222 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
and others would be asked in a different manner. To ask 
questions without this fact in mind is to invite answers 
which will contribute very little valuable data to the 
ensemble of facts upon which the selection of an applicant 
must ultimately be based. 
Finally, these principles apply also to the higher types 
of work for which psychological tests are as yet inadequate. 
If it is difficult to interpret appearances and to ask in 
telligent questions of ordinary candidates, it is infinitely 
more difficult to do so with applicants whose work is far 
more complex and intricate. For this reason, it is the 
customary practice of the employment office to send appli 
cants of this type to men who are themselves in higher 
positions, on the assumption that the superior knowledge 
which these men have of the work in question will enable 
them to conduct a more satisfactory interview with the 
prospective employee. This assumption is undoubtedly 
well founded. The man who is familiar with a certain 
kind of work is in a position to ask questions about that 
work which are far more intelligent than those which an 
interviewer not so familiar with the work can ask. How 
ever, even here there are grave possibilities of error in the 
same direction as those to which the ordinary employ 
ment interviewer is liable. The man higher up is likely 
to be just as subject to prejudices and incidental signs as 
the employment manager, and often more so. Although 
more familiar with the requirements of his work, he may 
be less able to tell whether the candidate before him has 
the ability to meet those requirements. He may not have 
the experience or the technique necessary to ask just those 
questions which will give him the knowledge about the 
applicant which he would like to have. In short, it does 
not follow, simply because a man has been successful at a