run a tight ship

[vectra]

Hello,

Here is a memo sent to me by a student.I can't agree with some of the points and have made corrections:
We recently interviewed three candidates for this position.
We have decided to appoint Joana Pelc.
I will briefly describe the candidate`s strengths and explain the reasons for our decision. Joana is the best candidate to be a good leaderfor the vacancy. First of all, she is the youngest candidate, she is full of enthusiasm and bright creative ideas. She is a person with has a big an extensive work experience, it inflences much on her leader skills. Maybe she is not a natural leader, but and she knows her strengths and weaknesses. During the interview she seemed to me came across as a very energetic person. She is a very strong personalityand she is able to take hard decisions. Her communicative skills are excellent, she can communicate her ideas, and staff respect her, as think she cares about them. She can sign all neccessary agreements with such abilities. She has already signed several iomportant deals.Sometimes she can be agressive, but I think it can be useful to run a tight ship. It is very important that she has been working here since leaving school, she knows all about the company and she has a clear idea vision of where the company is should be going. Her business vision will help to be successful.

I think the idiom 'run a tight ship' is used incorrectly in the memo. The student just tried to use one of the idioms we are studying now. Answers.com gives this definition: When an organization is run like a tight ship, few allowances are permitted for unorthodox procedures. If an employee is aggressive in their style trying to meet sales targets, it does not mean the company 'runs a tight ship'. Instead of this idiom I would say 'Sometimes she can be agressive, but I think it can be useful under certain circumstances.'

What is your opinion?
Thank you for the time and help.

[SoothingDave]

You are correct, the expression is not used correctly.

[Barb_D]

This is completely unrelated to grammar, but if you are teaching them business English, you might be interested anway. It would be completley illegal to pick a candidate using age as a factor. In the US, if a person wrote this memo and it were filed, and later one of the other candidates claimed they were discriminated against because of their age, this would be a smoking gun. I would suggest the student leave in the part about energy and enthusiasm and omit the reference to age.

[JohnParis]

Also...
Joana is the best candidate for the vacancy.
No, she wasn't a candidate for the vacancy, she was a candidate for the job.

Sometimes she can be aggressive, but I think she can run a tight ship. This may be what your student meant.

John

[Verona_82]

Hello,

She is a person with has a big an extensive work experience,

I think 'experience' is uncountable in this sense.

[Bennevis]

That's correct.

She has extensive work experience.

[vectra]

Thank you for pointing out such an important thing-age discrimination.I will definitely pass this information on to the students next week.

This is completely unrelated to grammar, but if you are teaching them business English, you might be interested anway. It would be completley illegal to pick a candidate using age as a factor. In the US, if a person wrote this memo and it were filed, and later one of the other candidates claimed they were discriminated against because of their age, this would be a smoking gun. I would suggest the student leave in the part about energy and enthusiasm and omit the reference to age.

[vectra]

Thank you for pushing me in the right direction. I had a chat with the student over Skype and it turned out she meant exactly what you said in your comment about Joan being able to run a tight ship. Also, thank you very much indeed for 'candidate for the job'.

Also...
Joana is the best candidate for the vacancy.
No, she wasn't a candidate for the vacancy, she was a candidate for the job.

Sometimes she can be aggressive, but I think she can run a tight ship. This may be what your student meant.

John