Cultural Influences On The Hiring Process

In their articles both Rivera and Waldinger and Lichter indicate that labor market segmentation may exist due to the preconceptions employers hold about the characteristics of potential workers. In her article Rivera stated that cultural similarities between employers and job candidates play a huge role in hiring decisions. In order to test her theory she began by drawing 120 interviews with employers as well as participant observations of a hiring committee. Through her evaluation it became evidently clear that hiring was more than just a process of skills sorting, it was also a process of cultural matching between candidates, evaluations, and firms. In order to understand the effect of cultural similarities on the hiring process, Rivera began …show more content…
She argued that cultural similarities generated excitement and increased the likelihood of evaluators fighting for candidates in deliverations (Rivera, 2012). In her study she found that cultural similarities based in leisure pursuits, background, and self-presentation, were key drivers in the hiring process. In “How the Other Half Works” Waldinger and Lichter discuss the low-wage job market in Los Angeles. The research team states that immigrants are a large and important part of the US economy. The article states that the job hiring process is based not only on qualities such as aptitude, skill, experience, and productivity, but is also based on social characteristics such as gender and race. In the US ethnic groups are also ranked ranked according to sets of socially meaningful but arbitrary traits, these rankings ultimately determine the qualifications for certain jobs in the labor market. Waldinger and Lichter also state that while cognitive skills such as literacy and numeracy are important at some level, in today's post industrial service economy employers believe that the quality of service interactions matter as …show more content…
The certain cultural similarities made candidates more desirable and the likelihood of them getting hired increased. The data, however, varied in terms of racial bias. Rivera’s data indicated that candidates were picked more on the basis of their personalities and how well they would fit into the job place they are applying to. Waldinger and Lichter found that the immigrant job market is based mostly on a racial hierarchy. In terms of segmentation, a labor market becomes segmented when it consists of sub-groups with little or no ability to cross over. This segmentation was exhibited in both Rivera and Waldinger’s and Lichter’s research. In Rivera’s research the hiring queues were based on the candidates cultural similarities, the greater the similarities the more likely they were to be hired. This led to a segmentation of firms with certain types of individuals only being hired. Waldinger’s and Lichter’s hiring queues were based on a racial and ethnic hierarchy. This led to the hiring process favring white and Asian candidates and discriminating against Black candidates which then created segmentation in the workforce that can be seen to this