Drug and lie detector tests
Linda Seltzer
you apply for an engineering job there you have give a handwriting
sample for analysis, and that you have to take psychological tests.
It is not unusual to ask a person about details of marital and family
life. Is this only true for military-related jobs, or commercial
ones too? These are supposed to be tests for "emotional stability".
T. Scott Pyne
Donning my asbestos armor, I venture to wonder out loud if this is
a byproduct of an attitude of religious zeal in that country. It
seems reasonable to expect that a country which lacks (mostly, if
not totally) freedom of religion would lack many other basic freedoms.
I imagine that Israel believes itself to be in a constant state of war,
and justifies suspension of individual rights, invasions of privacy,
etc. as necessary to prevent armed insurrection by non-believers.
I just hope that (a) those engineers who object to the tests can
bring their expertise to the U.S., and (b) those people who fervently
believe in the tests stay away from us.
Me? I wouldn't work for a company (or in a country) that had so
little respect for my professionalism as to want to test me for
drugs, etc. I rarely even drink, and don't use anything else,
but it simply isn't anyone else's business. If someone's work
performance suffers because [s]he is chronically under the
influence (of anything!), terminate that person for poor job
performance, nothing more or less.
Last I heard the various drug tests weren't even all that accurate.
I applaud the chairman (Rep. Gary Ackerman) of the House committee
that invited a pro-testing witness to go fill a bottle without
warning.
Scott
"Eek! Get away from me with that blowtorch!"
=============
T. Scott Pyne
...!seismo!hadron!tsp
t...@hadron.UUCP
Jan Steinman
This happens all the time right here in the U.S. How many times have you had
to fill out essay-type application questions on the spot? Did they offer you a
typewriter? Have you ever seen phrases like, "Tell, in your own writing, what
skills and qualifications you have for this position."
Many personnel people have training in graphology or grahpo-analysis. Although
many consider it on par with fringes such as astrology or phreneology,
handwriting analysis is particularly useful in detecting mental disease,
chronic alcoholism, and criminal tendancies. Although the results of an
analysis would probably not of itself disqualify a candidate, it might indicate
that the candidate's references should be checked with particular care.
IBM and ATT are two companies identified by Nadya Olyanova as using handwriting
analysis as a routine part of their hiring procedure, and N. M. Bunker reports
that just about anytime you apply for a job and have to fill out long
handwritten sections, your writing will be analyzed.
[1] Nadya Olyanova, <Handwriting Tells>, 1969, Bell Publishing Co., New York.
[2] M N Bunker, <What Handwriting Tells You>, 1965, Nelson Hall Co, Chicago.
(It's amazing what you can find in garage sales!)
:::::: Artificial Intelligence Machines --- Smalltalk Project ::::::
:::::: Jan Steinman Box 1000, MS 60-405 (w)503/685-2956 ::::::
:::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans Wilsonville, OR 97070 (h)503/657-7703 ::::::