Reading Read the article below about the changing role of human resources departments. Choose the best sentence following the article to fill each of the gaps. Do not use any letter more than once. The best person for the job Employees can make a business succeed or fail, so the people who choose them have a vital role to play Employees are a company’s new ideas, its public face and its main asset. Hiring the right people is therefore a significant factor in a company’s success. On the other hand, recruiting the wrong staff can lead to disaster. If the human resources department makes mistakes with hiring. Keeping and dismissing staff, a business can disappear overnight. Many companies now realize that recruiting the best recruiters is the key to success. Sarah Choi, Head of HR at Enco plc, believes that thinking commercially is a key quality in HR. “Every decision an HR manager makes needs to be relevant to advancing the business. (1) That’s no longer the case. HR managers have to think more strategically these days. They continually need to think about the impact of their decisions on the bottom line. (2) For example, a chief executive will expect the HR department to advise on everything from the headcount to whether to proceed with an acquisition.” Why do people go into HR in the first place? Choi has a ready answer. “I think most people in the profession are attracted by a long-term goal. (3) Nothing happens in the company which isn’t affected by or doesn’t impact on its employees, so the HR department is a crucial part of any business.” Not all operational managers agree. An informal survey of attitudes to HR departments that was carried out last year by a leading business journal received comments such as “What do they actually contribute?” (4) As Choi points out, salaries have never been higher and, in addition, HR managers often receive substantial annual bonuses. Despite the financial rewards, HR managers often feel undervalued, and this is a major reason for many leaving their jobs. (5) However, a lack of training and development is a more significant factor. “These days, good professional development opportunities are considered an essential part of an attractive package,” Choi explains. A But rising levels of remuneration demonstrate that the profession’s growing importance is widely recognized. B At one time, a professional qualification was required in order to progress to the top of HR. C Other departments and senior executives used to see HR managers as having a purely administrative role. D Since it’s one of the few areas where you can see the whole operation, it can lead to an influential role on the board. E Being seen as someone who just ticks off other people’s leave and sick days does not help build a sense of loyalty. F They therefore need to be competent in many aspects of a company’s operations.