A graphological love affair: Why France still picks job applicants based on their handwriting

While there remains a romantic curiosity around graphology, the analysis of handwriting to determine someone's personality, the practice in today's Europe – much like the ink-penned letters – has gone out of fashion. But not so long ago, it played a surprisingly crucial role in decision making, particularly in its birthplace, France, where it was used more than any other country to judge whether or not to give someone a job. 

While it may seem surprising in our digital age to use such seemingly arcane methods, it's estimated that even just 10 years ago between 50 and 75 percent of French companies still used handwriting analysis to some extent to sort through prospective candidates. And many companies continue to be convinced of its powers.

"I tried other things, but they were no good," says Marc Foujols, manager of a Paris real estate firm. "Graphology finds the main characteristics of a person – not everything but a lot."

Christophe Dherbecourt, who has 25 years in human resources at a communications firm in the French capital, echoes a similar sentiment, saying that to this day it still allows him to ask candidates "the right questions." Twice his firm rejected an applicant when handwriting analysis supported suspicions that they would be difficult employees.

"It's impressive what you can pull out. I had it done when I was hired here," says Dherbecourt. "They showed me the results and I felt it was 80 percent right." Perhaps aware though that for many, the practise of judging someone by their handwriting seems to belong to a bygone era, to the point of even being discriminatory, he stresses that it is necessary to have reliable and sensible practitioners: "Of course, you can have graphologists who say any old rubbish."

A psychological science?

Indeed, graphology has attracted many charlatans, and skepticism has grown around the practice along with the shift to computers, especially after some studies debunked claims by leading exponents of graphology. Even in France, such gauges for judging potential job candidates are quickly being replaced by American-influenced psychometric tests. 

But while proponents admit it may not be an exact science, they stress that it's still a body of work to be taken seriously. Veteran British graphologist Emma Bache is one example. A handwriting expert since 1989, she's worked for global media giant Conde Nast, the world's largest cooperative financial institution Credit Agricole, and has had graphology columns in The Times and Financial Times where she's analyzed leaders' handwriting from Rupert Murdoch to Saddam Hussein to Donald Trump. 

She says that from a relatively small sample of handwriting – judging factors such as the size of letters, angles, shapes, slopes, spaces, links, order, and pen pressure – she can reveal insights into the personality and character of the individual. That included their reliability, energy levels, social skills, honesty and even health issues, as well as compatibility between couples and business associates.

"I think it's absolutely fine to be skeptical about [graphology]," she tells CGTN Europe, "but you can understand that handwriting is a form of fine motor coordination, and it's controlled by our brain, not by our hand." For the qualified, she explains, it's essentially a psychological study, open to interpretation, but still with quantifiable comparatives regulated by experts that make its conclusions more scientific than the digital-savvy may think.

"For every single facet of handwriting, there have been tabulations connected to personality typing," she says. "So in theory, if I was to analyze someone's handwriting here, and then somebody in Australia or somebody in India looked at exactly the same handwriting, we should come up with pretty much the same result."

Tracey Trussell, of the British Institute of Graphologists, says finding a good graphologist is essentially like looking for a plumber: "[The service] is only as good as the person doing it." And for those claim graphology is not a science, "year one of our training is all about measuring and assessing on a scientific basis."

Manson vs. Mother Theresa: a real-life test

To give an example of how this scientific basis works, Emma Bache was presented by CGTN Europe with two handwriting samples without being told the authors. The first was by Mother Teresa, a nun who dedicated her life to serving the poor, but was also known to in some cases to be dogmatic and intolerant.

"This first one that I'm seeing is incredibly regular. It's quite slow writing," says Bache. "This person wants the reader to see themselves as very orderly and in control," she adds. "I can see by the width of the stroke and the pastiness of it that the pressure is quite strong. So there's a lot of energy here."

"They can have quite a lot of tension within themselves to be seen to be doing the right thing. There are quite long T bars, so they're very determined, very ambitious. There are circles within circles, which is nearly always a sign of somebody who can be discreet. But I'd go a step further here to say that they're actually quite secretive."

She then looks at another, this time from Charles Manson, a charismatic but paranoid delusional cult leader who orchestrated several murders in California in the 1960s. "This one is very different," she says. "This is slightly out of control. It's certainly more creative writing, but not necessarily in a great way. They've got a retracing of the strokes… but in a rather manic way, and the pressure is uneven." 

She states that this means "emotionally, they're all over the shop and quite moody and quite unstable. I'd say the T bars are exceptionally long. For instance, a T would go right across the word, going on to the next word. So there's a determination there which I would say would spill over into aggression." 

Considering what we know of these two people's personalities, Bache's blind reading is surprisingly spot on, and if what Bache says is true, another trained graphologist would also come to similar conclusions if presented with the same samples.

France's love story with handwriting

While such analysis may be fascinating, the question does remain why so many French employers in the 21st Century, where handwriting is going the way of the dodo, would still use such methods to choose someone for a job?

One reason could be that it's because the country helped originate the formal practice. French Catholic priest, Jean-Hipployte Michon, born in 1806, is thought to be graphology's father, while his follower Jean Crepieux-Jamin literally wrote the 'ABC of Graphology'. Combined with early 20th century psychology, modern day graphology came into its own, with a slew of government recognized organizations promoting the study. 

Or it may be due to France's leaning towards more abstract assessments: a natural suspicion towards Americanized personality tests where humans are pigeonholed into one of several categories via multiple choice questions.

Caroline de la Tournelle, a French veteran graphologist who still helps companies understand potential employees via their handwriting, says the practice continues to have use today. Her ability to decipher letters has influenced whether hundreds of people got jobs, helped police track death threats and even saved a child that was being abused.

"Our writing comes from the heart, from our cardiac movement, through the nervous system and to the end of our fingers and through the pen," she says.  "We are full of nuance, but three things never change" – how emotional and energetic we are, and how much we rely on outside stimuli to act.

Important issues while choosing a candidate. And many companies stress that it's not the one deciding factor in choosing an applicant: experience, interviews, all of the regular markers play a far more important role. Their handwriting simply gives a little bit more information. 

"Pressure is always the first thing I look at," says de la Tournelle. "How hard they pressed, how the writing moves, how it is organized... it all has meaning." 

And as for the digital takeover, the UK's Emma Bache says that while handwriting may be on the way out, the interest in psychology has never been stronger. "I think people are using pens and pencils to actually write their thoughts down," she says. "The younger generation is more interested in psychology than perhaps my generation."

But what we are losing, she laments, is the art of letter writing. "I know it's a slight adjunct to what I do because I'm interested in the personality of the writer, but I really would like to promote everybody to just write one letter a week." Indeed, perhaps it would offer us a little more insight into our correspondent's state of mind than the number of smiley faces used in a text message. But only an expert could tell us. 

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