Every human, whether in business or not, loves to have value for his or her money. Regardless of the transaction involved, be it exchange of goods or service, people do all they can to ensure value is got.
For organisations generally, there is one fundamental objective beneath every employment – profitability. There is perhaps nothing as painful to any organisation or establishment as employing a new staff who is just not meeting up on all KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), after several months of being in the organisation. Worse still, there is a compulsion for resignation.
So, the questions I know many employers may want to ask are, how can I get to know so much about a new employee or a prospective one within a very short time frame ? How do we know the rep that will do well in sales? How do we know the one that is resilient? How can you find out within a very short time an employee that has good organisational skills? etc.
It is no longer news that companies spend so much money to run background checks on candidates or prospective employees. This is wisdom. However, these results take a while before they are released, depending on the qualities desired in the new employee.
Graphological assessment is so unique in that it is fast, accurate and cheap. One uniqueness of graphology (handwriting analysis) is that it has the capacity to identify traits in the handwriting of people, which other psychological testing tools cannot reveal, within a few minutes.
Since the handwriting is like the graph of a persons’s behaviour on paper, there is a need therefore for employers – and especially the human resource managers – to pay attention to this tool, in order to have a robust recruitment process, in line with global standards. There is still what needs to be done before you employ that representative.
Having the right attitude to work is a lot different from a great aptitude. Such attitudinal issues, if not identified early enough, would still affect productivity eventually. The common mistake made is that employers assume that whoever has scored the highest in the aptitude test will naturally be the best salesperson.
In this edition, I will mention a couple of traits which can be found in the handwriting and their importance.
Reliability: This is one of such traits belonging to what is called success traits which many employers have selected as valuable to any establishment. The reliable person stands by his word, fulfills promises and finishes any task he starts. Such people are needed in any organisation.
There are a lot of ways of assessing reliability in the handwriting and for the benefit of readers of this column, a simple way of checking that is to examine the baseline of the handwriting sample of the prospective sales or medical representative with you. If the baseline is wavy or erratic, you have before you someone who finds it so challenging to meet up with deadlines – for example, report deadlines. They have to go the extra mile to maintain focus and discipline. They get tired and discouraged easily too.
Whereas if the baseline of the writing is like “ruler writing”- that is, so straight in appearance – you have before you a perfectionist. The ideal here is for you to get a balance. This requires skill and some measure of training. It will be helpful to engage the services of a handwriting expert.
Please note that the handwriting sample that is acceptable for this analysis is the one written on an A4 paper, not the type with ruled lines.
Good social skills
One very important quality a sales or med rep should possess is good social skills. This has to do with relationship. You cannot talk about leadership, membership, followership – or even hardship – without talking about relationship. Some of the most cerebral representatives still had to resign because they lacked this aspect of emotional intelligence.
If the handwriting sample has a right slant and is “large” in appearance, similar to the pictoral illustration below, it shows someone who is very expressive and outgoing. Such people aren’t likely to struggle initiating a conversation. They love duties that give them opportunities to move around than remain glued to one position.
Managers need this knowledge to deploy employees appropriately to various departments. Otherwise, there would be square pegs in round holes.
A handwriting sample that is very small in size, most times, is not typical of very successful sales people. It does not mean that they cannot work as medical or sales representatives at all; it only reveals that, in most cases, they are not likely to do with ease what the other reps with a big-sized handwriting and right slants will do effortlessly. All that ultimately affects efficiency at work, not just effectiveness.
We shall continue with other desirable qualities in the next edition; do not miss it. Always remember, if you must get it right, consider doing it the “write” way.
MacJob O.E (@dipomacjob)
diptoy20m@yahoo.com
07062456737 (Text)
