Speaking the Truth: Accents, Credibility, and Implicit Bias
Life as an immigrant in the United States has not been particularly hard for me, as I have always lived in diverse cities like Los Angeles and Philadelphia. However, I certainly have been and continue to be a victim of discrimination. Now that I am graduating this year, I find myself worrying about whether recruiters will be less likely to invite me for an interview because of my name. “Shi Shi Li” sounds very foreign, and is nowhere near your typical American-sounding name.
My concern is not unfounded. A résuméaudit study conducted by Kang and colleagues found that Asian and Black applicants received more callbacks if they fully “whitened” their résumés, compared to those who did not.1 In this study, whitening a résumé means that the applicant changed their first name to be more American and changed their experience to be more race-neutral. For example, if an Asian applicant’s name is Lei Zhang, changing it to Luke Zhang would increase his chances of getting a callback.
Likewise, under the experience section, changing the club name “Aspiring Asian-American Business Leaders” to “Aspiring Business Leaders” would increase an Asian applicant’s chances of getting a callback.
But simply scrubbing your CV of all references to race isn’t necessarily enough. My friend, who is also graduating this year, shares my concerns about getting a job, even though she has an American nickname which she puts on her résumé. She worries more about her accent, which she cannot so easily get rid of.
My friend is worried that her accent will leave a less-than-favorable impression on the recruiter during an interview. She is worried that the recruiter will have difficulty understanding her. She is worried that the recruiter will see her as an outsider and will not be able to mesh well with the employees at their company. Fundamentally, she is worried that she will be discriminated against because of her accent.
References
- Kang, S. K., DeCelles, K. A., Tilcsik, A., & Jun, S. (2016). Whitened résumés: Race and self-presentation in the labor market. Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(3), 469-502.
- Lev-Ari, S., & Keysar, B. (2010). Why don’t we believe non-native speakers? The influence of accent on credibility. Journal of experimental social psychology, 46(6), 1093-1096.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2010, April 27). Fact Sheet: Immigrants’ Employment Rights Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws.https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/fact-sheet-immigrants-employment-rights-under-federal-anti-discrimination-laws?renderforprint=1
About the Author
Shi Shi Li
Shi Shi is currently a graduate student studying behavioral and decision sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is interested in using insights from behavioral science to solve a wide range of problems facing our society today. When she is not reading the latest behavioral science papers, she enjoys painting and playing video games with her friends. She also holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and psychology from the University of Southern California.
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