Why Cultural Competency Training Matters

To successfully implement equitable hiring practices and foster a truly inclusive workplace, organizations should invest in cultural competency training for hiring managers, interviewers, and front-line workers who interact with applicants, customers, clients, patients, or the public. This training helps interviewers and staff across the organization understand the impact of unconscious bias and develop the skills needed to fairly evaluate candidates and those they serve from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Many interviewers have said that they can tell early on—even during the initial greeting when that crucial first impression is formed—whether an applicant is a fit for the job. Similarly, front-line workers often make important first impressions and influence whether individuals feel welcomed, respected, and included within an organization. Cultural nuances can heavily influence how an applicant is perceived, often during the greeting phase of an interview and throughout the interview process. Eye contact and the handshake are two key factors interviewers commonly use to assess applicants, but these behaviors vary widely across cultures.

Cultural Nuances of Eye Contact

For instance, direct eye contact is often interpreted as a sign of confidence and honesty. However, some interviewers may unfairly judge candidates who avoid direct eye contact, assuming they are untrustworthy or lack confidence. Front-line employees may also unintentionally misinterpret these behaviors when interacting with customers, patients, or community members from diverse backgrounds.

An American Indian woman, who is a Human Resource Director and part of an interview panel, shared her observations on cultural differences between the applicants of color and white applicants:

“As we interviewed the American Indian woman, the eye contact was poor, she was very shy, and she didn’t brag about herself or bring her attributes out or her assets out to the interviewers. The same thing happened with the Asian male. I wanted to answer for them because I knew they… as I looked on their applications, I knew they had all these skills and abilities. They would not talk about themselves and there was a great disparity between the white males and the minority candidates. It was like night and day.”

Interviewers must consider these cultural differences when evaluating candidates to avoid making judgments based solely on behaviors like eye contact. Likewise, front-line workers benefit from understanding these cultural differences so they can build respectful, inclusive, and effective interactions with diverse individuals.

Cultural Nuances of the Handshake

Similarly, the handshake—often seen as a universal symbol of confidence—can differ significantly across cultures. A firm handshake is the standard expectation in many workplaces, and anything else is perceived as timid or unconfident. But for some individuals from diverse backgrounds, it can feel awkward or impersonal.

A male Latino applicant described the cultural conflict he experienced with handshakes during job interviews:

“When they shake your hand, whether it’s a man or a female, it’s very rigid. …it’s very distant. I think they train you to do this, hand really straight forward and, ‘Hi.’ For the Latino culture, we are very personal people. It’s common to kiss, for example, on the cheek, people that you know or even acquaintances. So, you compare that to this rigidity thing and, sometimes it feels a little uncomfortable. Of course, I have been here long enough now that I got used to it. But at first it was something that was very uncomfortable, and I am going, ‘Well, these people don’t care.’”

These experiences highlight the importance of cultural awareness in reducing unconscious bias during interviews and in everyday workplace interactions involving front-line staff.

The Value of Cultural Competency Training

The Integrating Diversity & Inclusion into the Hiring Process training programs provide practical tools for developing cultural competencies for interviewing and hiring as well as strengthening inclusive communication and interactions among front-line employees.

Through real-life examples from diverse individuals sharing their experiences of being on the receiving side of bias, hiring managers, interviewers, and front-line workers can recognize their own unconscious biases and better understand how these biases affect their applicant evaluations and workplace interactions.

Training participants gain a deeper understanding of applicants from diverse backgrounds and strategies for:

• Recognizing, interrupting, and addressing unconscious bias.
• Building comfort with diverse individuals, including those from varying racial/ethnic backgrounds, disability statuses, LGBTQ+ identities, age groups, and body sizes.
• Formulating inclusive and culturally sensitive interview questions.
• Creating welcoming, respectful, and culturally responsive interactions in customer service, healthcare, education, hospitality, retail, public service, and other front-line environments.

The training includes many other examples of cultural differences that can appear in the hiring process and in day-to-day workplace interactions. All of these are fundamental to becoming culturally competent at interviewing and effectively engaging with diverse individuals across the organization.

Creating a Welcoming Hiring Process

Cultural competency in interviewing is essential to fostering an inclusive and welcoming hiring process. It ensures equal employment opportunity for all candidates and allows interviewers to fully understand and evaluate each applicant’s unique skills and potential. Equally important, cultural competency among front-line workers helps create a workplace culture where employees, customers, clients, patients, and community members feel respected, valued, and included.

By addressing unconscious bias through training, organizations not only attract top talent but also build a diverse, high-performing workforce. Investing in cultural competency training is a strategic move that strengthens workplace culture and drives long-term diversity and inclusion success.

 

 

Copyright © 2026 Lila Kelly Associates, LLC. Not to be reprinted without written permission from Lila Kelly. Integrating Diversity into Interviewing, Hiring, Recruiting and Retention – Since 1992. See our training programs at diversityintegration.com. We offer Training Modules, Trainer Certification, Blended Learning, and Books. Subscribe to our newsletter here.