The Write Stuff

This may be the age of the electronic keyboard and the video display terminal, but more and more U.S. companies are turning to old-fashioned penmanship as a tool to help screen would-be employees. "Handwriting analysis delves deeper into the things you cannot uncover in a live interview," says Phil Wizer, the Omaha-based owner of several Thrifty rent-a-car franchises.

While graphology has long been used by European firms to evaluate potential employees, it has only recently caught on in the U.S. Handwriting Analyst Sheila Kurtz, who started her own New York-based consulting firm in 1973, now advises an estimated 200 companies. Business...