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Handwriting reveals the inner you

Catherine Quinn

Don't neglect your handwriting — it might just be what lands you your next job.

REMEMBER WHEN neat, legible writing was a prized skill? Before the digital age, when employees were valued for flowing script? Now employees can go weeks without scribbling anything more than a telephone number on a Post-it note. But that does not mean your scrawl does not matter anymore — writing analysis is an increasingly popular way to screen job applicants.

A swell in the popularity of handwriting analysis, or graphology, in overseas European recruitment could see the trend catch on.

"When used correctly, graphology can give a good indication of a person's personality structure, their abilities, ability to grow and develop, and perhaps most importantly, their integrity," says graphologist Margaret White, who uses her skills to assess job applicants for recruiters.

But while recruitment-graphology is growing, employers are reluctant to admit they use the technique. Why? Handwriting analysis is often viewed with scepticism and companies appear to be afraid that this sentiment will discredit the professionalism of their company.

But not all employers are so coy: London banking group Butterfields publicly states that it uses graphology for recruitment. As managing director Paul Turtle explains: "It is not used as the defining factor in the decision-making process. However, it has been shown to add an extra dimension to the jigsaw, which has frequently been validated once an employee is in situ."

The British Graphology Institute would certainly agree that the optimum use of graphology in recruitment is in conjunction with other methods. "Psychometric tests are fine, but they can be manipulated, as people can change their answers depending on what they think the company wants to hear," says a spokesperson. "But used in conjunction with graphology you can double check that one validates the other."

Cynics may suggest that the reason companies are reticent about revealing their use of graphology is because they use it without an applicant's knowledge — although this would be strictly against the ethics of any professional graphologist. "Graphology is always undertaken with the permission of the candidate," says the Graphology Institute.

Where problems may arise, of course, is in employers conducting their own impromptu analysis of an applicant's handwriting, based on little besides their own prejudices. For those of us with less than perfect script, this may certainly raise concerns when applying for jobs that call for a letter "in own handwriting." In fact, professional graphologists agree that bad handwriting is by no means a sign of sloppy work or a lazy attitude to employment — it can frequently mean a high degree of intelligence and enthusiasm.

In any case, it seems writing is getting better. "There was a significant drop in standards around 20 years ago," says Ms. White, "but then schools reintroduced copy books into schools, so in my opinion the writing submitted by people who are aged 20 or 30 have better handwriting than previous generations. From a graphologist's point of view, the legibility isn't necessarily an issue — but handwriting is impossible to fake, as opposed to CVs, which tend to be increasingly `embroidered,' shall we say. A person might be able to fool me for a few lines, but their true style will show pretty quickly — particularly if they're writing about something they're interested in."

All this probably sounds quite tempting to time-pressed recruiters, particularly if they've been burned in the past with an exaggerated CV, or simply a candidate who doesn't fit in with the team. "Graphology works very well as an assessment of whether a person will fit in with a company, or stick out like a sore thumb," says Ms. White. "For small companies in particular, this is cutting out a lot of risk."

As companies become ever more aware of the costs of recruiting, it looks likely they will be open to a number of new screening processes. And graphology certainly looks set to remain one of the ways in which job applicants are taken on, or written off. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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