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Abstract

ess, in my book. This is, after all, a job interview process.No, it’s not in-person and on-site. But I am being paid for my time interviewing them and writing up the evaluation. If I break off from my translation work at 10:25 to ready myself mentally, open up their written text file, prepare my notebook, and the phone then doesn’t ring at 10:30 as agreed, they are messing up my working day. That should be obvious, I would have thought.I haven’t been asked to include any such observations in my reports and don’t see it as my role. The main interviewer has the task of appraising their personal qualities — I’m just the lingo guy. But yesterday’s experience had me wondering whether I really ought to, appraising punctuality as an intrinsic element of their capacity to communicate in an English-speaking environment. In this case UK/Ireland/USA/Scandinavia for the most part.In other words, acquiring and respecting the cultural aspects that accompany skills in any language has a fundamental impact on your efficacy as a communicator, above all in a professional context. Anyone who has worked in the Far East, for example, knows that while what you say may matter, how and when you say it matters as much, or sometimes more.The chances of a salesperson closing a deal with an American or British client expecting their call at 10:30 will surely begin to tail off steeply with every minute that passes after a quarter to eleven if the phone hasn’t rung. You could speak near-native C2 English, but if your more halting B1 competitor made their rival call on the dot at 10:00, your company may well miss out on the sale.I acknowledge that the importance I give to punctuality is out of step with the country where I now live. And in fact, it is probably excessive, neurotic, obsessive, and detrimental to my mental health. But it is part of who I am, precisely because it is a trait emphasised in my cultural upbringing. And as such, it should perhaps also be a valid factor for inclusion in a fully comprehensive English language skills assessment.Language is about enabling effective communication, a process that rel

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ies on far more than just words. And as many learners and teaching service providers shift towards apps like Duolingo or AI-powered online chatbots, it becomes more important to check that students and workers have found a way to master the sociocultural foundations of the language that such non-human interfaces would struggle to convey.As it happens, yesterday’s candidate was by far the most accomplished I had yet interviewed, linguistically speaking. A clear C2 in both written and oral skills — the highest level of proficiency. But she phoned me an hour and a half late to be interviewed for a marketing position. That’s a beginner-level A1 for punctuality, civility, and responsibility, isn’t it? Not exactly what I’d be looking for in a marketeer.There was another aspect of this that bothered me. It was clear — as she confirmed — that her English skills came from having attended a private international school in Barcelona, staffed by native teachers. She also mentioned in her text that she was a keen sailor. Add those two together, and you’re talking serious family wealth.I found this aspect doubly off-putting. Not only had she been granted a far better opportunity than most to assimilate the cultural norms of the formal Anglo-Saxon world over many years, at great expense, but she had also chosen to disregard those norms. Which I inevitably ascribed in part to a sense of entitlement.Punctuality was, perhaps, for little people who have to punch cards at a factory, not for privately educated yacht girls.There is almost certainly a degree of inverse snobbery and armchair psychology in that appraisal. As I say, it is not, in any event, my job to reach such conclusions as to how good a fit she might be for the company in question. But I may suggest to the recruitment agency that I add an extra column to the evaluation form for ‘punctuality’, or perhaps the softer-edged concept of ‘cultural awareness’.And if the final decision were left to me, I’d pick the recently arrived migrant from Argentina who I had spoken to the previous day. Her English wasn’t nearly as good, but she called bang on time.</article></body>

CULTURAL CUSTOMS

Does Punctuality Trump Other Professional Skills?

However good you might be at your job, if you turn up late for an interview, should that disqualify you?

**The clock is always ticking…** (Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash)

I’m an Englishman living in Spain who has also worked in both Germany and Japan, commuting by train every day. Experiences which I feel give me a certain perspective on the relative prevalence and priority of punctuality in different cultures around the globe.

As a self-employed work-from-homer since decades before the pandemic, I have very few professional appointments — the morning school run is the closest I come to having in-person deadlines to meet. Recently, though, I was asked by a recruitment agency client to conduct telephone interviews with their selection candidates to ascertain their level of spoken English. The chance to dust off my ESL teacher’s hat appealed, and I agreed.

