THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD 
2 4 7 
which she later displayed. An electrician’s ability to 
write as shown by his application blank is likely to be a 
very poor sign of his ability to set up motors. At best, 
the process of employment is a staged process, and the 
activities which an applicant is likely to manifest under 
these staged conditions are not the activities which go 
to make up his truest self. And to judge him by the 
irrelevant acts which he commits under these unnatural 
conditions is to do him and the industry concerned a 
grave injustice. 
The difficulty just described is a fundamental difficulty 
and one which has been universally recognized. Never 
theless, it can be in a large measure overcome. One way in 
which to mitigate it is to make it possible for the applicant 
to express his true self in terms of relevant rather than 
irrelevant actions. The interview and the employment 
mechanism must be so arranged as to enable him to give 
an actual demonstration of his ability. For instance, if a 
man applies for work as a lathe hand, a lathe should be in 
readiness and the man should be given a few representative 
tasks under the eyes of an expert mechanic. The manner 
in which he goes about these tasks—it will not be neces 
sary to complete them—will enable the expert to place an 
estimate on the ability of the applicant. A man who claims 
to be an all-round tool maker can be given a similar trial. 
In fact, it is advisable to have in the immediate vicinity 
of the employment office a complete equipment of repre 
sentative machines and operations which can be used for 
this purpose. In this way, a large number of applicants 
can be given an opportunity actually to demonstrate 
their ability, and thus furnish a fairly reliable basis upon 
which to make an estimate. 
The probable objection to this plan is that it ties up a