A  PRACTICAL  COMBINATION  OF  EMPLOYMENT  METHODS  353
manager  will  recognize  and  at  the  same  time  deplore.
Such  applicants  should  be  handled  by  interviewers  as
material  of  the  utmost  value,  since  their  freedom  from
any  original  preference  allows  a  wide  range  in  deciding
where  they  will  fit  best.  After  the  application  blanks  of
these  candidates  have  been  carefully  examined  to  determine ­
  so  far  as  possible  their  preliminary  experience  and
training,  some  limitations  can  immediately  be  made  regarding ­
  the  general  field  of  work  for  which  each  is  fitted.
It  now  behooves  the  psychologist  to  bring  into  play  a
series  of  leading  tests  which  will  enable  him  to  tell  still
more  definitely  where  the  applicant  will  fit  best.  In  one
or  two  of  these  tests  the  applicant  will  undoubtedly  be
better  than  in  the  rest,  and  these,  then,  will  furnish  a
clue  as  to  what  further  direction  the  more  specific  tests
shall  take.  For  example,  in  the  work  upon  which  these
chapters  are  based  the  undecided  candidate  was  frequently
given  the  leading  tests  for  the  work  of  inspecting,  assembling, ­
  machine  operating,  and  clerical  work,  and  when  it
was  apparent  that  the  candidate  excelled  in  one  of  these
tests,  the  remaining  tests  for  that  specific  work  were
given  in  order  to  determine  more  definitely  still  whether
the  applicant  was  fitted  for  this  particular  kind  of  work.
Frequently,  when  newcomers  applied  for  general  clerical
work  they  were  given  an  arithmetical  test,  a  filing  test,
a  sorting  test,  and  a  posting  or  copying  test  in  order  to
determine  for  what  special  kind  of  clerical  work  they
should  be  further  examined.  This  may  seem  like  a  long,
expensive,  and  roundabout  way  to  select  applicants,  but
it  is  very  much  shorter  and  more  direct  than  the  ordinary,
haphazard  fashion  of  trying  out  an  applicant  for  several
days  or  even  weeks  at  one  kind  of  work  after  another
until  months  elapse  before  the  worker  strikes  his  metier.