the camps through 
his supervisor and through printed publications. Thus, he becomes 
well acquainted with the purposes, the requirements and the oppor¬ 
tunities of the Civilian Conservation Corps. 
Informing the Community 
The second step which is usually taken by both the business 
personnel director and the CCC selecting agent is to interpret to the 
community, especially to that part of the community from which good 
1/ Hereafter the term "selecting agent" (except in a few instances 
which are specifically noted) is intended to mean the local se¬ 
lecting agent who actually takes applications, conducts inter¬ 
views, and exercises judgment as to which applicants are to be 
certified for enrollment in the Civilian Conservation Corps. 
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