Handwriting Research Corporation

Handwriting Analysis Applications


Job Applicants
Employees & Teams
Personal
Investigations
Profiling Individuals Not Available in Person

Legal & Ethical Considerations.  See Technical Manual (pages 83-110).  In general, the U.S. Supreme Court considers handwriting a public behavior, like one's voice or facial expressions, and therefore is outside constitutional protection of privacy.  Therefore, unless a handwriting was obtained illegally (stolen), a handwriting sample can be analyzed without one's permission.  However, in general, we encourage that a test subject be made aware that their handwriting will be analyzed, with the exception of investigations and a few other obvious exceptions.  When evaluating a person's handwriting in order to obtain personality information, the results should be treated respectfully and confidentially, and should never be used as a tool to damage or to immorally take advantage of a person.  The laws pertaining to public figures are more liberal and permit greater freedom of disclosing personality information to the public.

Specific laws vary from state-to-state in the United States, and federal laws also amended from time-to-time.  We recommend that you contact your attorney should you have specific questions in this area.


JOB APPLICANTS

Objective personality information without relying on applicants' honesty or self-awareness from interview or
     self-reports

SELF-REPORTS:  Although self-reports have their place and have some value, they share inherent and
significant weaknesses:
1.  THEY ALL RELY ON THE HONESTY OF THE TEST-TAKER, (if the applicant lies or misrepresents themselves, the test results are useless),
2.  THEY ALL RELY ON THE SELF-UNDERSTANDING OF THE TEST-TAKER, (many people have false beliefs about how well liked they are, how friendly, how hardworking, how creative they are, not to mention modest people who understate their skills.  Obviously if your self-perceptions are off, and many of us are, then the answers to the test questions are also inaccurate.
3.  THEY ALL RELY ON THE TEST-TAKER UNDERSTANDING THE QUESTION, (many applicants guess or don't understand what the is asking of them),
4.  THEY ALL RELY ON THE TEST-TAKER TAKING THE SURVEY SERIOUSLY, (applicants and employees who take these surveys often don't care about taking tests and give little attention to how they answer questions),
5.  THEY ALL EVALUATE ONLY A PORTION OF THEIR PERSONALITY, (so you give a sales aptitude test, but it doesn't evaluate if they are emotionally unstable, etc. ).

    The above list demonstrates why self-reports are called self-reports.  How much weight should an employer place on the output which originated from the applicant themselves?  If an employer trusts what an applicant says about themselves on the self-report, then interviewing, background checks, drug testing, etc. would all be unnecessary.

    Obviously, the results have some utility but can hardly be given serious merit.  Why not simply just ask the person if they are honest, good with people, well liked, competent and so on?  From 25 years experience, we can tell you that most applicants will tell an interviewer (through a self-report or interview) that they are: team players, hardworking, creative, honest and seek challenge.  Of course an applicant's claim to these attributes doesn't mean they are true; ask any employer.  Research substantiates that the high job turnover companies experience is because employees do not have the above qualities that they claim, or that they are not matched to the right job or company, not because of insufficient job knowledge.  In sum, PEOPLE ARE GETTING HIRED BECAUSE OF THEIR LOOKS AND EXPERIENCE, AND THEN GET FIRED DUE TO PERSONALITY CONFLICTS.  Personality is exactly what handwriting analysis evaluates to help company and employee increase the chances of the right match.

    Most people have taken psychological self-reports and questionnaires at some point in seeking employment and can easily discern what the survey is attempting to learn about them.  Let's face it, what sales applicant wouldn't know which answer to put on this typical survey question?

                Would you rather: a) stay home and watch TV, or b) go meet new people?

    One job applicant told me that when the interviewer left him alone in a conference room to complete the "aptitude test" that he used the conference room telephone to call his friends to get the right answers!  Job applicants continually tell us of how self-reports given by employers are nothing more than a game to them; they answer the questions in a way to satisfy what the employer wants to hear, not what they necessarily believe.  Whether they guess the correct answer or not is irrelevant, as either way the answers are not a reflection of the test-taker, but only a portrait of who the test-taker thinks the employer wants to hire.  Go ahead, ask any sales person you know if this isn't true!

    And, unfortunately, most employers validate these tests on themselves.  The problem with this technique is, that an employer will answer questions honestly as they have nothing to hide or anyone to impress so the test results may come back accurate.  Imagine that, you tell the test the truth about yourself and the results come back accurately describing you!  Why would anyone be impressed with that circumstance?  This is not a true test of the test application for hiring.  Applicants have one thing on their minds when taking a test: tell the employer what they want to hear to get the job!  They will most likely answer ALL questions accordingly.  Interviewing has the same profound weakness.

