These are some of the ways professional graphologists earn a living.

1. Consultant Services

A. Aptitude analysis can be offered to major businesses as an accurate means of evaluating the abilities and attitudes of prospective employees. It can be used for both executive recruitment and general employee screening.

The aptitude analysis can also be offered to employment agencies, schools or counseling services which provide vocational guidance, as an added means of testing people who are looking for what kind of work they should do.

Beyond the fact that a complete analysis reveals not only potentials preferences—and therefore indicates what kind of work environment the individual needs to function best—it has an additional advantage as a tool for vocational placement.  The analysis does NOT reveal sex, race, or age; and makes it, without question, an equal-opportunity employment tool.

B. Social services in general can make use of the General Personality Analysis report or other forms of attitude and personality analyses. Schools may need assistance in evaluating and helping problem students.  Graphology is also a useful guide in working with the emotionally disturbed, both children and adults.

C. Legal services are also an option. It is possible for you to learn to authenticate any handwriting on questionable document such as checks, wills, extortion letters, etc.  Comparison analysis can tell you, and your client, whether or not the person who is supposed to have written something did in fact write it, or whether the signature or document is likely to be a forgery. A qualified graphologist can also be called in by police departments to perform character analyses on samples of handwriting found at crime scenes or written by possible criminals. An analysis of the personality and potential behavior patterns of a kidnapper, for example, could be of great value to local authorities or the FBI.

Doing this type of analysis could make you an expert witness in a court of law, so it is essential that you be extremely accurate. Again, stick to analyzing just the handwriting. Even if you eventually become very experienced in this field of work, let the authorities deal with analyzing the paper, ink and other material evidence.

D. Marriage counseling, dating services, and, as we mentioned, compatibility analyses for prospective business partners or even roommates, are also excellent opportunities for the graphologist. If you are interested in this type of field, you should either have psychological training or be working with someone who does. Listing the traits you find and interpreting what they could mean to the people involved are two different skills!

E. A newspaper column can also give you an opportunity to use your new skill. For this, you would have to become adept at using the mini-analysis to answer specific questions. You would also have to make certain that your readers know what kinds of questions you can’t answer, as well as what kind of samples you need.  But there are and have been successful advice columns which use handwriting analysis as the basis for solving reader’s problems.  If writing as well as graphology is one of your abilities, there’s no reason why your byline can’t be on one of them.

2. Teaching

You can offer to teach this skill in the regular school system supervisors of evening classes for adult or continuing education may be interested in adding graphology to their program, and so may colleges or universities.

It is also possible to start your own classes or instruct individual students for a fee. A good format for independent classes is from 12 to 20 hours of instruction in equal sessions over six to eight weeks.  After completing the Graduate Course in Handwriting Analysis, you can use the kit of teaching materials developed by H.A.I as a means of organizing your lessons. You can offer to teach in your own home or office, or make arrangements with local social service organizations, such as church or community groups, for lecture hall space. You’ll find that teaching graphology makes you a better graphologist; explaining it to someone else reinforces your own skills and understanding of this complex art-science.

3. Going Public

Everybody likes to hear about himself, and everybody’s got problems. Handwriting analysis can be done through the mail, thus offering not only a comprehensive character and personality portrait but also absolute privacy; and for many people, the fact that they don’t have to meet a counselor face to face could definitely be an added attraction.

It’s also possible to “perform”; to lecture or give demonstrations at various social functions. You’ll find the mini-analysis a useful tool for this type of situation; and many local organizations do look for guest speakers and interesting topics as a way of attracting people to their planned events.

What you choose to do will depend on your background, personality, and special interests, of course; and whether you use graphology as a tool or as a toy will depend on how well you learn it and how interested you are in making use of what you learned. But there are self-employment possibilities for qualified graphologists in many different fields, and job openings in businesses, government services, or private institutions—many more than we have mentioned here. If you learn this discipline thoroughly and use it accurately, your expertise can open doors to an almost limitless variety of employment opportunities.

The Handwriting Analysts International offers an advanced handwriting analysis course that will provide you with a professional qualification in graphology. When you have successfully completed the course of study, you will receive the official certification which will entitle you to practice as a professional handwriting analyst.

This course is distinctive in that it incorporates the principles of both Trait Stroke and Gestalt schools of thought. By combining the two schools within this course, you will gain a richer and more detailed awareness of how to create the portrait of the writer.

As a student you do not need to have any previous qualifications before you start on this voyage of discovery.