The Write Direction

Melissa Schorr

Sunday, Jan. 31, 1999 | 10:35 a.m.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But, sometimes, a single written word is worth a thousand pictures.

That's according to handwriting analysts, or graphologists, who say they can assess our personality from a few scrawls.

Analysts across the country say the technique, which has been around hundreds of years and is common practice in Europe, is becoming increasingly popular among American employers for screening their potential new hires.

"Companies are finding out that when they hire people, it's because of their technical skills and abilities, but when they fire people, it's always because of personality problems -- drug use, absenteeism, inability to deal with people," says Mark Hopper, president of the 15-year-old Handwriting Research Corporation, based in Phoenix, Ariz. "Employers are starting to make sure the personality of the person they bring in is compatible."

The use of handwriting to pre-screen a job applicant is only one technique that employers are relying on. Drug tests, background checks, social security verification, credit history checks -- nowadays, nothing in an employee's life is considered off-limits.

That's because hiring is "a million dollar handshake," notes Widney Herpenstein, vice president of marketing for the Manpower temporary employment agency. "It's much easier to make the right decision up front."

Experts point to various factors for the increased caution on the part of employers.

The rise of illegal aliens has made validating social security numbers crucial. The rise of drug use has made drug testing de rigour. The fall of integrity has paved the way for credit and background checks. And the rise of discrimination litigation has opened the way for supposedly neutral, bias-free testing devices, such as handwriting sampling.

"This is a completely nondiscriminatory tool," Hopper notes. "We can't tell a person's race, religion, age or gender."

One might think that in a tight job market, where applicants are scarce, employers might be forced to tone down their screening to find the right employees. But that is not the case.

In fact, human resource executives agree that this is the time -- more than ever -- not to let their standards down. "Never loosen up," Artie Nathan, human resource director for the Bellagio, says. "Your standards are your standards."

And for the most part, employees go along with whatever is requested of them.

"Most people go ahead and take the test, they do what's required," UNLV management professor Dr. John Kohl says. "They have no idea what will happen if they refuse to take it. They think, 'If I don't do this, they're not going to hire me.' "

The problem, he says, is that a lot of companies do a lot of screening practices that are "flaky," such as relying on "honesty" or "personality" tests that haven't necessarily been validated to predict success for the job for which they are screening.

"(Employers) do some odd things with no justification," he adds, telling of the time he applied for an executive job with a Fortune 500 company that asked him -- Kohl has a Ph.D. -- to take a California Achievement exam, solely because the company's vice president liked the test. "Employees have a right to be concerned, (to say) 'Why are you asking for that?' "

Jeremy Gruber, the legal director of the American Civil Liberty Union's Workplace Rights Project, says the organization opposes the use of graphology.

"Employers can be lazy," he says. "They think it's an easy and accurate way to weed out undesirables. The truth is it just doesn't do that. Proper background checks, these things reflect what kind of performance your employee will be doing. These are weak excuses for proper managment."

He notes that a 1986 study in the scientific aspects of graphology, called "Graphology and Job Performance," found only a "medium correlation" of success for the practice.

But graphologists insist that handwriting analysis can help employers make a better choice.

"These days, turnover is so expensive and people are so litigious, it's important to get the right people," says handwriting expert Sheila Lowe, whose California company offers employers a software package that will analyze applicants' handwriting.

Graphologists claim that handwriting displays every aspect of the personality, including factors such as integrity, creativity, secretiveness and stability.

But how does the way we cross our t's and dot our i's reveal our inner souls?

"The science of handwriting is based on the fact that everything we do with our hand comes from our brain," explains Las Vegas handwriting expert Antonia M. Klekoda-Baker, a certified document examiner. "If our thinking is fast, the handwriting is fast. If you write large, it's like saying, 'Hey, look at me.' If you write small, it's saying, 'Don't look at me, I'm in my own world.' There are 120 different ways to cross a 't' and 40 different ways to dot an 'i' -- and everything means something."