INTERVIEWING:  Interviewing is necessary, but it is completely subjective!  Is there anyone out there that really believes that the interview process is objective?  Could any interviewer completely not be affected by an applicant's appearance, attractiveness, habits, mannerisms, expressions and so on?  The reality is people are eliminated for: a sweaty hand shake, facial tremors, being overweight, too short, unusual haircuts, mismatched socks, too good looking, too much perfume and a thousand other attributes that the applicant didn't realize.  The main reason for a job interview is for the interviewer to determine if you have the right "look."  Let's take a test.  Which sales person would you hire?

                    Sam:  Sam is 54, black, has a glass eye, is short and has no formal education.

                                                    or

                    Tina:  Tina is 24, caucasion, beautiful, sexy and has a 4 year degree.

    The truth is, Tina will almost always get the job.  Most interviewers won't admit it, but looks are critical!  We all discriminate; often it is wrong, it is often illegal, unprofessional, but we do it.  In the above example, Sam would have been the better choice.  You see, as Paul Harvey would say... as for the rest of the story, "Sam" is really Sammy Davis Junior... one of America's most talented individuals who could certainly sell!!!

    Handwriting analysis cannot determine: age, race, religion, attractiveness, or gender!  It is completely objective: measuring the personality of the applicant.  I cannot tell you how many times an employer, based upon our recommendation hired the "unattractive" applicant who turned out to be a top performer.  There is no correlation between talent and beauty (Stephen Hawking vs. Anna Nicole Smith).  Our job is to insure our clients value the personality fit and compatibility far more than they do the person's appearance.  I don't know how one could evaluate a job applicant more impartially than by using an objective device such as one's handwriting.

Profile out-of-town applicants without having to fly them in

    Many companies today interview job applicants from distant cities and will pay the expenses of flying in out-of-town applicants for face-to-face interviews.  This generates costs to the company of air fare, hotel stays, management time, picking up and returning applicants to airport or cab/ car rental fares, meals, etc.  If your company does this , consider obtaining a handwriting sample BEFORE you spend all that money and time to insure that the applicant is temperamentally the right person.  Another advantage is when and if the company does conduct a face-to-face interview, the employer will already have a complete profile of the applicant and know exactly what talents and shortcomings to look for!

    The process is simple: 1) fax the HRC Handwriting Instructions page to applicant and ask them to fax their handwriting sample directly to us.  2) Your company faxes to us the Order Form identifying the applicant's name and which profile type you require.  3) The profile results are faxed back to the employer with relevant personality information about applicant.

Discover applicants strengths & weaknesses before interviewing
Interview tool and guide (ask the right questions during the interview)

    Employers and interviewers frequently inform us that interviewing job applicants is a tedious, no fun, non-profitable, labor intensive process that results in a "blur" of interviews creating a near impossible way of separating one applicant from another.  Last week an interviewer told me, "I remember one of the applicants was not willing to work Saturdays, but for the life of me, I can't remember which person it was; I am so tired of interviewing that I'm just going to pick one."  Most companies have numerous managers interview before hiring, and they often do not agree on who to hire.  Not only is this expensive but unproductive without the aid of an objective tool.

    Before you waste time and money interviewing every Tom, Dick & Harriet, we recommend using handwriting analysis process BEFORE you interview.  Everyday companies unknowingly eliminate outstanding job applicants for weak reasons: typo on resume, live too far away, too young, inadequate experience, too many resumes to sort through, so they grab the top five resumes and interview only them.  The problem with traditional interviewing is that it requires a lot of time AND you interview the bad with the good, much like the labor of panning for gold.  You have to find the good applicants faster than this if you want to be competitive.  Remember you waste your time and the longer it takes you to find quality applicants, the more time your competitor has to find them too.

    Our $15 Pre-Interview Sort profile is the ideal method for sorting through more than 10 applicants at a given time.  This is how it works:  in your newspaper advertisement, request a handwritten cover letter along with their resume.  If you are using a recruiter, have them collect a handwriting sample (contents do not matter).  If your applicants are walk-ins, they hand write about 10 lines with a signature as they fill out the job application forms.  (Many of our creative clients have applicants hand write answers to questions such as, "describe your ideal job" or "how would you handle an unruly customer."  The applicants answers to these questions give us the handwriting sample we require and their answers may even help you to understand them better.)  You then fax the handwritings to us and we sort the applicants into four general categories: the outstanding, the terrible, the questionable and the normal.  You interview ONLY quality applicants.  Now that is a good use of your time!  Results in one day!

