Do Writing Analyses Get the Job Done?

Phil Wizer of Scottsdale, Ariz., the owner of three Thrifty Rent-a-Car System Inc. franchises, said he has learned his lesson.

He said he recently hired an employee for a management position at his car rental business despite warnings from handwriting analysts, who said the candidate was impatient, inflexible and not well-suited to the job.

Though Wizer had relied on handwriting analysis for more than 13 years, he said the candidate “seemed so knowledgeable about the business, I decided to take my chances.”

Six months later, Wizer said, he fired the employee because “he had an attitude that kept flaring up and he just couldn’t communicate to customers.’

That experience confirmed his belief that handwriting analysis is an invaluable tool for selecting employees. Wizer is among the growing number of American executives using handwriting analysis to screen prospective employees.

Handwriting analysts say some Fortune 500 companies are among their clients. With the ban on polygraph tests last year and doubts surrounding pencil-and-paper honesty tests, many employers are searching for other methods to evaluate applicants.

But the use of handwriting in hiring decisions also is controversial, even among analysts, and there are some efforts to curb the practice. Critics complain that applicants sometimes aren’t told their handwriting is being examined.

Rose Matousek, president of the 400-member American Assn. of Handwriting Analysis of Hinsdale, Ill., said the method “still smacks of the occult, it is not totally accepted, and (some organizations) feel that customers will think they are a little kooky,” if they say they use it.

Handwriting experts said their analysis can accurately determine a candidate’s personality, strengths and weaknesses, suitability for a job, addiction and risk tendencies and even health disorders. The cost of an analysis ranges from $25 to nearly $1,000 per person, depending on the detail and time spent.

Businesses that use the analyses said they are worthwhile because they save time and money by helping them choose the best candidate.

Stella Vodenos, who has studied graphology for more than 15 years and is the president of Advancement Dynamics, a handwriting analysis firm in Baltimore, Md., said interest in the field has boomed in the past few years.

But that growth worries those who contend handwriting analysis amounts to hokum. “It’s very disturbing to us that businesses are using it,” said Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation for Claims of the Paranormal, a Buffalo-based group that examines claims it considers bordering on pseudo-science and genuine science.

His group, he said, is “very skeptical” about many claims made by handwriting analysts “because they have no scientific evidence to support them.”

Richard Klimoski, a professor of industrial psychology at Ohio State University who has conducted tests on the validity of handwriting analysis, said his research showed that handwriting analysts have no advantage in predicting job success or personality traits and that “there is no evidence to suggest it is a useful tool.”

Units of the American Civil Liberties Union are critical of firms that use handwriting for hiring because they “strongly oppose all arbitrary pseudo-science employment practices,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU. The Rhode Island ACLU has received several complaints this year about employers requiring handwriting samples from prospective employees, and Brown said he expects the frequency of complaints to increase as more companies use it.

Many handwriting analysts agreed that assessments can vary significantly depending on the training of each individual, and some organizations have strict rules limiting the groups their members can join.