A form of specification which readily lends itself to several important uses is exemplified in Figure 48. A. B. Segur of the Red Cross Institute for the Blind in Baltimore used a modification of this plan in surveying the Chicago stockyards. It has been developed somewhat further and is now being used by the Harvard University Bureau of Vocational Guidance in its surveys of occupational opportunities for physically handicapped men. The chart shows the sequence of operations in a concern manufacturing rubber tires.

Each block on the chart is the exact size of the one printed below. The name of the operation or job appears in the center and the significance of each of the other sets of figures and letters are shown in the key.

The upper row of letters in the upper left-hand corner of the block refer to the qualifications and disabilities appearing after the same set of letters in the reference list of symbols which follows. The code is interpreted thus: The letter C under I on the block means that the third grade of intelligence

is required in polishing, while the figure I under M indicates that it takes an employee about I month to learn the operation.

Reference LIST OF SYMBOLS FOR JOB SPECIFICATIONS

I: Intelligence. A, highest grade executive capacity; B,
capable of acquiring and using technical knowledge
and directing others; C, ordinary intelligence, capable
of following instructions; D, all others of lower grade.
M: Months to learn the work required under average con-
ditions.

T: Training and education. X, illiterate; B, can read blue-
prints; R, can read and write; U, university or college
technical training; S, secondary school technical train-
ing; C, clerical training.

A: Arms. I or 2.

N: Nerves. N, normal; R, reliable; S, shell-shock.

H: Hands. I or 2.

E: Ears. N, normal; P, poor; D, deaf.

F: Fingers. o to 10.

K: Kidneys and other trunk organs. N, normal; F, fair;
W, weak; U, unfit.

L: Legs. I or 2.

R: Rupture or hernia. N, normal; H, hernia.

P: Pulmonary or lungs. N, normal; P, poor; A, arrested
tuberculosis.

S: Skin. N, normal; I, irritated; D, diseased.

V: Vision. N, normal; P, poor; B, blind.

The plan is quite flexible and can be adapted to fit any set of qualifications. By cross-references to organization and promotion charts, it is possible to get a complete story of the organization for the use of the employment department in comparatively little space.

Acquaintance With Supervisors

Besides a familiarity with the job, the interviewer needs a close acquaintance with those for whom he hires help. Even

the interviewer who has come from some department within the concern must keep constantly in touch with those who supervise employees, studying the employment needs and the demands of their departments as well as their personal peculiarities. He should attend foremen's meetings, meet executives at luncheon, visit both office and factory departments, and make frequent occasions for discussions of mutual interest with department heads as well as foremen and minor executives.

Knowing Sources of Labor Supply

An analysis of the sources of labor supply will reveal the lines of study outside of the plant which the interviewer ought to be encouraged to pursue. Does he deal with persons who come recommended by schools and colleges? Then he should learn something of their characteristics and how their courses of study differ; he should meet teachers, principals, or vocational counselors and form some judgment as to the relative value of their recommendations. Does he accept applicants from employment bureaus, from labor organizations, the Y. M. C. A., or charitable associations? Then his work suffers unless he has formed an acquaintance with their interviewers or secretaries and makes some clear distinctions as to the relative worth of the statements they make regarding the persons they send.

Familiarity With Other Plants

A familiarity with other plants and their methods will be an asset of immense value. If Smith is leaving the Jones Manufacturing Company, his story can be interpreted to much better advantage if the interviewer knows something of the Jones Company's methods of doing business or is acquainted with Smith's foreman. Even in a large city, the interviewer or employment manager who definitely pursues inquiries along

these lines will in the course of a few years find himself in possession of a surprising fund of pertinent information.

Use of Observational Tests

Those who have advocated observational methods for analyzing character or vocational aptitudes base their contentions upon theories which are pretty thoroughly discredited. The idea that the color of the hair or the shape of the face is directly associated with well-defined mental traits, is a mistaken one. Modern psychology makes such a view impossible. Moreover, the grouping of individuals into types, which is implied in determining character by observations such as those mentioned above, violates the well-established law of biological variation. In the mental as in the physical realm, no two individuals are alike, though each is an intricate and complex bundle of mental factors. And it is this infinite complexity of the factors which enter into the individual make-up, all distributed in any large, unselected group of individuals according to the normal curve of probability or the "law of chance," that renders classification according to types erroneous and futile.

Of the several variables or factors which the exponents of the observational method use, the most important are the ones least emphasized. Facial expression, posture, personal habits, physical condition including nutrition, the voice, manner, and style in writing and speaking, are always of much greater consequence than the texture of the skin, the color of the eyes or hair, or the configuration of the face. Given a normal mentality and physique, vocational fitness can be determined much more accurately by a study of home and social environment, education, and previous experience, than by any observational method yet proposed. Much more reliable methods of assessing human talents and shortcomings are to be found in the psychology of behavior than in