So every couple of weeks I am sent a brief text written by the hopefuls, and they arrange a time to phone me for an oral level assessment. In most cases, they are applying for positions at middle management level, and their English tends also to be somewhere around the intermediate or upper intermediate band. A B1 or B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Or ‘I can get by pretty well’ level, in lay terms.

What varies more is their punctuality in making the call. The worst offender thus far also had the best excuse — he was a mining engineer who was dealing with an emergency at the bottom of a mineshaft, somewhat limiting both his availability and phone signal.

In more run-of-the-mill cases, it’s harder to justify any lateness, in my book. This is, after all, a job interview process.

No, it’s not in-person and on-site. But I am being paid for my time interviewing them and writing up the evaluation. If I break off from my translation work at 10:25 to ready myself mentally, open up their written text file, prepare my notebook, and the phone then doesn’t ring at 10:30 as agreed, they are messing up my working day. That should be obvious, I would have thought.

I haven’t been asked to include any such observations in my reports and don’t see it as my role. The main interviewer has the task of appraising their personal qualities — I’m just the lingo guy. But yesterday’s experience had me wondering whether I really ought to, appraising punctuality as an intrinsic element of their capacity to communicate in an English-speaking environment. In this case UK/Ireland/USA/Scandinavia for the most part.

In other words, acquiring and respecting the cultural aspects that accompany skills in any language has a fundamental impact on your efficacy as a communicator, above all in a professional context. Anyone who has worked in the Far East, for example, knows that while what you say may matter, how and when you say it matters as much, or sometimes more.

The chances of a salesperson closing a deal with an American or British client expecting their call at 10:30 will surely begin to tail off steeply with every minute that passes after a quarter to eleven if the phone hasn’t rung. You could speak near-native C2 English, but if your more halting B1 competitor made their rival call on the dot at 10:00, your company may well miss out on the sale.

I acknowledge that the importance I give to punctuality is out of step with the country where I now live. And in fact, it is probably excessive, neurotic, obsessive, and detrimental to my mental health. But it is part of who I am, precisely because it is a trait emphasised in my cultural upbringing. And as such, it should perhaps also be a valid factor for inclusion in a fully comprehensive English language skills assessment.

Language is about enabling effective communication, a process that relies on far more than just words. And as many learners and teaching service providers shift towards apps like Duolingo or AI-powered online chatbots, it becomes more important to check that students and workers have found a way to master the sociocultural foundations of the language that such non-human interfaces would struggle to convey.

As it happens, yesterday’s candidate was by far the most accomplished I had yet interviewed, linguistically speaking. A clear C2 in both written and oral skills — the highest level of proficiency. But she phoned me an hour and a half late to be interviewed for a marketing position. That’s a beginner-level A1 for punctuality, civility, and responsibility, isn’t it? Not exactly what I’d be looking for in a marketeer.

There was another aspect of this that bothered me. It was clear — as she confirmed — that her English skills came from having attended a private international school in Barcelona, staffed by native teachers. She also mentioned in her text that she was a keen sailor. Add those two together, and you’re talking serious family wealth.

I found this aspect doubly off-putting. Not only had she been granted a far better opportunity than most to assimilate the cultural norms of the formal Anglo-Saxon world over many years, at great expense, but she had also chosen to disregard those norms. Which I inevitably ascribed in part to a sense of entitlement.

Punctuality was, perhaps, for little people who have to punch cards at a factory, not for privately educated yacht girls.

There is almost certainly a degree of inverse snobbery and armchair psychology in that appraisal. As I say, it is not, in any event, my job to reach such conclusions as to how good a fit she might be for the company in question. But I may suggest to the recruitment agency that I add an extra column to the evaluation form for ‘punctuality’, or perhaps the softer-edged concept of ‘cultural awareness’.

And if the final decision were left to me, I’d pick the recently arrived migrant from Argentina who I had spoken to the previous day. Her English wasn’t nearly as good, but she called bang on time.