    After your initial interview, you can upgrade from the $15 analysis to a custom analysis made specifically for the job ($95) or go for the full-boat $225 Comprehensive Analysis; both include telephone consultations.  These profiles will give you insight into specific talents and problems to probe for during the final job interview.  As our clients can testify, without our analysis during the interview, all the candidates turn into a blur of sameness and they often have no idea where to probe for hidden talents of weaknesses.  One client found their top sales performer while interviewing for a secretary!  Without our profile, you can imagine the interview: "So how fast do you type?  Do you enjoy filing?  Wrong questions to ask a person with sales potential; but then, how could the interviewer have known???

Profile vendors (therapist, baby-sitter, landscapers, roommates, accountant, attorney)

    Other than profiling the traditional job applicant one thinks of applying at a company, our personal and corporate clients often profile their personal employees and those who strongly affect their lives.  Examples include:  profiling one's babysitter, nanny or au pair to insure they are gentle, honest and responsible.  Other examples include one's: landscaper, attorney, accountant, household roommates, home contractor, financial consultants, business partners, or literally anyone who has important access to your family, finances and well-being.

    Many of our clients have profiled their spouse or significant other.  We have often profiled x-spouses to find patterns of mistakes one makes in selecting spouses and provide professional counseling on how to prevent one from making the same marriage mistake, providing insight into why the mistakes were made.  We have profiled sperm & egg donors.  Think of it, a couple wants children and one partner is unable to conceive.  Most couples request pictures and health assessments of the donor candidates looking for a compatible and healthy participant.  The problem is that although a prospective donor may be young, attractive and be in excellent physical condition, they may be psychologically a mess; and guess what, your baby inherits those genes!

    We can profile one's psychotherapist to insure that the therapist possesses the right personality and skills to help their patient improve.  (It is not rare these days that the therapist needs more psychotherapy than the patient!)

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EMPLOYEES & TEAMS

Improve teamwork: discover both individual & team strengths & weaknesses

    The major difference between one company and it's competitors is not so often products/ services as it is their people.  Using handwriting analysis profiles to understand the executive team, sales teams, managers or any group of employees has tremendous advantages not possible from other sources.  First, unlike psychological self-report surveys, a handwriting is near impossible to manipulate to produce the results one wants, and it doesn't rely on others' opinions about themselves or others as in feedback team building be impartial.  With self reports or feedback techniques you will for the most part only reveal what the team members want you to know about themselves and others; it will have some value, but the results are hardly objective.  Frequently companies when planning for team building exercises or corporate executive retreats will utilize our services to facilitate a deeper understanding of why they are succeeding or failing as individuals or as a team.  How else can a company obtain an unbiased picture of what is taking place with it's team members?

    By profiling individual team members, one also discovers the corporate culture as well.  One of our eastern retail clients after having profiled their six executive team members discovered that five of the six were alcoholic, and that there was no communication with one another other than financial discussions.  When we presented the findings to the president, he retorted, "Well most everyone drinks, don't they?"  As for the impersonal interaction the team displays with one another, he responded with, "Could this explain why our company's morale is low and turnover through the ceiling?"

    It is amazing the insights discovered in evaluating a team of workers; everything from no creativity in the marketing department, to no sales skills in any member of the executive team, to top performers being held back by a jealous manager.  One company had customer service managers who were without exception completely indifferent to the concerns or needs of others (staff and customers!)  Once the team is profiled, and strengths & weaknesses are unveiled, it becomes clear the type of changes needed if any, the type of personality needed to improve the efficiency of the team, and so on.  One of our clients discovered that their most creative worker was not even invited to their management retreat!  Why?  She was a secretary!  Companies unfortunately see employees as their job title and often can not recognize one's hidden talents or interests.  This tool brings to the surface talents as well as limitations of the staff.

Improve employee performance through greater self understanding & one-on-one consultation with an HRC consultant

    Most of our clients submit writing samples of existing employees for a host of reasons.  Example: A man who had sold computers for a major computer wholesaler for 8 years applied to be a sales manager at his company when the position became open.  After an analysis of his writing, it was discovered he was better suited to direct sales and would probably not enjoy managing others, (excellent closing skills, but not team-oriented nor tolerant of others).  The company asked us to explain these findings to him.  During the telephone consultation, it was revealed that the REAL reason he wanted the promotion was to prove to his wife that he was "more successful than her father."  It is amazing the real reasons people pursue jobs.  Unfortunately, many reasons are not advantageous to the person or company.

    All of us at some time or another have applied for jobs for the wrong reasons.  Examples:  you get to travel the world, be with your family (or get away from them!), prestige, more pay, large company, job security, live on the beach, company car and more.  What HRC does is to evaluate the compatibility between what the job requires temperamentally and the applicant's talents, shortcomings and interests.  Money alone is not enough to make one happy in a job.  For example, if the job is too stressful for a person, no amount of salary can compensate.  When an employee's needs and abilities match the employer's needs, you have a good fit.

