JOB  ANALYSIS

269

the  making  of  requisitions.  The  employment  office  receiving ­
  a  requisition  can  find  in  its  own  records  what  the
proper  specifications  are  and  select  its  men  accordingly.
To  be  sure,  it  will  not  always  be  necessary  for  the  employment ­
  interviewer  to  refer  to  these  specifications.  One
of  the  virtues  of  such  a  standard  practice  is  that  it  facilitates ­
  routine  and  soon  becomes  unobtrusive.  However,
it  will  remain  a  source  of  information  which  can  be
referred  to  whenever  the  need  arises,  or  whenever  a  new
interviewer  is  being  initiated  into  the  work.
This  chapter  began  with  the  statement  that  job  analysis
is  as  important  as  character  analysis.  Now  that  this
statement  has  been  amplified  and  a  practical  outline  of
such  an  analysis  been  given,  we  may  point  out  one  of  the
queer  anomalies  of  employment  work.  Whenever  an
applicant  applies  for  a  job  he  is  requested  to  fill  out  an
application  blank.  This  has  been  the  custom  for  many
years,  and  serves  as  the  basis,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent,
upon  which  the  applicant  is  hired.  Now,  if  it  is  necessary
for  the  applicant  to  give  his  own  specifications,  why  should
it  not  be  necessary  for  the  job  to  give  its  specifications?
In  order  to  bring  together  the  right  worker  and  the  right
job,  it  is  just  as  necessary  to  have  an  application  or  set  of
specifications  concerning  the  job  as  it  is  concerning  the
worker.  One  is  of  little  value  without  the  other.  If  the
analysis  is  conducted  as  outlined,  the  employment  office ­
  will  be  provided  with  a  set  of  standard  job  specifications ­
  to  which  requisitions  from  the  shops  can  refer.  The
application  of  the  worker  and  the  job  application  can  then
be  fitted  together  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  the  best  results. ­
  Only  when  the  man  applies  for  the  job  and  the
job  for  the  man,  will  there  result  the  best  union  between
them.