graphology helPS YOU HIRE!

There’s nothing costlier or more depressing than finding out you’ve hired the wrong person. Quite often, they just don’t live up to the glowing impression you formed of them at the interview.

So why not add graphology to the selection of recruitment techniques you’re already using? You might just be doing a simple question and answer session, or maybe you put them through complex personality tests or even roleplay and teamwork exercises - all to work out who they really are and whether they’ll fit into the role.

It doesn’t mattee whether you’re hiring a babysitter or high powered executive. Checking their handwriting against the checklist below will give you a powerful new way of getting under their skin.

WHO ARE THEY REALLY?

Handwriting analysis will help you understand what motivates your candidate quickly and efficiently, highlighting possible areas of concern as well as spotlighting their strengths.

Of course, ideally you’ll hire a professional graphologist. But there’s no reason not to run a sample of the candidate’s writing through the following user-friendly workout. You won’t get a definitive tool to label their personality traits or challenge their behaviour . . . but you will get some really useful ideas for questions you need to ask and areas you must explore. This little checklist might pack a punch, but it will cost you nothing!

GETTING THEIR HANDWRITING SAMPLE

How do you do this? You could of course just ask! Try to make sure they use plain, unlined paper, and write naturally, as if they’re scribbling a note to a friend (rather than copying from a book or writing verse). They can then sign and date it.

If they’re photographing it and emailing it to you, ask them to include the whole piece of paper, so you can see the area around the writing.

Alternatively, you can work with a shopping list or recipe on a scrap of paper, a message in a birthday card, a note in a diary. Anything can yield up interesting and relevant information, but obviously the more text is available the more information you’lll get.

Ready? So let’s go . . .

IS THE WRITING LARGE OR MICROSCOPIC?

This is an easy one. Very large writing goes together with a very large, extrovert personality - ideal if you’re looking for someone who has strong social skills, lots of social confidence and needs to be able to persuade and sell. If this person has a fault, it might be a tendency to gloss over the detail. Why? Because compared with all the other great things happening all around them, it’s relatively boring.

Very small writing, on the other hand, points to the introvert. This person is great at concentrating and focusing and won’t be lonely working on their own. They don’t need others to generate creativity; they can do everything just great without any help from anyone else. But all traits have minuses as well as plusses - their fault might be that they could become obsessed with detail, missing the bigger picture.

Most of us have writing that’s in the middle . . . neither massive nor tiny. This is the sweet spot. We are lucky because we can both be sociable when we need to be and concentrate on the task at hand.

DOES IT SLANT TO THE RIGHT, OR THE LEFT, OR IS IT STRAIGHT UP?

Writing that slants to the right shows an emotionally responsive, warm human being who reaches out to others around them. Quite simply, people matter to them. All things in moderation though: a very far forward slant - so much so that the writing is almost falling forward on its face - could indicate someone who is going to get over emotional when the going gets tough and won’t be able to think straight.

Writing that slants to the left shows reserve. This is someone who holds back and there’s normally one simple reason: they fear criticism. This is the individual who keeps their head down and does what they’re expected to do. It’s fine in moderation. But extreme leftward slant would point to a very difficult if not traumatic past . . . of the sort that could impact adversely on the present.

What about writing that is straight up and down? This is the individual who makes decisions with the head, not the heart. They stay calm in an emergency, and if there’s a negative to be had, it could be that they come over a little too detached in some situations.

Often called a ‘Hell Trait’, writing that has a slant that is all over the place reflects a personality that is also all over the place. This person can be moody, unpredictable, irritable. While most traits have a good and a bad aspect, extreme variation in slant is going to suggest extreme variation in mood.

heavy, medium or light pressured SCRIPT?

Heavy pressure speaks of a passionate personality: an artist, perhaps, but certainly someone for whom feelings go very deep. Someone whose pen bears down hard onto the paper is gong to find it difficult to let emotions go, including negative ones, which means they can sometimes bear a grudge. If the pressure is so intense that they actually scratch through the paper, beware as this could suggest they are so intense that they can be violent.

Very light pressure might indicate someone who isn’t necessarily going to throw themselves wholeheartedly into anything. Their attention might be engaged, but not necessarily for as long as you need it to be. Their attention or commitment might drift . . . if you’re looking for a recruit with the ability to go on working right through the night you have probably got the wrong person.

How about medium pressured writing? Again, the sweet spot is in the middle. Someone with medium pressure won’t get moody when things don’t work out exactly how they want them to, but at the same time they’ve got the vitality and sticking power to keep at a job until it’s done.

CLEAR THINKER REQUIRED

It wouldn’t be surprising if one of your basic requirements is someone objective who can think clearly. So look for clearly spaced lines where the ascenders don’t reach up and get tangled with the descenders of the line above.

Very tangled lines suggest very tangled, subjective thinkers who can’t operate outside crisis management mode. It’s almost as if they are trying to keep all the plates in the air. The effort means they’re not working at their optimum, but rather they are in crisis management mode all the time.

But as you know by now, all things are best in moderation, so make sure these clearly spaced lines of script aren’t so far apart that there are large unnatural spaces between lines. This would indicate someone who works in isolation, which might not work out if you need a team player.

THE MEANING OF THE THREE ZONES

If you divide cursive writing into three zones, you have the main middle zone with all the ascenders falling into the upper zone, and the descenders into the lower zone. So letters like ‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘e’ are in the middle zone, while letters like ‘t’ and ‘l’ are both middle and upper zone. Letters like ‘g’ and ‘y’ are middle and lower zone. Only the letter ‘f’ extends into all three zones.

So what does this mean? What you’re looking for is a nice balance between all three zones. Because writing that is predominantly middle zone (with hardly any ascenders or descenders) is going to be someone who lives completely in the present, focused on work, friends and family but possibly without many other interests.

Writing that is overloaded in the upper zone is someone who is very cerebral, but might not have the ‘rootedness’ in their day to day lives to implement their ideas. They are, literally, top heavy with thoughts.

If the script is heaviest in the lower zone, with more activity down there than in the middle or upper zone, you could have someone who is driven mainly by material desires and basic urges. It’s all a matter of balance.

CALLING ALL LAW ABIDING PEOPLE

Finally, if you’re looking for a law abiding sort of person, someone who will be happy to do things the way they’re normally done in your organisation, then look out for a straight margin. This is the number one sign of someone who will be happy to fit in and do things they way they are supposed to.

Very wavy margins demonstrate graphically that there’s a willingness to overstep the line, to ignore boundaries, and however creative this person might be, their behaviour might prove challenging.

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK!

So that’s it! I hope this swift run-through of some of the basic things to look out for in handwriting has helped you to look beyond the personality that your candidate is presenting to the real individual inside!

If you’d like a formal graphological analysis I’m always happy to help. Please don’t hesitate to contact me using my details below.