Fri, 12 Dec 2014
In considering recruiters and their superstitions – shivers down the spine means a back door placement has just happened, for example – Lisa Jones, director at recruitment technology and social media specialist Barclay Jones, came across all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas about body features and what they tell you about a person.

The following, ‘A better way to spot talent’, is an excerpt from her recent blog on the topic, entitled ‘Recruiters! Feel your candidates' bumps!’ which she developed after talking with Stephen O'Donnell, founder of psychometric profiling company PCEvaluate.

They had talked about Cranioscopy, the pseudoscience popular in Victorian times, when it was believed that a person’s character and mental capacity could be determined by the structure of their skull. Hence the term “You want to have your bumps felt”?

A Better Way of Spotting Talent?
The theoretical big data approach to talent measurement is downright boring! What can we learn from our ancestors and their bumps?
You may be lucky enough to have lots of face-to-face interviews. Well, if you do, how about these (clearly serious and factual) tips for spotting talent which means that you can bin the science and get back to feeling people’s bumps?

1. If a candidate has eyebrows which meet in the middle, or fine hair, they will have a bad temper (likely to punch the hiring manager)
2. Grey eyes means they are greedy (likely to be counter-offered)
3. Check your candidates for white spots on the fingernails of their left hand – count them – this tells you the number of lies they have told
4. Check their insteps. Get them to take off their shoes and if you can stand them in a stream and water goes under their foot (ie. high instep) they come from a good family – #talent?
5. Pull out one of their hairs (forcefully). If it curls straight away, they are too proud (difficult to manage)
6. Check their hands – if they have a straight line running down the middle, it means an early death. And check their nose – if there is a vein running across it – the same applies. (Check your terms. Do you want to offer a free replacement?)
7. Get them to clasp their hands together. If their right hand goes on top, they are a ruler, if left, they are likely to yield (manager or subordinate?)
8. If their front teeth overlap, they are likely to be trustworthy (tick that box)
9. If they have large ears (a liar) and long slim ears (a thief) – may work for certain roles, so don’t discount. We all love a competency-based question at the interview!
10. And finally… a dimple on the chin – devil within (need I say more?)

So who needs CRB checks and references? Psychometric profiles – meh! Yes, perhaps global organisations like Penguin, Random House, American Express, Hilton Hotels, Coca Cola etc are using Stephen's psychometrics in the process, but surely you want to get bump feeling?

Put your rubber gloves on and start examining your candidates’ bodily features – surely that’s more fun! (And we all want to raise our profiles, don’t we?)
On the other hand, being called out as a pervert on Twitter, having your Glassdoor company profile full of offended bump-felt talent and spending a fortune on equal opportunities lawyers may not be on your agenda…