Attitudes and Perceptions of Communication in the Hiring Process

Abstract

The attitudes and perceptions of 295 college students regarding the hiring of individuals with various communication characteristics and the rapk ordering of 20 job-related criteria were compared with the attitudes of 95 recruiters.

When it matters how you pronounce it: The influence of regional accents on job interview outcome

“…However, there is evidence that similar conclusions would be reached even within a recruiters’ population (e.g., Atkins, 1993); if anything university students seem to be more tolerant than professional recruiters (cf. Atkins & Kent, 1989; Parton et al , 2002), so that it is possible that even stronger effects would be found within a sample of professional recruiters.…”

“…The fact that we found the same pattern of results when using different and same speakers, independent of participants' area of origin or dialect use, indicates that the basic finding should be replicated in a different context. One might also investigate if people can be trained to be aware of the influence of accents and to correct their biases if necessary (e.g., Atkins & Kent, 1989). In our case, all accents were clearly perceivable so that it remains an open question whether weak regional accents that can hardly be perceived consciously would be enough to trigger discrimination against the speakers as there is some evidence that the degree of non-accommodation is positively related with a more negative evaluation of a speaker (e.g., Ryan & Carranza, 1975;see Aboud, Clement, & Taylor, 1974;for evidence with non-standard dialects;and Elwell, Brown, & Rutter, 1984; for evidence with non-standard accents).…”

Adjustment issues affecting employment for immigrants from the former soviet union

“…To gain employment in the United States, communication skills are the tool by which individuals secure employment during the interview process. Atkins and Kent (1989) and Hafer and Hoth (1981) found that employers ranked oral communication skills as the number one characteristic when evaluating an individual in the hiring process. Researchers generally agree that a lack of communication skills in the predominant language of the new country is a major barrier both to employment and to the ability to use services that are available to newcomers (Becker & Isaacs, 1996; Lee & Westwood, 1996; Westwood & Ishiyama, 1991).…”

“…One study found that immigrants with low levels of English were far less likely to secure employment than were those with higher levels (Race, Masini, & Sheffey, 1996). For journal of employment counseling ~ecernber200~ Volume 39 immigrants with professional skills, this language deficit is even niore of a detriment because employers rank oral conimuiiication skills as the most desirable trait among employees for job selection (Atkins & Kent, 1989;Lee & Westwood, 1996). It is not just that oral communication skills are highly valued; professional workers are often required to read and write reports and are expected to do so without poor grammar or spelling errors (Lee & Westwood, 1996).…”

“…Tress conceded, however, that the wages of immigrants increased as their English proficiency increased. This is probably because career advancement is related to communication skills, even for native populations (Atkins & Kent, 1989). In addition, Tress noted that Soviet Jews were usually not in the labor force if they did not speak English, perhaps relating to their unusually high levels of education coinpared with other immigrants and thereby higher reluctance to accept the unskilled and low-paying entry-level jobs that require only basic English skills.…”