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EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
ticeship. It is necessary to discover, first of all, what this 
candidate’s training has been, particularly his education in 
mathematics. In order to ascertain this he is given a 
mathematical test. This test will indicate quite clearly 
whether the boy has had the necessary preliminary educa 
tion and whether he is sufficiently well up on what he has 
studied to warrant immediate admission into the course. 
However, in addition to this it is desirable to know 
whether the boy possesses the right kind of natural ability 
to make him a successful journeyman. This is a more 
subtle problem; but in order to obtain a forecast of the 
boy’s development, tests which have previously proved 
their significance in this respect are given. These tests, 
described in the chapter on tests for apprentices, do not 
involve education or training in any particular subject but 
rather the ability to think and act quickly and appro 
priately in certain desirable directions. When these two 
facts have been ascertained; namely, the boy’s education 
or acquired ability, and his. capacity or innate ability, it 
can be intelligently decided whether or not he should be 
taken into the apprentice course and trained in the voca 
tion of a tool maker or some other trade. 
To take another illustration, let us consider an applicant 
for the position of stenographer. Such a candidate may 
be said to have already chosen her vocation. However, 
it is nevertheless a question whether her choice and her 
training make her valuable enough in that vocation to 
justify her selection by the employment office. In order 
to decide this question it is necessary to know, first of all> 
whether she has the necessary education in the fundamen 
tals of her work. To determine this, spelling, grammar, 
and punctuation tests are given. Besides this, it is neces 
sary to know whether she has had the necessary training