EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY DEFINED 
ideas on the best way in which to hire applicants. There 
fore, even though there is some understanding between 
them regarding the general character of the applicants 
they wish to hire, their methods of selection are not stand 
ard, and their results are bound to be different. For in 
stance, it is quite within the realm of probability that 
each of two interviewers should interview in turn and un 
known to each other the same applicants, and that one 
interviewer should hire one-half of those interviewed 
while the other hired the other half. Even if a corps of 
interviewers should happen to work together harmo 
niously, the fact that the personnel of the corps is subject 
to constant change will result in a corresponding change 
in its standards of employment. In one year, an entirely 
new staff of interviewers may come into office, with the 
consequence that the entire method of hiring is radically 
changed. 
But even in smaller places, where one person does all 
the hiring, there is no guarantee of uniformity. To begin 
with, there is the same likelihood that the person who does 
the hiring will be succeeded by another. But in addition 
to this source of variability, each man in himself pos 
sesses a variety of moods and methods which make it im 
possible for him to produce standard results. On some 
days the interviewer will be in a jovial and sympathetic 
mood, so that he will find it almost impossible to turn 
away even the most unsuitable applicant. On other days 
he may be cross enough to turn away most desirable appli 
cants. Moreover, every individual is subject to certain 
prejudices of religion, race, caste, etc., which affect his 
Judgment. Unconsciously, these prejudices operate in the 
mental processes by which the interviewer selects from 
among the available candidates. If two applicants are