FOA Language and identity text
Orange is the new black is a series about a female prison, his prison shows a variety of characters from different backgrounds, and all with a different accent. In the episode I was watching, there was a mock job fair organized in the prison. First the prisoners had to ‘dress to impress’, so from secondhand clothing they had to choose an outfit that would be best for a job interview (you can see a picture of that here). And next they would do a practice job interview in which they got tips to use their language to impress.
The prisoner who gave the best impression would win. Hearing those prisoners do this job interview I realized that language is actually really important in such interviews. Because by speaking someone can immediately hear where your come from, if you are well educated and if you are really motivated to do the job. Researches There have actually been some researches about the matter if an accent influences your chances on getting a job. So do accents really make a difference when it comes to employers deciding who to pick? According to recent surveys, it does.
Actually, eight in ten employers admit to making discriminating decisions based on regional or foreign accents. Even though a professional tries not to let an accent get in the way of hiring decisions, subtle motions can come into play or you can even judge someone on their accent unconsciously. Those assumptions work in two ways: “Not only may someone with a Hispanic accent be deemed ‘less educated,’ but someone with a British accent may be seen as ‘more intelligent,’ or an Asian accent could be viewed as a plus by a scientific or engineering company.
These are assumptions based on very simplistic an mostly untrue stereotypes. But who is there to blame? I think we all do this once in a while. And think about it, if you were an employer looking for employees, would you rather take someone who speaks refectory Dutch or someone with a Moroccan accent to do the job? Think we would all choose the first option. Alter accent? So, should you alter your accent then? The evidence suggests jobsharers would be better off in the job market by softening their accents, however experts are careful of advising them to do so.
A National Careers Service adviser, says jobsharers shouldn’t necessarily look to ditch their accent, but tells people to stay clear of using regional slang in interviews and instead, educate themselves to make sure they speak the language properly. That is what a prisoner in ‘Orange is the new black’ also did, she asked formal erosion of certain words or sentences she knew and learned them for the job interview. This apparently really worked; from all the prisoners, she won. An accent is in fact “a pattern of pronunciation. That is not the same as whether a person uses language well and forms sentences correctly. An accent is also very difficult to change, it is something you learn from birth and is thus very hard to alter. However, if you have a very strong accent and people find it hard to understand what you say, you might want to alter it. Because for example if you want to be a customer service representative, which requires excellent communication skills, then someone who could not be understood well would honestly interrupt the flow of business.
Conclusion and Advise So accents do really make a difference when it comes to employers deciding who to pick. This may be consciously or unconsciously. So what would be the best advice then to prepare for a job interview? Make sure you speak proper English; use correct grammar and form sentences correctly. Make sure you are not hard to understand, maybe a slight accent won’t really influence your job chances, but a strong accent really does.
