The Use of Graphology in Hotels in Paris and  New York

Copyright 2002 by Joanne Henrion 

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Introduction

Published studies by Clark (1993), McCulloch (1993) and Bruchon-Schweitzer (1996) indicate that graphology is commonly used as a recruitment method in France. For example in France in 1989, a study was conducted revealing 93 percent of companies used graphology in recruiting, among which 55 percent used it every time or systematically, and 97 percent of headhunters used it all the time (Bruchon-Schweitzer 1996). Many large and prominent employers use graphology in employment decisions, and these and other employers use graphology to make promoting, and transferal decisions. However, there is a lack of similar information concerning the United States of America. In the United States, it has been practiced since the 1960’s, increasing in popularity in the 80’s and 90’s.  About six thousand companies have been reported to use graphology for employment decisions in America, however, this figure may be low because many other companies use graphology, without admitting it.

The current research was expected to provide further information with specific reference to the hotel sector. This choice of sector was predicated by the fact that hotels, as part of the broader labor-intensive service industry, are more affected by turnover and its related cost, and, in fact, they may be a prime candidate to finding and using better hiring methods and tools to overcome this issue.The objective of this study was therefore:

"to examine and compare the hiring methods used by hotels in France and the United States of America."

Method

A sample of 1,000 hotels was used in the study. Telephone Yellow Pages were consulted for Paris, France and New York City, USA. 500 addresses were selected randomly from each of the listings and a cover letter with a questionnaire was sent by post. The Paris covering letter and questionnaire was written in French and the New York City covering letter and questionnaire in English. Apart from the language used both questionnaires were identical in appearance and content. This single-page questionnaire was designed to establish a direct comparison between the cultures.

Respondents were asked about their hiring methods and practices. The precise question wording was “which of the following methods and practices do you frequently use when recruiting” and in French: “Quelles methodes, parmi les suivantes, utilisez vous de facon habituelle lors de vos recrutements?”

The questionnaire specifically probed for these practices: Interviewing; Checking References; Use of Recruitment Agencies; Using graphology, and Submitting Applicants to Psychological Tests. The questions required an answer of YES or NO, or a simple tick/check. The questionnaire was designed to indicate how graphology is used in conjunction with other methods. Fieldwork took place in March 2002.

It is clear from the response rates in Table 1 that respondents from the Parisian hotels were more co-operative than their US counterparts. The New York City hotels represented were, on average, more luxurious establishments (as evidenced by the average number of stars / category description) and offer more rooms (a mean of 343 rooms per establishment compared with the 45 rooms in Paris). However the US hotels tend to be more independent or affiliated to smaller chains than the Paris hotels.  It must be stated that the standard deviation on these results indicates very wide dispersion of answers, so these observations are purely directional.

Table 1 - Sample Profile

Recruitment Practices

Across the full sample the use of graphology, as a hiring tool, is limited to 15 per cent of hotels, this is shown in Table 2. In the US only 6 per cent of the respondents use it – compared with 18 per cent in France.  

The results indicate that the use of graphology is greater the higher the level of responsibility of the job applied for (20% of Paris hotels use it for their senior managers, 15% for middle management and 11% for employees). If this does not prove that graphology is more relied upon for senior hiring, it suggests increased caution and care in hiring senior management also evidenced by the higher percentage of use of all hiring tools. (see Table 3)

Table 2. The Use of Graphology

In France handwriting analysis use (18 per cent) is still less than other tools: 97 per cent of hotels interview prospective employees, 86 per cent check references and 29 per cent use headhunters. The score for graphology is only greater to that of psychological testing, used by 12 per cent of hotels.

Other national or cultural differences in hiring methods and practices can also be highlighted, by a direct comparison of answers provided to the questions asked. The following table compares the answers of the Paris sample to that of the New York City hotels that responded positively to the questions.

Table 3 Practices in France and USA  

Interviewing is a systematic procedure in the hiring of senior or middle management (100% and 99%) and is slightly less used for employees in the US (93%). In France only 80 per cent of senior managers are submitted to interviews, and the percentage increases as the level of responsibility decreases (90% for employees). This surprising finding on the French sample finds no answer within the questionnaire or its analysis. This result may be assumed to be the consequence of difference in the type of hotels. The French hotels responding to the questionnaire and stating that they did not interview are either part of large chains or corporations (and it is likely that hiring senior management is a corporate level decision), or half of them using headhunters, probably, delegate the process to them.

Similarly, checking candidates’ references is a less frequent practice among the French hotels (87% vs. 100% at senior management level). In the case of senior management candidates, half of the hotels rely on headhunters and, probably, delegate this responsibility to them. Use of headhunters is more prevalent in the USA for more senior candidates (56% vs. 30%), however, French use it more for employees (17% vs. 6%). Psychological testing is marginal in both countries. In both cases it is predominantly used in association with graphology (70%) and / or headhunters (76%). Differences have been evidenced between practices of each country. The comparison should also be made in terms of assessment of the effectiveness of the hiring process by both nationalities.

The French Case

Since so few of the New York City hotels use graphology, the following analysis is limited to the Parisian group in which 32 hotels claimed to use graphology and 142 did not.

