The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-01-22
ScoUiH Plan Cited h
 Article On Job 7rai1ing
Golfers Sends Representative to Study Connec- ticups Program of Training Defense Work ers-Dr. Mellicent Pond Ranked With Pio- neers.

The work of the WPA Adult Guidance Centers in Connecticut is described all too briefly in a feature article in last weeks Golfers under the title, How to Train Defense Workers" Henry Pringle, the author, implies that psychological testing has played an important part in this state in the sitting and routing of men to the defense industries.
 In preparation for writing the ar ticle, Mr. Pringle visited the Bridge port WPA Adult Guidance Center, one of the four in the state located at Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and Bridgeport, sponsored by the State Board of Education. He wat ched one of the candidates for job being put through few of the tests and then followed the young man through his training period in one of the State Trade Schools and into his eventual job.
 Connecticut Plan
 He outlines more in detail the Connecticut Plan originally set up in 1889 to help reduce unemploy- ment, and emphasizes its greater value now as a means of training men for the defense industries. His account of the scope of the WPA Adult Guidance Centers, however, is less specifically described.
 The WPA Adult Guidance Centers were first organized five years ago with a tiny staff of persons who envisioned the opportunity to aug ment and supplement the work of the vocational advisory personnel of the schools, to help with the per- sonality problems presented by the social agencies, and to test and classify acording to aptitudes those who were seeking jobs. Meeting with unqualified approval of the work, more trained and experienced psy- chologistS have been hired, several of them with praisworthy records in their fields.
 While the work in guidance and assistance to the social agencies has continued, the testing for work ap- titudes has grown to such propor- tions that each of the offices is booked ten days to two weeks in ad- vance. The reason for this conges- ton is two-fold. Tremendously in- creased number of young men very Sensibly want to know what kind of jobs they are fitted to do in the defense program; and because there has been no recent increase in the personnel of the Guidance Centers, the load has been doubled and trip led.
 Aptitudes
 Discovering mans aptitudes is not accomplished in few minutes even by trained psychologists. The tests alone take several hours ex- elusive of the time necessary for the psychologist to counsel the "teStee" after careful summary and analysis of the results of his tests. Advising person concerning decisions which may change the whole course of his life is not to be undertaken lightly, and the super visorS of the WPA Adult Guidance Centers and their staffs are nothing if not conscientious in their ap- proach to the problems of each in dividual. They spare no effort in finding the capabilities of those men who come to the Centers and in steering them into the right chan nelS.
 See that man sitting over there," said the supervisor at one of the Centers. His ratings on the Scovill Test, the Wiggly Block and the MacQuarrie Mechanical were poor. On the strength of those we never could recommend him for work ill any factory. We called him back next day, however, and gave him several nore tests and we discovered that he has high rating in a finger deXterity test"
 What are you going to do with him?" was the question.
 We are going to recommend that 'AS bC SAFC1l O JOb O41 oAAldA PdA Uo assembly-where I venture to say he will do very we'll"
 This plan of putting the right man into the right job by means of aptitude and psychological tests has proven so successful that several Connecticut concerns and the Con- necticut State Employment Service examine in this way all applicants for jobs. Among those organizations which have pioneered in the work is the Southern New England Tele- phone Company and the Scovill Manufacturing Company whose Dr. Millicent Pond has achieved national recognition for her work in this field. Many of the smaller industrial companies, recognizing the value of this testing. are using the services of the WPA Adult Guidance Gen. ters. So effective have been the in- dividual and family adjustments coming out of cases referred by the social agencies that more and more of this work is being done at the Centers.