Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-06


He was confident of such success ulti-
mately as would enable him to quit the
bank and give his whole time to the
bee business.
This isn't the story of a very spectac-
ular case. but it illustrates very well the
type of work which makes up a large
proportion Of vocational analyst
practice
I'm analysing character the firSt essen
tial point is to size up your man, not by
cardinal points as the ordinary man
would do but by multitude or sinaii
observations first. At the outset, 1t is
necessary to determine the mans dispo-
sition and temp erament This takes years
of experience and hard work. When Il
tell YOU tina. l often spend six months IN
studying a certain type Of man. simply
perhaps to see how he walks or eats. you
NAV get an idea as to the hard work at
tached to the study of human nature.
If YOU want to judge a house you have
to go inside the building. see the founda-
lions. study the strength of the structure
as we'll as it's acoustic properties. and SO
on Exactly the same procedure Is re-
quired in Judging men.
The man, of course, must be studieo
from the outside. but If the stuoy ot
made BY vocational expert. the 1aclal
expression. almost by itself. Will reveal
and possibly also the vocation pest
suited for him.
when once his character has been de-
termined definitely, the analyst still has
the problem before him of settling on
the type of pursuit which the applicant
should take up. In dealing with this
problem the analyst Shout be guided III
part by the age of the person studied.
If he be working on child he should
make sure that the kind of vocation he
picks out fits in with the little one
ayocation Thus. II a boy is by Voca-
ton d farmer. he should not be compelled
To ST udy medicine or any such PROBES
sion. simply TO please his parents or De
cause it SOUNDS nice to have DOCTOR lor
a title He should become farmer, pos
sibly scientific one. In any case. he
would be more productive as a POSITIVE
.armer than as a negative doctor.
But suppose the person under OBJ
servation Is an adult, who has been
lighting the battle Of life for years, has
9 position in the occupation which ne
follows that has taken him years to
build up. and is 80 situated that ne
cannot afford the Immediate financial
loss incident to shifting from MS pres
cnt line of work to some other. In
such a case as this 1t is usually mad
visable to counsel the man to give up
what he Is doing, even though he be a
vocational misht. Instead. 1T should be
the analysts task to study out some
hobby for the applicant to the end that
the pleasure he derives from his avocation
may dominate the distastefulness which
he experiences in his vocation. For in
stance, if the boy who was cut out to be
a farmer really does become physician
and grows to middle age in the practice
of medicine. matters may still be RENE
died if he cultivates scientific farm IN
his spare time as hobby.
You will notice that in telling now
Judge men l don't stress the necessity
for PSYCHOLOGICAL tests with instruments
of precision for the purpose or getting
exact records of attention. sense percep-
tons and so on. In fact. don't believe
that in work such as mine ultra-scientific
laboratory analyses Of character are nee
essary as yet A vocational analyst is
concerned above all with the human equa-
ton. and no mechanism-I don't care how
cunning 1t is--can measure this. As a
matter OF fact. if We were all examined
infinitely in a laboratory most of us
would have to be locked up. If all our
food were analyzed before eating we
would eat nothing. Laboratory research
is effective for investigating abstract
truths and underlying principles, but its
methods cannot be applied generally un-
der present economic conditions. If you
wish to buy horse. you don't go to a
doctor of zoology for advice because he
has written six books on horses. On the