Handwriting analysis has been used to catch crooks and determine compatibility, but recently companies have turned to the technique to screen job applicants.
Graphology, or the study of handwriting, can be divided two categories: handwriting identification and personality analysis, said Sheila Lowe, author and handwriting analyst at Sheila Lowe and Associates.
Today human resource departments ranging from large corporations to small-scale sales companies use handwriting analysis as a way to screen potential hires.
On the personality side
most people who are in the field are doing it for employers who are looking for the right person for the job. So we look at a certain application what the requirements are personality-wise for the job and see how well the person is going to fit
Lowe said.
Anna Koren, owner of Anna Koren Graphology Center, said companies also use graphologists to sort through résumés.
Especially now with the recession
you have many more applicants for each job. Sometimes they get thousands of (applications) and some companies ask that people provide their resumé handwritten
and then in a couple of hours
we can choose the best people to interview
Koren said.
The human resources department at Ohio University does not use handwriting analysis, said Betty Rex, administrative associate in human resources.
Although the use of graphology in hiring is increasing in America, most handwriting analysis is used in law enforcement.
(About) 99.9 percent of the time when I am going to court
it has to do with forgery identification. Most graphologists who testify in court are going to be talking about forgery. There have been few cases where they have been able to talk about personality
Lowe said.
Lt. Randy Gray of the Athens Police Department said the department has had handwriting identified in the past.
We use it a lot of the time for forgeries or bad checks. We send them off and get them analyzed
he said.
Though handwriting analysis has been debated as a dependable science, Lowe said it has been deemed effective in some studies.
Nothing in human behavior is going to be 100 percent because there are so many different aspects and variables. But handwriting analysis
