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EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

When  the  applicant  has  been  admitted  into  the  waiting
room  reserved  for  that  particular  purpose,  the  next  step
is  to  take  his  name  and  address,  and  to  look  up  his  previous ­
  record  with  the  concern.  Whether  the  applicant
admits  having  worked  with  the  company  or  not,  it  is  still
advisable  to  take  this  step.  If  the  applicant  is  a  former
employee,  and  if  the  industry  has  kept  a  faithful  and
systematic  record  of  all  its  employees,  this  one  step  will
greatly  simplify  all  subsequent  steps  in  the  employment
procedure.  If  such  a  record  as  the  individual  activity  record ­
  described  in  Chapters  XXII  and  XXIII  has  been
maintained,  it  will  be  possible  to  tell  at  a  glance  when  and
where  the  applicant  has  previously  worked,  the  kind  of
work  he  was  engaged  in,  his  earnings  at  that  work,  how
these  earnings  compared  with  the  earnings  of  his  fellow
workers,  his  average  attendance,  the  reasons  for  his  leaving, ­
  his  special  qualifications  or  shortcomings,  and  finally,
the  foreman’s  opinion  of  him.  Any  one  of  these  items  may
be  sufficient  to  decide  whether  or  not  the  applicant  shall
be  rehired.  The  opinion  of  the  foreman  is  a  particularly
potent  factor,  for  no  matter  how  desirable  a  man  may  be
in  certain  other  respects,  if  the  foreman  or  supervisor
has  a  distinct  antipathy  or  dislike  for  a  worker,  it  may  be
inexpedient  to  place  that  worker  under  him.  To  be  sure,
a  foreman  who  manifests  such  an  antipathy  too  frequently
in  the  face  of  an  objective  record  to  the  contrary  will
soon  draw  suspicion  upon  himself  and  upon  the  validity
of  his  judgments  of  human  nature.  A  record  of  this  kind
works  both  ways.  For  the  moment,  however,  while  the
applicant  is  applying  for  the  return  of  his  old  job,  this
record  would  apply  only  to  him.  In  addition  to  a  record
of  this  kind,  it  is  also  possible  to  make  use  of  the  records
of  the  physical  examination,  the  psychological  examina-