Popular Science Monthly 



37 



ment and aptitude, or to know instinctively 

 the effect of size, texture, coloring, etc. 

 In the past it often happened to me to be 

 dazzled by a man's mentality or a woman's 

 charm, so that I was totally blind to in- 

 dustrial or moral unfitness. 

 I saved time by acting 

 on impressions; I wasted 

 in the end thousands of 

 dollars. 



The immense difference 

 in earning power of a good 

 combination of materials, 

 equipment and men, com- 

 pared with a poor combina- 

 tion is not realized. If the net 

 value produced by a thirty 

 per cent machinist amounts 

 to one hundred dollars a 

 year, the net value of a one- 

 hundred per cent machinist 

 may be betw^een six thou- 

 sand dollars and seven thou- 

 sand dollars. If we were 

 certain that the person se- 

 lected would stay perma- 

 nently we could well afford 

 a one thousand dollar or 

 even a five thousand dollar- 

 test. But we are not cer- 

 tain. Why? Because we 

 don't know! Because it is 

 easier to take refuge in 

 plausible objections than to 

 exercise care and do some 

 thinking we refuse to select 

 carefully, assuming that it 

 is costly and difficult. 



How It Works in Practice 



While it is true that it 

 takes a long while to test 

 any man or woman in all 

 respects, the whole life 

 being perhaps not long 

 enough, it is equally cer- 

 tain that a great many 

 tests, weeding out all ex- 

 cept the one best in a hun- 

 dred, can be rapidly and 

 inexpensively applied. 



Recently a young man 

 was wanted for a minor 

 technical pnDsition on a rail- 

 road. The selection was 

 left to me. The following 

 advertisement was inserted 

 in several of the large 

 Metropolitan dailies: 



Motive-mental Type. Ob- 

 servant; p>olitic; secretive; 

 energetic; alert and active; 

 quick to grasp a situation; 

 good at investigating; criti- 

 cal; inquisitive but tactful; 

 agreeable, plausible manner; 

 practical and systematic ; will 

 follow up a subject until 

 it is satisfactorily completed 



Mental-motive Type. Sys- 

 tematic; exact and conven- 

 tional; critical; not ea?ily 

 influenced ; conscientious and 

 reliable; not venturesome — 

 must see his way clear; not 

 impulsive; self -restrained; 

 severe but reasonable; just 



"WANTED: Young man, American, technically 

 educated, of good address for a $60.00 a month 

 position with railroad company. Three months 

 probation then possibility of permanent employment 

 and promotion. Send three post-card photographs, 

 profile, full face, full figure." 



About three hundred 

 applications were accom- 

 panied by photographs. 

 CKer tvs'O hundred and 

 ninety were rejected in one 

 afternoon on account of 

 some manifest and undesir- 

 able quality. Some of them 

 showed by dress, bearing 

 and expression that they 

 were socially and other- 

 wise impossible. 



Others were belligerant, 

 obstinate, unteachable, ill- 

 tempered, cynical, self- 

 indulgent, dissipated, de- 

 ceitful, unreliable. Others 

 were weak. The whole 

 three hundred graded off 

 from a ver\^ desirable 

 middle ground of good 

 balance, aptitude and 

 character into extremes of 

 badness in one direction and 

 weakness in the other di- 

 rection. 



The ten picked out as 

 wholly desirable were sub- 

 jected to further tests. Al- 

 though we only wanted two 

 we finally took four. They 

 were so good we were un- 

 willing to lose them. Their 

 work has certainly proved 

 that we were not wrong in 

 selecting them. 



We use the photographic 

 method solely because of 

 its rapidity for a first 

 screening. Personal inspec- 

 tion is very much better 

 but it is not always feasible, 

 as applicants may be scat- 

 tered over a wide area. Do 

 I attempt to read photo- 

 graphs myself in selecting 

 employees ? 



I do not any more than I 

 operate the typewriter or 

 the adding machine or keep 

 the books or develop photo- 

 graphs or cook my own food 

 or make my own clothes. 

 I employ specialists. 



