8 4 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
proper ability and technique required by clerical work; and 
it needs some more searching and impersonal method to get 
at these very desirable facts. In the case just discussed, 
superficial appearance and a personal impression might 
easily have meant the loss of a very desirable worker. 
At the time of this writing, nine hundred and thirty- 
five clerks had been selected on the basis of these tests or 
similar tests developed in the course of subsequent ex 
periments. The results of these selections were carefully 
followed up and recorded on the form containing the 
record of the applicant in the tests (see Appendix). It 
will be seen, by reference to this form, that provision is 
made for a periodic follow up, at the end of the clerk’s 
first, second, third, and sixth months of employment and 
finally, at the expiration of a year’s work. The results 
of this follow up showed very clearly that the tests were 
an aid in the selection of clerks. The great difficulty, 
however, in finding the true value of the results was the 
fact that the estimate had to be based upon the personal 
opinions of a large number of different office and section 
heads. This brought into the situation the very defects 
which the psychological method seeks to avoid, the 
prejudices and variations of the human equation. For 
instance, the person following up the results of certain 
selections might come to an office head and ask: “How 
is Miss getting along?” “Oh, she’s no good at 
all,” might be the answer; “What did she do in the 
tests?” It may happen, and it frequently does, that the 
particular clerk in question has done well in the tests, 
and the examiner is then called upon either to justify 
his selection or admit his mistake. Now in many cases of 
this kind, the mistake has been found to lie with the per 
sonal opinion of the office head, and later events have