Employers rated candidates higher when they heard, rather than read, their pitches
By Chris Pash
The latest research has found your voice could be your biggest asset when you go for a job interview.
Looking smart in power business wear and having a stellar CV all help,
but the sound of your voice tells people how intelligent your are.
The study found that employers and recruiters rate candidates as more
competent, thoughtful, and intelligent when they hear the pitch rather
than when they read it - even when the words used are exactly the same.
They liked the candidate more and were more interested in hiring them.
However, the addition of video did not influence evaluations beyond hearing the candidate's voice.
"In addition to communicating the contents of one's mind, like specific
thoughts and beliefs, a person's speech conveys their fundamental
capacity to think - the capacity for reasoning, thoughtfulness and
intellect," says Professor Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago
Booth School of Business.
The study, "The Sound of Intellect: Speech Reveals a Thoughtful Mind,
Increasing a Job Candidate's Appeal," is published in The Journal of
Psychological Science.
In a series of experiments, the researchers asked a group of Chicago
Booth MBA student job candidates to develop a short pitch to the company
for which they would most like to work. They created written pitches
and recorded spoken pitches.
The evaluators who heard the pitch subsequently rated the candidate as
more intelligent, thoughtful, and competent than the evaluators who only
read a transcript of the pitch.
Professional recruiters are also more likely to hire candidates whose
pitches they could hear than those whose they could only read.
"When conveying intelligence, it's important for one's voice to be heard - literally," Epley says.