What if your next great hire has a strong accent? Without a little research, bias could cause your company to lose that person. In the article, “Accent-Based Explicit and Implicit Biases” by Valeria Bogorevich (Aug 2023), she talks about how accented speech can preclude people from getting a job, finding housing, or receiving positive reviews.
One method to check yourself for bias and stereotypes is to talk with a third party, such as the HR professionals did in the following situations.
Rick, who is an HR Director for a manufacturing company and European American, told this story of an applicant whose dialect almost caused him to be eliminated during the interview process:
“We had one black candidate, and he speaks with. . . , the first reaction is he’s high on something. It raised a red flag when I interviewed him, and of course I’m supposed to look for those things. We sent him out with the supervisors (on the floor) to tour around, and they came back and said, ‘Hey look, this guy sure sounds like he’s on something.’ He’s got kind of. . . it’s a drawl, but it’s a very unique kind of drawl which makes you think he’s not all with it. He was referred by Urban League, and we did discuss that with them. The recruiter over there knows the family and they all speak like that, not because they are high, but the explanation was that, I don’t know what part of the South they were originally from, but apparently there’s a uniqueness in the dialect. We checked his references, and we hired him, and he’s doing fine for us. And he still talks like that!”
Lakesha, who is an HR Employment Representative and African American, shared this example of helping the hiring manager become aware of one of her unconscious biases:
“I have a manager that told me when I first started looking for candidates, ‘I need somebody that can really speak English well.’ And I had to kind of go through some coaching, and say, ‘Well, what do you mean by that? Do you mean somebody that sounds exactly like you or somebody that sounds exactly like everyone here?’ And then of course, she said, ‘No, no, no. I just mean somebody that can talk with our agents and talk with our brokers.’ Well, that’s all I want too, but that does not mean because somebody does not sound exactly the way they’re supposed to, whatever that’s supposed to mean, that they are going to be a bad candidate.”
No matter where you are from, the region in which you were raised shapes the manner in which you speak. Having an accent or speaking in a different dialect does not in itself mean that the person has poor English or is not intelligent.
By becoming aware of our biases, we can then work to eliminate them. There are a multitude of stereotypes and biases that arise when it comes to accents and dialects. The important thing to remember is to listen to the content of what is being said and not how it is being said.
Copyright © 2023 Lila Kelly Associates, LLC. Integrating Diversity into Recruiting, Interviewing, Hiring and Retention – Since 1992. Not to be reprinted without written permission from Lila Kelly. This article includes excerpts from Lila Kelly’ Associates’ online training courses and books. To stay up to date on all the latest from Lila Kelly Associates and DiversityIntegration.com, subscribe to our monthly newsletter.