    Not sure yet?  Consider this, what 18 year old male would not want to work on the set of Bay Watch, the television show in Hollywood, as an assistant?  The beach, the beautiful girls, being outside, great pay, the excitement and opportunities to meet the famous?  The answer is that many young men would love the job opportunity, but not all of those young men have the right personality for such a job.  Could a boisterous, loud, controlling teenage boy who is used to telling others what to do survive in this job as an assistant?  No.  Simply because a job is desirous does not mean it is right for everyone.  Should every attractive young man or woman be a model?  Not if they are shy, private, dislike attention.

    One of the best ways to improve employee performance is to shape the job around the temperament of the employee, not the other way around.  Yet, despite this, many companies insist on forcing an employee to fulfill job descriptions which contain requirements often of no interest to the employee, or worse yet beyond the skill of the employee.

Gain insight before promoting or transferring employees

    Before promoting, firing or altering an employee's responsibilities a handwriting analysis is essential to understand the implications of the mix between person and job.  Many employers wrongly believe that if one has experience and is skilled in a job, that they are as a result suited to that job.  Wrong!  Research suggests that 80% of workers are misemployed!!!  One gentleman who submitted his writing for analysis years ago had been a professional line-backer for a major team.  He was physically enormous, talented, healthy, strong and had football experience since he was eight.  The problem:  football did not bring him closer to his true passion, being a gospel preacher.  For a person to be happy and successful in their job, it requires: skill, knowledge AND interest or passion.  You see, a professional football player might be very successful, but not necessarily happy.  Certainly a professional football player could dig ditches better than most of us but because of that truth, does it mean he should be digging ditches?  Many employees can do a good job, but are not as happy as they could be, or are doing a poor job because they might be in the wrong job.

    Many of us have heard the adage of the Peter Principle, "that people are promoted to their level of incompetency."  This is all too true.  Companies and employees alike believe that a promotion is the best reward a company can bestow upon a successful employee.  Nothing faster will destroy the effectiveness and happiness of an employee than over-promoting.  Once done, the result is often a depressed feeling of failure and an employee who cannot gracefully return to their once "lowered" position.  If you match the interests and abilities to the job, you have a correctly placed person.  Periodic reevaluations (every couple of years) can reaffirm the match as people can change over time.

    Consultations can often yield a better understanding of an employee of why they have or have not been successful in different aspects of their current and past employment.  Through a consultation, they can better understand HOW to turn their weaknesses into strengths, to understand who in the company that can counter their shortcomings.  For example, one sales person this afternoon told us that she is great at selling, but cannot stay organized.  She felt frustrated and incompetent.  We explained to both her and her employer that strong sales types frequently are more scattered and emotional.  To have an assistant to provide the organizational skills for her would allow her to focus on sales only rather than constantly being pressured to perform duties beyond her personality.  People would do well to evaluate their employees and themselves by their abilities, interests and limitations and not by their education, experience and appearance.

Profile good & poor staff; Create "Success Model" for future use in hiring

    What is the ideal purpose to interview?  Stated simply, it is for purpose of speculating if the job applicant matches the successful employee more than the failed employees in a particular job.  Pretty subjective, don't you think?  With HRC, the client company collects handwriting samples of the company's poor and good performers in a specific job position (sales, technicians, etc.) and we will create a "Success Model" identifying which personality attributes differentiates these two groups.  Often there are distinct personality differences between the two, though it may escape the company's understanding.  Sometimes great sales people are not the most persuasive (too aggressive) but rather the most courteous with great follow-up.  Too many times we have seen companies looking for certain qualities in job applicants when in fact these attributes are not relevant to success.  Once HRC determines which personality attributes separate the good from the poor performers, those traits can be plotted on our $95 Custom Basic Profile or the $225 Comprehensive Profile.  Certainly factors other than personality affect one's success at work, but personality is a greater component to success than one's education, experience or appearance.

Identify the real corporate culture (executive team & managers)

    Most companies have a slogan, "service with a smile," or "technology for the future" and so forth.  This is, of course, an idealistic pursuit rather than a reality for most companies.  So when a company does bring a new employee on board, they have high hopes that this person will improve the existing morale, inspire greater profits and reduce solve problems.  But how can a company expect this improvement from one new hire when the other workers may not be strong performers, or existing employees don't understand the new person's personality or the new hire does not understand the idiosyncrasies of the personalities of fellow workers.  How can the new employee quickly get a handle on how to motivate, discipline, reward, reprimand existing employees without understanding the individual personalities involved?  With handwriting analysis and consultation, the entire department is profiled providing valuable insight into how to get the new hire to make more sales calls without offending him, or why the new hire has trouble following directions unless they are in writing.  This insight greatly enhances the likelihood a new employee can better understand their employee surroundings and to acclimate sooner than without such help.  Once a company profiles it's individual employees for individual self-improvement, it slowly gains a larger picture of what the real values are in that company.  Only then can the company begin to steer in a better direction.

