222
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY
and others would be asked in a different manner. To ask
questions without this fact in mind is to invite answers
which will contribute very little valuable data to the
ensemble of facts upon which the selection of an applicant
must ultimately be based.
Finally, these principles apply also to the higher types
of work for which psychological tests are as yet inadequate.
If it is difficult to interpret appearances and to ask intelligent
questions of ordinary candidates, it is infinitely
more difficult to do so with applicants whose work is far
more complex and intricate. For this reason, it is the
customary practice of the employment office to send applicants
of this type to men who are themselves in higher
positions, on the assumption that the superior knowledge
which these men have of the work in question will enable
them to conduct a more satisfactory interview with the
prospective employee. This assumption is undoubtedly
well founded. The man who is familiar with a certain
kind of work is in a position to ask questions about that
work which are far more intelligent than those which an
interviewer not so familiar with the work can ask. However,
even here there are grave possibilities of error in the
same direction as those to which the ordinary employment
interviewer is liable. The man higher up is likely
to be just as subject to prejudices and incidental signs as
the employment manager, and often more so. Although
more familiar with the requirements of his work, he may
be less able to tell whether the candidate before him has
the ability to meet those requirements. He may not have
the experience or the technique necessary to ask just those
questions which will give him the knowledge about the
applicant which he would like to have. In short, it does
not follow, simply because a man has been successful at a