Hotels using graphology for any type of applicant tend to be slightly more luxurious (3.1 vs. 2.6); to have slightly larger hotels (58 rooms vs. 42) and tend to be more independent, or belong to smaller hotel chains. However, this profile is only directional, since the dispersion of the answers among each group (as measured by the standard deviation) is high, thus no definitive conclusion should be drawn from this sample. This is shown in Table 4.

Table 4 - Graphology User Profile by Hotel Classification (n=174)

Candidate Evaluation Tools in Use

In order to understand the role of graphology as an evaluation tool in the hiring process, comparing the differences of use of other methods between those hotels that do use graphology, and those who do not can be indicative. Graphology is more frequently used for senior positions; out of all the hotels submitting candidates to handwriting analysis: 85 per cent of these hotels do it for senior managers; 73 per cent for middle management and 60 per cent for employees. This suggests that the higher the degree of responsibility, the higher the need to use graphology as a method of understanding the profile of the candidate. Hotels using graphology, on average, tend to rely less on interviewing as an evaluation tool.

  Table 5 – Graphology user profile

For senior positions, graphology can be viewed as an additional process to gain further insight in the candidate profile, whereas, for lower positions, graphology seems to become a substitute. Fewer hotels using graphology, interviewed employees, whereas, almost all (99%) of those who do not use handwriting analysis interviewed their employees. Checking references can also be viewed as a substitute to using graphology.

On the contrary, seeking help from hiring professionals such as head hunters, and relying on other tools such as psychological tests appear related to the use of graphology implying that the use of these practices are correlated: 75 per cent of Paris hotels using graphology do use the help of headhunters whereas 18 per cent of hotels not using graphology do not use the help of headhunters. Additionally 63 per cent of Paris hotels using graphology submit candidates to psychological tests, whereas 3 per cent of hotels not using graphology do not.

Best Practice 

Another approach in comparing and understanding hiring methods and practices is to compare the behavior of those hotels that believe that their hiring practices are good to those who think they have room for improvement. Satisfaction regarding hiring practices was measured by six questions, answered on a 4 to 1 scale (4 = I Agree to 1 = I Disagree).

Table 6 – Agreement with statements

(Rated on a scale 4 =Totally Agree  and 1 = Totally Disagree)

The Hotels that raise issues about the hiring process, believing that it is too long and expensive, or those that believe their turnover rate is too high share a number of traits: None of them use graphology; They utilize less on psychological tests; Fewer use the help and services of a headhunter.

Another analysis examined perceived benefits of the hiring process and these results point to similar trends noted in the analysis  which concerned hotels dissatisfied with hiring. They reveal that checking references and interviewing are more frequently associated with good hiring decisions. Hotels satisfied with their senior management and employees favor use of graphology and reliance upon psychological testing or headhunters does not appear to be a strong predictor of good hiring decisions.

Conclusions

Across the full sample the use of graphology, as a hiring tool, is limited to 15 per cent of hotels. In the US only 6 per cent of the respondents use it – compared with 18 per cent in France. This finding confirms prior studies and literature, which indicated a more marginal use in the US. However, the small percentage of the French sample is in conflict with former studies which implied that graphology was more commonly used in France (Clark (1993), McCulloch (1993), Bruchon-Schweitzer (1996).

The results indicate that the use of graphology is greater the higher the level of responsibility of the job applied for. If this does not prove that graphology is more relied upon for senior hiring, it suggests increased caution and care in hiring senior management. For senior positions, graphology can be viewed as an additional process to gain further insight in the candidate profile, whereas, for lower positions, graphology seems to become a substitute. Fewer hotels using graphology, interviewed employees, whereas, almost all of those who do not use handwriting analysis interviewed their employees. Checking references can also be viewed as a substitute to using graphology.

References

Bruchon-Schweitzer M., (1996). Some French studies in selection and assessment. In Smith M, Sutherland V (Eds.), International review of professional issues in selection and assessment, Vol.2, pp.165-168. New York: Wiley.

Clark T., (1993) Selection methods used by executive search consultancies in four European countries: A survey and critique. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Vol. 1, pp. 41-49.

McCulloch S., (1993)  Recent Trends in International Assessment. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Vol. 1, pp. 59-61.  

Notes

1.      Joanne Henrion Email JoanneDenis@wanadoo.fr  Joanne has a Masters in Political Science (MPA), concentration in Human Services. This article is based on a thesis submitted as part of a Masters of Science from The Sage Colleges / Sage Graduate School in Albany New York, USA. Paper submitted in English and edited by Nigel Bradley in November 2002.

2.      The Likert Scale wording and weighting was as follows: Totally Agree/ Tout a fait d’accord = 4; Somewhat Agree/D’accord = 3; Somewhat disagree/Pas d’accord = 2; Totally disagree/Pas du tout d’accord = 1.

3.      The Hotel category wording and equivalent star ratings were as follows: Luxury/Tres Grand Luxe *****; Top Class/ Grand Luxe ****; Very Comfortable/ Luxe ***; Comfortable/Grand Confort**; Quite Comfortable/Confort *

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  12 November 2002