Downsizing - identify the bet employees to retain

    In the business world, downsizing is often an unfortunate necessity for a company to stay lean, profitable and to maintain survival.  This time can also be a growing experience for those who are laid-off.  Consultants or managers will utilize handwriting analysis to assist them in understanding whom best to retain (the most versatile, hard-working, talented) and who must be terminated.  The more sensitive and progressive companies will offer career consultations for those leaving to assist them in readjusting to looking for work and how to proceed.  Whether the terminated employee was an excellent worker or not, is now not relevant to the worker.  They are in a traumatic time, and need objective help to understand how to move forward, and to overcome any personality shortcomings they may have that might have contributed to their being laid-off, and to identify talents they have yet to utilize or promote.  By  understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and how to change and present themselves better, the downsized x-worker can increase their chances to stay confident, overcome any resentment felt, ow to self-improve, and determine if a career change is advisable.  The bottom line: using handwriting analysis: 1) helps the company to determine which employees most possess the personality type they seek, 2) reviewing analysis results with employees who are being retained helps promote improved self-understanding, team cohesiveness, and 3) the analysis results can greatly help the laid-off workers understand how best to proceed and to overcome any emotional reactions related to the lay-off.

Last year a high tech company in Northern California was going to lay off 35 of it's 57 technicians.  Based upon seniority, the company managers had proposed excusing the most recent hires and retaining the senior technical members.  After an analysis of the 57 technicians, it was determined that most of their most recent hires were the most talented, hard working, team-oriented and passionate about their work.  Some of the technicians who had been with the company for 10 plus years were none of these things.  After an analysis of the 57 plus technicians involved, it was apparent from the analysis that the reason for the lay offs was largely due to a lack of motivation and performance by some of the senior technicians which had pulled the entire department and company downward.  The company had come within hours of terminating many of the wrong people!  By retaining a select 15 technicians, the remaining technicians produced 50% more results than the original 57 technicians within nine weeks, and the morale was higher than before!

Outplacement - provides career guidance & tool for self-improvement

    In outplacement situations, a handwriting analysis with consultation can provide understanding for a person in why they have succeeded and failed in the past.  They can look at their career path in terms of who they are, their values, interests, talents and limitations, not by one's experience alone.  Very often a person needs to make a complete career direction change but they have difficulty because they see themselves and others see them by their education and experience, (resume).  Maybe the sales manager with an MBA degree is better suited to being a forest ranger or the accountant would be happier being an automotive mechanic.  We have seen more than one "country bumpkin" from the backwoods become a top sales performer, while still wearing their overalls and three piece suit IBM sales leave the rat race to run a ski lodge.

    Each of us is far more than our experience and education.  We all have interests and abilities not evidenced in our work duties.  These aptitudes may very well be clues to other career possibilities.  Remember, life is short, and one's career life is even shorter.  Don't waste your career devoted to a career if you are not happy simply because you are good at it or it pays well.  The question is, how well does your job and that of your employees match their talents and interests and dreams?  The closer the match, the greater the success.

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PERSONAL

  Self-improvement (improve: happiness, health, relationships, achieve goals)

    Handwriting analysis is a unique and powerful technique for: self-improvement (identify weaknesses and strengths), insight into why one succeeds and/ or fails in their career path, recognizing health issues, learning how to improve interpersonal relationships and improve one's general happiness by obtaining a deeper understanding of oneself through the analysis results and consultation.  It is also a way in which one can compare oneself to others: see how your profile compares to Bill Clinton, Abraham Lincoln, an inventor or star sales performer.

    We have three products which can facilitate the above:  The Comprehensive Profile ($225 + 15 minute telephone consultation), the Holland Model ($95), and lastly the self-explanatory Personality Type Model at $50.

