Easy to judge

There are six degrees of separation, and now seven words of identification.

US university Yale recently released a study showing job interviewees are judged based on their social status seconds after they start to speak.

The researchers found reciting seven random words is sufficient to allow people to discern the speaker’s social class with above-chance accuracy, and these snap perceptions are influencing hiring managers.

Modern business moves quickly. The speech recognition allows recruiters, rightly or wrongly, to speed up their decision-making.

Couldn’t happen in egalitarian Australia could it?

Writing is evaluated on accuracy, not socio-economic status. That’s why job applications and resumes with spelling errors end up in the trash icon.

Clear communication improves productivity and allows business to proceed at speed. Emails and reports are judged subliminally as well as practically. So it’s worth the effort to get them right.

And no one can hear you write.