When success is the writing on the wall

Shaheen Khan

Advertisement

Graphology is the skill to analyse handwriting to recognise, assess and identify a person's character. The graphic demonstration via the strokes and patterns of a person's calligraphy disclose their thinking patterns, manners and a glance into their unintentional mind. This can offer an insight into one's behaviour such as character, temper, the current state of mind etc. even if only a few words are scrawled quickly on a piece of paper. Graphology is built on the scientific technique of decisions pinched on common sense, universal concepts, mental interpretations and pragmatic research.

There are numerous features of examining handwriting such as universal style of writing, the configuration of letters, the position and space among words and lines, strokes and patterns, the loops in characters, bends, slants of writing, dimension of letters etc. Say for example, if someone is using lots of dots in writing, the individual is allied with lack of self-confidence. Certain curves of script, which a person is not capable to demonstrate in his writings, may indicate certain stomach or mental complaints. An upward touching baseline is linked with happy people while a downward sloping hand refers a person prone to despair. Large size writing indicates outgoing person and gregarious nature, while small size script hints at somebody who is shy and focused etc.

Sector overview

The most important task for handwriting analysts is to offer an answer for the recognised problems, so most of the institutes all over the country offer added training in psychology and personality development.

Skill set

A keen eye for detail is the most important skill to excel in this field. Good communication skills, cleverness, curiosity, observation skills are the other skills needed in this career. A candidate opting for graphology as a career must also have some basic psychological intelligence.

Graphology is now acknowledged and progressively more used for many functions like personality growth, self-reformation, team building, counseling and child growth. Mixed with psychology, graphology is also used as a treatment for ameliorating one's personality. The idea of graphotherapy is that one can alter or develop his/her traits, character or behaviour by shifting the writing. The system believes that adjusting writing can lead to self- improvement. Components like frame of mind, condition of mind, nature of pen, paper and ink affect writing. Even sometimes signatures of the same person vary. A specialised graphologist helps to solve troubles of customers by examine their writing and name, and signifying a pattern to write.

Career options

Some of the career opportunities accessible in this field are as follows:

• Corporates/consultant services use the services of graphologists for choosing the most appropriate employees. These organisations make use of these experts to evaluate and decide the personality traits, skills and abilities of the workers before homing in on the right career.
• Forensic division need graphologists support to notice forgery and resolve criminal cases, by examining offender's writing samples.
• Court and police division necessitate the aid of graphologists to execute the nature analyses on samples of writing found at crime scenes or write by possible criminals. In court matters, graphologist can be necessary for verification of any writing on doubtful text such as cheques, wills, extortion letters, etc.
• Schools may need help for these professionals in assessing and assisting difficult students. Graphologists serve as a guide not only to the parents but also to the tutor in offering them with insights into the character of young kids. Graphologists helps them to take correct steps for the improvement of the children by building changes in the growth of the child by detecting personality chaos or imbalances ahead of these become a problem.
• In the career guidance sector graphologists can help citizens to choose right career options and give added inputs for self development.
• While selecting life partner a graphologist can offer inputs on the personality and habits both good and bad, tastes, culture, mental power, profession and concealed traits of prospective life partner.

Getting there

There are no accredited degree courses in graphology as such. It does not necessitate any precise educational qualification as such. Various training institutes from across the country now offer certificate and diploma courses in graphology. Distance-learning courses are also available. Interested candidates can also acquire basic information by reading books or functioning under a qualified graphologist. On a specialised level, graphology joined with a graduate in psychology background carries more weight. On the individual front, a liking to read people's writings and decipher their personality is essential.

Remuneration

Salary depends on one's knowledge, position and the organisation one is working for. Most graphologists are self-employed, and their income completely depends on their assignments. Knowledgeable and skilled graphologists with good status can earn a handsome monthly salary. For analysing a single writing, a graphologist can charge even Rs.1000 per hour. Graphologists functioning on freelance basis can earn around Rs 25, 000 or more per month, if they advertise their services, and those functioning on permanent member of a company or any agency can earn around Rs40, 000 - 50, 000 on a monthly basis.

— The writer is Founder, Director of Council of Education & Development Programmes (CEDP) Skill Institute, Mumbai