  Career guidance

    Brian Tracy, one of America's top time management experts states, "Getting into or staying in a job for which you are not ideally suited is one of the greatest wastes of time and life."  Research supports this by the stunning statistic that 80% (eighty percent!) of workers in the world's free market are misemployed!  Think about it, most people are in the wrong job!  Why?  Several reasons.  An old sailor once told me, "Be careful what you learn while you are young or you may end up doing it the rest of your life!"  This sailor had been a sailor for six decades.  He joined the Navy as a youth, got married, had children and the financial pressures along with a resume of that of a sailor kept him a sailor.  People pursue careers for money, power, attention, to live by the ocean, to be in the family business, to stay close to home, etc.  These are insufficient reasons for a career choice.  Remember, just because you can do a job, and perhaps even perform it well does NOT mean that you will enjoy it.  As a matter of personal reference, I can rebuild car engines because I raced cars after high school.  The fact that I possess this skill does not by itself suggest that this is what should be my career destiny.  I can also mop floors and hang drywall.  An ideal job for a person should not only be a function that they can physically perform; their career choice should also reflect a compatibility to the position as well.  Our Comprehensive Profile, and to a lesser degree our Holland Model Profile can provide invaluable insight into making a compatible decision. Any of the following HRC products can answer your questions here: $95 Holland Model, the $95 Basic Profile or the $225 Comprehensive Profile.

  Profile prospective, present or past dating & marriage partners

    With first time divorce rates at near 50% in the U.S., with remarriage failure rates even higher, one would be foolish to marry without insight into each individual involved.  Furthermore, consider how short life really is, and the months and years one spends dating the wrong person thereby robbing both individuals of their valuable time from identifying a more suitable partner.  Any one of our profiles (the $15, $40, $95 and $225 assessments) is suitable for evaluating potential suitors.  Evaluating oneself is always advisable too as it may explain why a particular relationship is struggling, has failed or which one or if both of the parties involved are the cause for concern.

    Handwriting analysis has another unique advantage over any other form of understanding relationship successes and failings.  I will illustrate by a real life example.  One of our clients, a cowboy, aged 46 had been divorced three times as he came to us and was thinking of proposing to his current fiancee, single mother aged 31 with one child.  We suggested that both parties round-up (no pun intended) handwriting samples of their previous husbands and wives to submit for analysis along with evaluating their own handwritings.  What we discovered was that the previous wives (all three!) were practicing alcoholics as was his current fiancee.  The analysis revealed he was not an alcoholic but was excessively tolerant of others.  Now if you had met this cowboy 6' 5"  at around 300 pounds of muscle, one would not think him to be too tolerant, but he was!  The insight for him to realize why he had selected each of these women became clear, he had a strong need to rescue or fix his women.  Without the handwriting samples of the x-wives this insight would likely not have occurred.  How else can one see a pattern objectively about one's past relationship other than through handwriting analysis?  Very often, this is the only way to discover if a person has a pattern in their relationship choices.

    We have other clients who write personal advertisements and request handwritten responses before meeting.  If you collect 10 or more interested parties, then the $15 per applicant sort can screen out the undesirable individuals.  Otherwise, the $40 Risk Assessment, $95 Custom Basic where you pick 16 traits you're interested in or the $225 Comprehensive for when you get serious.  Remember, that it is important to evaluate dating partners BEFORE you get too serious with them, otherwise you will not likely take sound advice regarding the relationship.

    If you don't profile people before date or marry, you take a huge risk.  Compare the analysis cost of $225 for example with even the financial and emotional cost of even a 3 month relationship.  If you marry the wrong person, the damage is often immeasurable by comparison, particularly when children are involved.

  Profile family members (improve communications)

    I don't know of a family that would not benefit from a handwriting analysis and consultation.  Examples of utility here include: a teenager deciding about a college major or career choice, or an unhappy marriage situation, or determining how to improve communications between conflicting family members, or to evaluate deceased family members to better understand who they really were, insight into career choices for a mother reentering the work force in years, profiling family members who work together, and others.

  Gift for someone's birthday or holiday (help them raise self-awareness)

    We have creative clients who have provided a handwriting analysis profile for a loved one for purposes of a gift (birthday, holiday).  The results provide a great tool for self-improvement.  It is particularly appropriate for that person who has everything or you have no idea of what to get them.  The gift is unique and they will never forget it.  The results have changed people's lives.  ALL we require to provide the analysis would be a page of writing with a signature, like a typical "Thank You" card would contain or a love letter.  The results can be provided in two days and should most definitely be kept confidential for the person who is being evaluated. We recommend the $95 Holland Model, the $50 Personality Type or the $225 Comprehensive Profile.

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INVESTIGATIONS

Legal & Ethical Considerations before proceeding.

In investigation cases, we suggest you consult legal counsel if you have any questions in applications of profiling an individual without their permission.  The opinions below are of a general nature only.

Handwriting in the United States is considered a public behavior, an identifying physical characteristic, like one's voice, a public facial expression and is therefore outside constitutional protection.  In general, you can analyze someone's handwriting without their permission provided it was not acquired illegally (stealing a note from one's desk, breaking into a file cabinet, etc.).