"It's the tool for the millennium," Klekoda-Baker adds. "It's scientific and it's a very powerful weapon against being conned by someone. Handwriting tells very real truths."

And resumes often don't. "Studies say 54 percent of resumes are falsified in some way," Hopper points out. "But most employers still look at your experience, your resume, to make a decision about whether they should hire you, so (much of) what they're looking at is irrelevant. You could be an alcoholic pain in the ass -- and it doesn't show up in the resume."

"They've got background checking and resume and skills testing, but this gives them another piece of the puzzle," says Lowe, who is working on a book for the "Idiot's" series called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis." "Never would I suggest they use it as the sole determining factor. Handwriting does not tell everything -- but it does give a lot of important information."

That includes whether or not you're well-suited for the job for which you're applying.

"Some people are designed for leadership and some aren't," Hopper shrugs. "The presidents of most banks would make lousy tellers. People are different animals."

But what about those who contend they should be judged on their record, not their predilections? What if you apply for the job of bank president and they tell you that you should be a teller?

Experts are quick to concede that the practice is only a prediction of potential, not a declaration. "Handwriting only shows potential" Lowe says. "We don't know if someone is going to act on their potential. We don't have a crystal ball.

But, she adds, employers who ignored her recommendations have "lived to regret it."

One client, a plastic surgeon and head of a large practice, hired a doctor against Lowe's advice. The doctor's analysis "didn't look good," she recalls. "He was likely to have tantrums. But the owner said, 'I've checked his references, they say he's fine.' "

Fast forward nine months. Two doctors left the practice to start their own, and this particular doctor was placed in charge. Suddenly, his behavior became, as Lowe delicately puts it, "inappropriate."

"It cost him (her client) a quarter of a million dollars to get rid of him," she soberly notes.

That may make it worth the upfront cost: A typical analysis costs $30 to $50, while a more extensive report can cost up to $250.

Statistical evidence of how many employers are turning to handwriting analysis is hard to come by. "That information is hard to get because a lot of companies don't like to reveal that information," Heidi Harralson, president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, says.

A 1986 study found that approximately 3,000 American companies experimented with graphology, according to Gruber. Some U.S. companies that have reportedly used the technique include Xerox, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Citibank, Bristol-Meyers, Allied Signal and Hewlett-Packard. Locally, Adult Assisted Living group homes has used the process for screening its home care workers.

But the field of practitioners is small: There are only about 200 graphologists in the country, says Lowe, who puts out a newsletter for those in the field called "The Vanguard."

She notes that the last five years have brought a major change because of high profile cases that used graphology, such as the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. "When the media looks at something with credibility, the rest of us do," she notes.

Hopper, whose firm has worked with more than 600 clients, says that his business has doubled.

"The percentage of people who are open to it is significantly stronger than 15 years ago," he says. "The most common reaction is, 'I'm very curious about it, but I'm still skeptical.' "

"More and more, I think people are beginning to accept it as a science and art," says Las Vegan Betty Gammon, owner of Adult Assisted Living, who occasionally uses the technique to see if people applying for work at her group care homes for the elderly will be honest and empathetic towards others' needs.

"It's a valuable tool," she says. "I have found (Klekoda-Baker) has been right on every single time. Right down to the letter."

But some people may still be reluctant to place their employment chances on the point of their pen.

"Handwriting analysis has, at best, a limited ability to identify a few personality traits, but is far too inaccurate to determine employment decision, especially when there are significantly better ways," Gruber says. "Employers should stop using pseudo-scientific stuff in making hard business decisions."

And be aware: Companies are not obligated to inform applicants if they are testing their handwriting. If you are asked to write out a paragraph on your job goals or why you are applying for a position, it's possible that it is going to be critiqued.

"It's an investigation that is totally legal," Klekoda-Baker says. "Your writing is no more private than the expression on your face."

But applicants should know they have the right to refuse the analysis -- and cannot be denied employment on those grounds.

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