When Language Really Matters − 11 April, 2008
We'd needed a third developer for a few months. We were two senior developers and an architect. We needed someone to pick up slack and take on tasks that didn’t require high-level attention. We posted a position for an intermediate developer, but got resumes from many senior-level people. Times must have been tough for developers in Michigan. We decided to consider hiring a third senior developer, since it seemed like we might have no choice.
One of the people we chose to interview was a Chinese woman. The day before her interview, my boss pulled me aside to tell me that our administrative assistant had barely been able to understand her on the phone. Since the interview was already scheduled, we didn’t cancel it. But my boss warned me that after the two of us had spoken with her for a short while, he would lay his glasses on the table if he thought we should terminate the interview. This was an odd twist. I wondered just how bad the woman’s accent could be.
At the appointed time we greeted her in our lobby. She was tall for a Chinese woman. She had short hair, and wore a woman’s business suit. She seemed quite nervous, and did not smile. Her credentials on paper were excellent. She’d risen to a senior level at her current company, and had been employed there for more than a few years.
Once she began talking, I grew bewildered. I could barely understand her. It was as if she were speaking into a machine that digitally distorted the voice. All of the syllables seemed to be present, but they came in a truly bizarre cadence, leaving me to assemble sentences, and decipher their meaning in real time as she spoke. I felt very badly for her. Nothing in my boss’ voice suggested anything was wrong, but I was not surprised when he laid his glasses on the table and looked at me significantly.
Because I wanted to be very sure before we rejected her, I asked my boss to speak with me privately. I told him I wanted to give her a chance; that perhaps we could adapt to her accent. He agreed to let me give her the technical part of the interview. I asked her all of the questions we had asked the other candidates. Some of the initial questions were very basic. We used these questions to ensure that our candidates had a firm grasp on key concepts. She answered the questions, but then said with some frustration that she had a great deal of experience. I apologized, and explained that we asked all candidates the same questions.
As the interview progressed, however, too much of my attention was focused on simply understanding her English. I knew by the end of the interview that working with her would be extremely difficult. When ideas are flowing, or many people are talking, or when people are discussing complex topics, the language barrier must be considerably lower. People cannot devote half of their attention to simply deciphering someone’s English.
I conceded to my boss that we couldn’t hire her. He nodded his head in vehement agreement. He pointed out that we could never put her in a “public-facing position”. I could not understand how she had gotten as far as she had in this country with her accent. Surely other people must have found her difficult to understand. Perhaps many of her co-workers were Chinese and they spoke in Chinese. I hoped that she was not too desperate to find a job, because I suspected that many other employers would turn her away for the same reason we did.
All of her years of experience, her education, her intelligence, and her maturity didn’t matter in the end. It came down to very basic communication skills.
One of the people we chose to interview was a Chinese woman. The day before her interview, my boss pulled me aside to tell me that our administrative assistant had barely been able to understand her on the phone. Since the interview was already scheduled, we didn’t cancel it. But my boss warned me that after the two of us had spoken with her for a short while, he would lay his glasses on the table if he thought we should terminate the interview. This was an odd twist. I wondered just how bad the woman’s accent could be.
At the appointed time we greeted her in our lobby. She was tall for a Chinese woman. She had short hair, and wore a woman’s business suit. She seemed quite nervous, and did not smile. Her credentials on paper were excellent. She’d risen to a senior level at her current company, and had been employed there for more than a few years.
Once she began talking, I grew bewildered. I could barely understand her. It was as if she were speaking into a machine that digitally distorted the voice. All of the syllables seemed to be present, but they came in a truly bizarre cadence, leaving me to assemble sentences, and decipher their meaning in real time as she spoke. I felt very badly for her. Nothing in my boss’ voice suggested anything was wrong, but I was not surprised when he laid his glasses on the table and looked at me significantly.
Because I wanted to be very sure before we rejected her, I asked my boss to speak with me privately. I told him I wanted to give her a chance; that perhaps we could adapt to her accent. He agreed to let me give her the technical part of the interview. I asked her all of the questions we had asked the other candidates. Some of the initial questions were very basic. We used these questions to ensure that our candidates had a firm grasp on key concepts. She answered the questions, but then said with some frustration that she had a great deal of experience. I apologized, and explained that we asked all candidates the same questions.
As the interview progressed, however, too much of my attention was focused on simply understanding her English. I knew by the end of the interview that working with her would be extremely difficult. When ideas are flowing, or many people are talking, or when people are discussing complex topics, the language barrier must be considerably lower. People cannot devote half of their attention to simply deciphering someone’s English.
I conceded to my boss that we couldn’t hire her. He nodded his head in vehement agreement. He pointed out that we could never put her in a “public-facing position”. I could not understand how she had gotten as far as she had in this country with her accent. Surely other people must have found her difficult to understand. Perhaps many of her co-workers were Chinese and they spoke in Chinese. I hoped that she was not too desperate to find a job, because I suspected that many other employers would turn her away for the same reason we did.
All of her years of experience, her education, her intelligence, and her maturity didn’t matter in the end. It came down to very basic communication skills.