In general, an analysis of handwriting is not an invasion of privacy unless the following criteria occurs:  The analysis results would have to be intrusive, which constitutes extreme and outrageous conduct with an intentional infliction of mental distress, beyond that of someone's hurt feelings.  The behavior would have to be beyond all bounds of decency, atrocious and considered utterly intolerable.  Invasion of privacy also requires, intrusion into one's seclusion and into their private affairs, publicly placing a person in a false light and disclose private information (facts) about that person.

    To constitute defamation would require deliberate and intentional falsification of character publicly and without regard for the person.  In sum, it would require extremely unprofessional and hateful conduct on our part coupled with vengeful conduct on your part and public humiliation to create a legally liable situation as described above.

    Now there may be a moral question as to if you have the right to analyze one's handwriting without their permission.  Immoral examples include using our results to: manipulate others against their will, revenge, attempts to humiliate someone, and any scenario where the results are intentionally used to hurt or damage someone.

  Profile prospective business partners and customers (an edge in negotiating)

    In business negotiations or in putting together a business partnership, an analysis of handwriting can provide valuable insight into the other person(s).  The results can help you understand the type of person you are dealing with and how there may be complimentary or uncomplimentary qualities between that person and others.  Think of how important it would be to know that your largest customer cares more about relationships with others than your prices, or if your prospective business partner is a poor sales person despite what he or she is telling you.  We have been called in numerous times to assist company executives in facilitating negotiations and relationship development between individuals as they attempt to come together in determining each others' skills and temperament.

  Anonymous letters (understand he type of person who wrote the letter)
  Threatening letters; in-depth understanding of the author (kidnap notes/poison pen)

    When evaluating any mysterious handwritten letter or note, whether it be threatening, anonymous, suicide or unexplained, often a personality profile will reveal a great deal of insight about the type of person responsible for writing the note.  For example, one anonymous person left a note on a young woman's desk in part stating, "If I can't have you for my wife, no one will!!!"  Certainly, this comment could be intended as a threat, or was it a something else?  In this instance, an analysis revealed the author was not prone to violence or anger; but rather immature, inarticulate, romantic and passionate.  Much later when the secret admirer surfaced, the chief investigator confirmed our assessment by clarifying the love-sick young man's intention, which was 'if I can't marry you, then no one will marry me, only you will do.'

  Suicide notes (to understand one's state of mind)

    When evaluating suicide notes, much can be learned about the emotional state of the writer at the time of writing, but also earlier samples written by that person can provide insight into differences between the emotional state of the writer in earlier days/weeks/months and during the writing of their last note.  Was depression the cause?  If so, how long were they depressed?  Were they angry?  Was it really a murder designed to look like a suicide?  One of our cases involved a middle-aged woman, mother of two and married for 19 years who by all accounts was happy.  One day, she overdosed on pills and died as a result and the entire family was in dismay over this unbelievable occurrence.  an analysis of her last writing (2 hours before her death) differed considerably from any other handwriting sample produced by her in recent months.  It showed tremendous anxiety, fear, uncertainty, but yet a sound mind and no depression.  Despite this, her letter claimed she was depressed and could no longer be happy on this earth.  This contradiction confused all involved, but the truth became clear later on.  Eventually it was discovered that her last note was not a suicide note, it was written under the threat of a knife by a jealous neighbor.  Further, she swallowed the pills in lieu of being knifed.  Apparently, a disturbed male neighbor wanted the woman for himself, but when she rejected him he became enraged, pulled out a knife and forced her to write the note and swallow the pills in retaliation.

  Profile suspects without their knowledge (improved interrogation techniques)

    Profiling suspects in a case can help investigators learn the real nature of person(s) they are evaluating as well as learn how to interrogate or question them.  Investigators can learn what motivates a person, and when the motives of crimes are known, to help to eliminate unlikely suspects.

  Understand troubled family members (to gain insight) - see also "Profile family members" in the "Personal" category

    Understand the emotional make-up of why someone in your family won't speak to another member of the family.  Discover more about what a distant and troubled family member is really going through so you can help them more.  We have profiled family members or friends who were incarcerated, overseas in the military, have remarried without explanations, disappeared, disconnected themselves from the family or friends, joined cults, etc.

  Jury selection (eliminate unsuitable juror candidates)

    Profiling jury members or prospective jury members during the elimination process, opposing legal counsel and expert witnesses can help legal counsel to better understand the thinking of the people involved.  For example, why plead a sympathy case to a jury that is largely made up of unsympathetic people?  And wouldn't it be nice to know that opposing counsel is poor with details or is impulsive?

