Workforce Language Services

Skin color, social status and accent are all underlying prejudices that Hispanic employers may consider in Hispanic job applicants, confesses a blogger who works in the multicultural advertising/marketing industry.

It may not be conscious, but Rochelle Newman-Carrasco says that this discrimination is common practice, the so-called “elephant in the room.”

On skin color:

“If truth be told, there are U.S. Hispanic agencies whose staff photos simply do not reflect the diversity of the U.S. Hispanic population as a whole. Black Hispanics have historically found it difficult to find acceptance within some Hispanic circles.”

On accent:

“There are any number of accented Latinos who not only can make themselves understood, but also can out-think and outperform some of their non-accented co-workers. Nonetheless, over the past six months, I have received at least two calls from general-market colleagues about creative positions they were seeking to fill. And in both cases they were hoping I knew someone who “didn’t have an accent” because they didn’t feel their clients would be comfortable.”

Click here to read the full blog post by Newman-Carrasco.