EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
258 
complex varieties of work. It is indispensable to separate 
applicants according to the degree of ability which they 
possess; for there is an infinite number of jobs requiring 
infinite kinds and degrees of ability. Therefore it is 
entirely inadequate to class people by their possession 
or lack of certain qualities. Unless some method of 
measurement can be applied to the qualities which are 
sought after, some reliable and standard gauge, then the 
detection of these qualities is of little value. They are too 
indefinite and too general to be of practical use. 
Another phase of the same tendency to describe jobs in 
terms of personal qualities is that represented by the so- 
called experts in character analysis. Aside from the ab 
surdity of being able to make experts in this art through 
a correspondence course of a few months, are the diffi 
culties which have been outlined. The character ex 
perts describe jobs in terms of personal qualities, and 
the qualities they enumerate are much the same as those 
mentioned. They also include such points as the size 
of the head, texture of the skin, such terms as mental, 
motive, and vital, and a variety of other equally general 
and personal qualities. Even if the expert in character 
analysis could surely detect the qualities he deals in, he 
would still be far from being an expert in fitting men to 
jobs. For the qualities in which he deals are just as 
vague and far removed from the practical aspects of 
employment as those which have been named. They 
are abstract, general, and they can not be scientifically 
measured. Consequently they mean nothing when ap 
plied to the practical task of hiring specific men for jobs 
requiring specific abilities. 
In contrast with the method of analyzing and describing 
jobs in terms of personal qualities, is the psychological