Fengshui help for corporate head hunters

I came across this article which reported that some companies in Singapore have recruited fengshui masters to help conduct interviews of candidates applying for senior management and financial officers posts.

The Art of Face Reading or Physiognomy is about learning how to identify a person’s characteristics, personality traits and innermost secrets. Can a face reading expert know another person’s personality well just by looking at their face?

In theory, there are telltale signs. In Chinese face reading, there are many area of the face anyone can look at to identify traits, ranging from age 1 to 100. Similarly, anyone who studied western, Indian or other face reading methods would also be able to identify a person’s personality easily.

Is the face reading expert always right? How accurate can they assume the woman who has a “peach blossom” face would be a flirt?

Yes, there could be signs, but it should not be the only way to decide a person’s personality. There should be other complementary methods to reinforce the conclusion. Judging a person by their face is just a good first impression, but is NOT the final impression we should forged in our mindset.

If the woman reported in the article has a “peach blossom” face, does that mean she’s flirtatious and sexy? She may have “that sex appealing look” but that doesn’t mean she is like that. Maybe, she was a flirt when she was young. But as she grew up, she could become a different person because she mixed with the right positive people who inculcated proper and correct values in her. She could be a capable secretary. Sadly, she lost the opportunity to prove her talent because the fengshui master said so. For all we know, it could be her male colleagues (if she joined the company) who could have initiated the affair just because she looked flirtatious and friendly.

Does that mean the woman with “peach blossom” face can only be “destined” to work in an entertainment or social-service industry?

I wonder who this fengshui master is, and it’d be great to know how he looks like too. I know there are some fengshui masters who “fine tune” their facial features to “look right”. So, when you look at their face, it’s just a perfect ten. But no one knows what the person is like beyond their facial skin.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” A colourful, well-design cover doesn’t mean the book is good. A plain-looking cover doesn’t mean the book will not sell. What’s important is to take some time to browse through the content of a book, before we can make a judgement. When I was in my 20s, I was attracted to the title of this book “Everything Men Know About Women” (EMKAW). The book cover’s design was plain but the title says it all.

Like the title and cover of the EMKAW book, there could be telltale signs by looking at a person’s face. However, it does not necessary imply that person will have the characteristics assumed by many face reading experts. These days, it is not possible to know a person’s true personality just by looking at their face, or how good a book is by its cover. Check the book out if you’re curious.

There is a popular Chinese phrase which imply a person’s character is fixed at a young age (3 yrs old) to their old age (80 years old). It may be true in ancient times when family values are still strong, and technology and social influences (like the Internet) are unheard of. These days, the phrase doesn’t make any practical sense as more people realise a person’s personality can change through their growing up years. As more people are self-conscious these days, their minds and actions have changed, and so are their traits and habits. But their face remains the same.

In modern world where cosmetic surgery is common, anyone can change their face easily. Does that mean the person will behave exactly as how their face looks like? We should not gauge a person’s personality from first impression. Everybody deserves a second chance to reinforce and show their inner characters and traits. A person may look tense and straight during interviews. But when the person is relaxed and comfortable, they may portray a different personality.

In Chinese metaphysics like Bazi, there is a 10-year Luck Pillar. In numerology, there is also a 9-year chart. In each year, the annual influences from the elemental energies vary. These would, in many ways, influence the person’s thoughts and their actions. What you see may not be what you think!

So, do you have the right face for the right job? Do you have a billionaire’s face?

Personally, I believe face reading works to a certain extent. It is great for making a first impression of a person. However, it should not be the ONLY method that one should adopt to find out a person’s personality.

By now, you would have read the local newspaper of people conning their employers of money, stealing goods, and receiving kick-backs and corruptions. Many of these people do have straight, innocent looking face and good working habits when they first started work.

If Face Reading is the only method to decide a person’s working fate, then many people would not be able to find a job too. In fact, the faces of some FengShui masters don’t tally with their professions. If they can judge others by how they look, then these FengShui masters would find a hard time to convince others that they are “true, genuine” experts, and not professional charlatans or marketing gurus.

Regards, Ron WZ Sun