HELP OF PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CHOICE OF A CAREER 493 
position to realise why, he seeks so large an amount and so wide an extent 
of information. 
By the time the young person comes up for an interview the adviser has 
thus at his disposal a considerable body of information—of various degrees of 
reliability. Before he examines the applicant, he interviews one or both 
parents and learns still more about the applicant and about his parents, 
their character, their wishes and their circumstances. Meanwhile the 
applicant starts to perform one of the easier tests in a neighbouring room, 
and later he is asked, on the form which I now exhibit, to assess his own 
qualities of temperament and character. ‘This assessment, which he is 
found to give in a surprisingly honest fashion, forms a useful starting-point 
for detailed discussion about his personality in the course of subsequent 
conversations with him when his hobbies, interests and ambitions are con- 
sidered. Much information as to his temperament and character is also 
obtained by observing the applicant in his actual performance of various 
tests, especially in regard to his emotional stability, patience, accuracy, 
persistence, systematic procedure and the like. 
The whole examination lasts half a day and is followed by the psycholo- 
gist’s evaluation and consideration of all the information he has obtained 
from so many various sources in the light of his knowledge of occupational 
requirements, prospects and opportunities. He recommends finally, in a 
written report, as I have already said, not a single occupation but several, 
in the order of their preference, when possible. He follows up the applicant 
in his after career by corresponding with him periodically and asking him 
how successful and satisfied he is in his occupation. I throw on the screen 
data indicating the surprising success of his advice, when comparisons are 
made between those applicants who accepted and those who disregarded 
that advice. 
I show you also data proving the value of such advice when given, with the 
help of psychology, to elementary school children, and indicating its enor- 
mous superiority to existing methods. Realising this superiority, a few 
English education authorities are now taking steps to have some of their 
elementary and secondary school teachers effectively trained in these 
psychological methods. It is clear that the vocational guidance of elemen- 
tary school children, at least, should be the joint concern of (a) the school 
careers master, on the one hand, who has, for several terms before the 
school-leaving time arrives, been observing and testing the child and 
accumulating all possible knowledge about him so as to arrive at a broad 
occupational recommendation, and (b) the juvenile employment officer, on 
the other hand, who has received sufficient psychological training to appre- 
ciate the careers master’s data and knows far more fully than the careers 
master the detailed requirements, opportunities and prospects of particular 
occupations. For those who are likely to enter into the higher professions 
from secondary and public schools, an even more widely trained careers 
master is essential. 
The psychological aspects of all such vocational guidance work need to be 
supervised by a whole-time regional expert who would train those in his 
area in the psychological methods of guidance and assist them in their 
difficulties. Such is the future ideal for vocational guidance, if we are ade- 
quately to utilise the great help which the science of psychology unquestion- 
ably offers in the choice of a career. That help bids fair to render the 
vocational adviser’s predictions at least as reliable as the predictions of the 
meteorologist. If we could but bring ourselves to spend on psychological 
work in vocational guidance even what we now spend on forecasting the 
weather, or, still more, on testing materials and machines—what untold 
happiness and economies we should produce ! 