  Profile the uncooperative (those who refuse to take psychological test)

    The author of the Jon Benet Ramsey ransom note has left behind not only a piece of handwriting but a strong piece of evidence about who wrote the note.  Experts can identify the author, IF they have the right suspects to compare the note to.  But if the investigators do not provide writing samples of the right suspect, then a psychological profile can determine the type of person the investigators should look for.

    To this day, the Unabomber Ted Kacyzinski refuses to take psychological tests and meet with psychiatrists.  How is one to obtain his psychological state without these standard tools?  We have had his psychological profile since the day of his arrest because we have a sample of his handwriting; it is just that simple.  What about the Zodiac who killed and maimed many people in San Francisco in the late 60's and early 70's?  To this day, he was never identified, but we have a complete psychological profile on the person.  We know his interests, his emotional make-up, if he is psychotic of not, how intelligent he is and much more.  Often the only evidence one has is a handwriting.  If any suspect needs to be profiled, all we need is a page of handwriting; that is it.  This applies whether they are uncooperative, deceased or unlocatable.

  Profile participants in arbitration or mediation cases

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Profiling Individuals Not Available in Person

Scenarios to profile individuals not available in person:

This section represents uses of handwriting analysis to profile persons who cannot be profiled in any other way because they are: dead, in hiding, anonymous, unwilling to submit to psychological testing, inaccessible, time has elapsed, explaining mysterious behavior of someone important to you, and other reasons.

Simply put, there may be someone very important to you that has an unexplained shroud or mystery surrounding them that you wish to better understand. The problem is, you cannot ask them what their reasons are as they are not available to you for questions. An analysis of handwriting is often the only way to solve the puzzle that explains one's behavior and personality makeup in full.

  Profiling the Dead

    The DEAD (profile your ancestors, famous dead people, suicide notes, historical research investigations). How else can you better understand someone who is not alive than to create a complete psychological profile of them from their handwriting? Remember, a handwriting sample written years ago is just as rich and fresh with the personality of the writer as is something penned seconds ago. Not one iota of flavor of the writer's character is lost due to time. In essence, the person can be recreated in a back-to-life way so you can understand their whole personality to answer questions you have about them. We recommend the 10-page Comprehensive Profile ($225) w/ 15 minute consultation.

  Profiling Someone Hiding or Missing

    In HIDING (profile runaway children, spouses who abandon relationships, criminals on the run). With handwriting analysis, you can gain insight from a person's last handwriting sample as to their: mind-set, feelings and motives which may help explain their behavior. We recommend the 10-page Comprehensive Profile ($225) w/ 15 minute consultation.

    The MISSING or UNAVAILABLE (profile anyone you have a handwriting sample of and need to better understand, but you don't have personal access to them).

  Profiling the Uncooperative

    The UNCOOPERATIVE (profile x-wives/ husbands, for use in: investigations, divorce cases, those whom you must negotiate against, poison pen letters, death threats, ransom notes, defiant individuals, criminals, literally anyone who won't submit to taking psychological tests or you cannot physically locate). We recommend the 10-page Comprehensive Profile ($225) w/ 15 minute consultation.

  Stealth or Investigation

    For STEALTH or CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS (profile anyone without their awareness; there is no other way to profile a person without their knowledge, presence, cooperation and honesty. With handwriting analysis, the test target person cannot manipulate our results as they can in a personal interview or taking a personality test). Uses include: profile persons dating your teenagers boy/girlfriends to see what type of character they possess, evaluate questionable personal and business associates to see what you might be getting yourself into. Note: HRC reserves the right to refuse to analyze sample of individuals under false, illegal or unethical situations. We recommend the 10-page Comprehensive Profile ($225) w/ 15 minute consultation.

  Profiling A Person Over A Course of Time

    Comparing one person OVER A PERIOD OF TIME (profile yourself or someone else from different time periods to measure how much a person has changed. There is no other method available to quantify how much, and in what way, a person has changed from the time of one handwriting sample to another time of writing. This can often unveil when a person became depressed or inspired or matured or deteriorated, etc.) Applications include: did someone become depressed just before their suicide or were they also depressed years ago? Or, did your x-spouse have dishonesty years ago when you first married them or is dishonest in a new development? Or, how much, if any did President Nixon change from before to after the Watergate Scandal? Did my long lost sister change from when I last saw her twenty years ago and now as I get a new letter from her? All we require is a handwriting sample from the different time periods you wish to compare. We recommend the 10-page Comprehensive Profile ($225) w/ 15 minute consultation.

  Can't Read What They Wrote?

    INTERPRETATION (sometimes we are hired to "read" a difficult handwriting simply because the author has terribly illegible script.)

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