Handwriting on the Wall: Secret hiring tool that reduces employee turnover

Ask any recruiter or human resource manager if they prefer to receive resumes digitally or hand written and 99.9 times out of 100, I’d be willing to bet that their answer will be “digital”. A hiring manager can download a job candidate’s resume, read it, and file it without ever having to touch a single piece of paper. Digital cover letters and resumes save a company time. In theory, the saved time means more production and more production means more money. But, does the time saved and increased production mean that they are any better than the hiring methods used in decades past? Not if you follow the lead of corporations like Ford, GE, Firestone, Royal Typewriter, United States Steel, IBM, Prudential Life Insurance, and Boise Cascade and government agencies like the CIA, FBI, and other crime investigators.

While digital resumes and candidate interviews are common today, some organizations feel they can’t hold a candle to a system that has been around since the 1600s. The science of analyzing a person’s handwriting, known as Graphology, is said to reveal much, much more about a job candidate than resumes or interviews ever can. Not everyone agrees. In an article I read called, “Using Graphology to Predict Performance?” , ERE basically calls the science hogwash. Most companies would agree with them. But, if Graphology isn’t a proven science, then why have major corporations and government organizations in the U.S. and Europe used it to determine who’s a good hire and who’s not?

According to an article called The Lowdown on Handwriting Analysis in Psychology Today, after just a few minutes of examining a person’s handwriting, an expert in Graphology can determine with 80 to 90% accuracy things like: where a person’s country of origin is, how intelligent they are, how emotionally stable they are, if they’re a leader or a follower, if they’re honest, if they use drugs or alcohol, what their physical activity level is, what their aptitudes and talents are, and even personality traits such as ego drive and risk aversion. Even your signature can reveal to a Graphologist whether you are the same kind of person in private as you are in public.

· Seita, which has annual sales exceeding $2 billion, routinely analyzes the penmanship of potential corporate managers. On Mr. Verdier’s desk, piles of handwritten letters could be seen. Sometimes the company merely wants a “grapho flash,” a quick, two-sentence assessment of a candidate’s principal traits based on the letter; at other times, when important positions are to be filled and a handful of applicants remain, a full analysis of the letter is requested.”It would be very badly viewed if a job applicant sent a typewritten letter,” said Jean-Pierre Verdier, the head of management recruitment for the state-owned cigarette manufacturer Seita. “We would have the impression that the person is trying to hide something.” In France it’s how you cross the T’s, NY Times

Graphologists say that the information they can obtain can help companies to reduce the rate of their employee turnover. Employee turnover costs a company time and money, which is what they were trying to save by using digital resumes, wasn’t it? Yet, the percentage of companies, recruiters, and hiring managers who actually use handwriting analysis as a hiring tool is extremely low. It is only recently that companies have started considering whether or not they should use personality matching services like those of companies like the ones offered by Liquid.CV.com.

Businesses tend to stick with time tested methods to get the job done, which makes me wonder why they aren’t adopting Graphology, that has been studied for centuries. I suppose most people, hiring managers included, fear that handwriting analysis ranks right along with fortune telling cards, psychic mediums, faith healers, ghosts, the loch ness monster, and UFOs. But, in an era when the news is full of people going off the deep end in schools and companies across America, why aren’t more hiring authorities at least considering it? It may be the fear of the legal implications? According to the EOCC however, it is perfectly legal and may in fact prevent discrimination issues.

· Donald Lott, a spokesman for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington has said that the use of graphology falls under the commission’s policy with regard to testing for employment purposes. “If that testing has a disproportionate impact in terms of its effect on certain classes of individuals and if those persons raise allegations of racial, sexual or other discriminations, then the testing facility stands to be exposed to the enforcement’s authority of the commission,” says Lott. The graphologist does not need to see the applicant, only the handwriting. He is therefore influenced only by graphological traits and is in no way biased by race, sex, appearance, etc. - Brainprints.com

On the other side of the hiring equation lies the job applicant. If an employer reads something in their graphology report that the company doesn’t like, it could mean a lost job opportunity. In an era where competition for jobs is at an all time high (let’s hope it’s reached it’s peak), job hunters and employees certainly won’t welcome handwriting analysis with open arms. Luckily for U.S. job hunters, only a small percentage of companies in America are using it as a hiring tool. In other countries, it’s a different story.

· In Europe, graphology is used widely in business to detect personality traits as varied as ego drive and risk aversion. In corporate America, though, it’s not an easy sell, despite growing recognition of the costs of high turnover (50% of the newly hired don’t last six months in the jobs they were hired for), and even though many CEOs are becoming smarter about hiring. It’s been 15 years since the Library of Congress changed graphology’s classification from “occult” to “behavioral sciences,” yet the practice still is dogged by the belief that it’s a fairground fancy. The Character Revealing Handwriting Analysis, Inc.Com

The business of recruiting and hiring an employee who is a good fit for your company isn’t easy despite the number of available people who are currently looking for a new job, especially today. Knowing if an employee is mentally stable or part of a terrorist organization, who is residing in the U.S., won’t be found on a resume nor is it likely to be discovered in an interview. On the opposite side of the spectrum, characteristics like creativity and honesty won’t be found on a resume, either. When considering who should be hired and who shouldn’t, maybe it’s time companies start considering personality matching as part of their hiring plan.

Some interesting facts about handwriting:

· Studies of thousands of people who have lost the use of their hands show that they eventually produce the same unique “handwriting” they had when they could use their hands. The Lowdown on Handwriting Analysis, Psychology Today

· In a 16-year study conducted by psychologist Herb Greenburg, President of Marketing Research and Survey Corporation, the question was asked: “What is the most important factor in job success?” After reviewing 350,000 employees at more than 7,000 companies, the study determined that: “Personality is the single most important factor in job success - not education, not experience, not age, gender, race.” Facts and History of Graphology, handwriting.com

· Graphology is the study of all graphic movement- it is not simply “handwriting analysis’ ” In addition to handwriting, a graphologist studies doodles, drawings, sculptures, and paintings in order to gain insight into the physical, mental, and emotional states of the writer or artist. The Lowdown on Handwriting Analysis, Psychology Today

· Other companies who use graphology include Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, The New York Jets football organization, The Utah Jazz basketball players and coaches, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals,
Gannett Newspaper Corporation, The Government of Puerto Rico, The Vatican,
Suhner Manufacturing. – Graphology Consulting Group

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