QUESTION TRADE TESTS
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only way in which this knowledge can be obtained is
through the applicant’s past record. If the applicant has a
past record in the same company this is a simple matter.
If not, it will be necessary to write for information to past
employers whose names are given as references. However,
answers to questions of this kind must invariably be discounted.
Unless an employee has been flagrantly lazy or
committed an outright crime, a previous employer will
hardly ever have the courage or desire to say anything
detrimental about him, especially when he is trying to
make a new start elsewhere. While this is a tribute to the
generosity of the ordinary employer, it is at the same
time a fact which generally discounts the value of all
references. It may almost be stated as a rule that an
interviewer should never give much weight to endorsements
from other sources unless the exact nature of these
sources is known. As for the item, has tried other things and
not liked them, nearly every man who has failed in previous
positions will give this as his answer. He is quite unlikely
to say: “I have tried several kinds of work, but I was a
failure every time.”
Another extremely important item is loyalty. The presence
or absence of this popular quality is evidently to be
determined by questions concerning the applicant’s attitude
toward former employers. There are various ways
in which the interviewer may ask these questions, but
the substance of them all must inevitably reduce itself
to something of the following form: “How did you like
your last employer?” What answer may the applicant
be expected to give to such a question? If he was laid
off for lack of work, he may simply say: “I haven’t any
kick coming. I was laid off when the work ran down.”
However, if he was discharged for incompetency he is
