Employment Selection Day

Employment Selection Day is a ceremony that occurs in July for 16-year-olds on their last day of Education. At this ceremony, the 16-year-olds get their first Extra Employment position. Extra Employment positions tend to be undesired or tedious but still need to be done and are assigned. This assignment is random and based on luck however, the person’s Zone and Segment of residence are taken into account. All citizens that are eligible for this role must have at least one role of this type. Employment Selection Day exists to signify that they are old enough for a job.

The Assignment Process

The Assignment process goes as follows;

A cloth bag is delivered before the school day starts by a Messenger.
On the first half of the day, they are at school and are given no work to do.
The cloth bag is placed on the teacher’s desk.
When all students are there regardless of whether the pupils are sick or not the teacher takes hold of the bag.
A student comes up voluntarily but all pupils must collect their roles.
The student takes a sheet of A4 from the bag.
They unfold the page and can declare their role
- If they choose not to declare their role it is a bad role, but a bad role in the perception of the person, not of society.
The pupil then goes back to their desk to await their peers’ selections.
When it is lunchtime, if there are still students to be assigned roles, they will be assigned them during their lunch break. If, however, they have been assigned their role, they will be dismissed and their new role starts after their lunch break, as do those pupils that are still being assigned roles.

The A4 Page

The A4 Page details; what the role is, where it is in terms of Zone or Segment, who to report to when they find the building and if the role is levelled. Some roles are levelled, as they have a certain process broken down such as with manufacturing processes or with the complexity of the role.

Birdencaster's Captain of the Messengers' Office

The Role: Messenger
Where:
3 10
Captain of the Messengers Office
Western Pass
Report to: Simon Collins
Levelled: No
— Example A4 Sheet at Employment Selection Day

Notable Occasions

Sometimes the Mayor of Birdencaster can attend the Employment Selection Day ceremony. When this happens, it is seen as an honour, and these years are marked along with the students that were assigned at the school that year. The Mayor, when attending these ceremonies, takes the position of the teacher in the above bullet point list. When this occurs, the teacher stays and observes. and may also give emotional support to some assignees who were hoping too much for a particular role, or who hoped their role would be with their parents or caregivers etc.

When They Arrive

When they arrive at the new workplace, they hand in their A4 page to whom it says to report to, and they are shown how to do their new role. Their probation period of 8 months also starts. After the probation period ends, if they are good at the job they keep it. However, if they are not good at the role, they will be reassigned to another role from City Hall in 2 12. There are no social ramifications for when a role is reassigned unless it is the person’s attitude that is at fault. It is believed that a job will eventually stick and the person will not need to be reassigned.

Family Labour

It is common for children to help out in the family profession when they are too young to have their Extra Employment position. When they do get this type of position, there is nothing stopping them from continuing to help out at the family profession. They may be doing this less, as they may have been assigned somewhere else.

Unofficial Rules

While not encouraged, it is not unheard of to see pupils swap their A4 paper detailing their roles to their peers in the hope of getting a better role.

What Happens to 15-Year-Olds?

The school year is set out so that a person has their 16th Birthday before the Employment Selection day, so students that do have this occurring will be in the previous year group.