A

Having given good responses to all questions, Thomas, with a perfect resume, failed his job interview last week. Christine, the manager responsible for the interview, showed an actual preference for Thomas but decided to offer the job to her second choice, adding that the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy”.

“It was not until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person.” Christine admitted later. “What I didn’t known at that time was that the candidate’s odd behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding. He was an Asian-American raised in a family where respect for those in authority was shown by turning away your eyes. I  was just thrown off by the lack of eye contact, not realizing it was cultural,” Christine says.

As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces become more diverse, it is increasingly essential to expand our understanding of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions. Mindsets helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots.

Unexpected advantage

At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult, employers who can have no personal biases have an obvious advantage. A real estate agent illustrates the positive influence of Mindsets—“Coached by Mindsets for two weeks, I acquired how to own a diversified workforce—I employed people from different cultures and skill sets. When the real estate market began to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were able to stay in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession.”

Strategic power

“An open mind about diversity not only improves organizations from inside, it is profitable

as well.” Such comment is from a customer service representative, who shows how an inclusive attitude can improve sales. It wasn’t until her boss received Mindsets’ training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service. One of the best things my company has done is to contract with a language service that offers translations over the phone. As a result, our customer base has increased.”

Gender unawareness

Gorden is an account executive who attended one of the workshops. “Through some of the lessons, I discovered my personal bias.” he recalls. “I had a management position open in my department; and the two finalists were a man and a woman. Had I not attended this workshop, I would have automatically assumed the man was the best candidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel. My assumption would have been that even though both candidates were great and could have been successful in the position, I assumed the woman would have wanted to be home with her children and not travel. Thanks to the workshop, I have learnt to make decisions based on fairness.”

1.     Christine’s misjudgment about the candidate originated from     .

A. racial discrimination              B. cultural differences

C. gender prejudice                   D. physical appearance

2.     Which of the following statements will Gorden not agree with about Mindsets’ workshops?

A.  It helped him make fair decisions.

B.  It helped him discover his personal bias about gender.

C.  It helped him think more highly of female candidates.

D.  It helped him successfully find candidates.

3.     According to the passage, what is Mindsets?

A. A cultural exchange program.       B. A personnel training company.

C. A real estate agency.              D. A non-profit organization.