QUESTION TRADE TESTS 
229 
ship period. However, the dominant tendency in in 
dustry is the breaking down of the trades into specialties. 
The overwhelming majority of jobs to-day can be learned 
in from one day to three weeks. It is little more than use 
less to develop trade tests for such a variety of quickly 
learned tasks. It is much more valuable to find tests for 
innate specific abilities, for the lack of trade knowledge 
is not a serious hindrance for a task which takes only a 
short time to learn. 
In order to obtain the most efficacious results from the 
use of question tests it is highly advisable to ask the ques 
tions in connection with an actual demonstration in a 
prepared demonstrating room. However, it is well to 
have a short series of prepared questions for use in the 
employment office, in order that the more flagrantly unfit 
and ignorant applicants may be eliminated at once. Those 
candidates who pass this preliminary set of technical 
questions will then be allowed to pass into the demon 
strating room, where they will be asked to demonstrate 
certain important activities of their trade under the eyes 
of a skilled observer. In this connection, a further series 
of questions can be held in readiness, questions which con 
cern the actual work in hand and also the various tools 
which must be used for that purpose. As a preliminary 
demonstration and set of questions, a very successful 
procedure is to have displayed before the applicant a set 
of tools, both appropriate and inappropriate. The can 
didate can then be asked to select those tools which are 
commonly used in his trade and to name them as he picks 
them out. This is a very simple test, but one which has 
been found very effective in separating the sheep from the 
goats. The suggestion made by one of the workmen and 
telated in Chapter VI is also a very useful device. A great