A new study by University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Nicholas Epley and Ph.D. candidate Juliana Schroeder found that when hypothetical employers and professional recruiters listened to or read job candidates' job qualifications, they rated the candidates as more competent, thoughtful and intelligent when they heard the pitch than when they read it—even when the words used were exactly the same. "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," lead researcher Professor Nicholas Epley said in a news release. Titled "The Sound of Intellect: Speech Reveals a Thoughtful Mind, Increasing a Job Candidate's Appeal," the study will be published in an upcoming issue of The Journal of Psychological Science, the highest ranked empirical journal in the field of psychology. 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. "When conveying intelligence, it's important for one's voice to be heard - literally," Epley concluded.
– If you're trying to land a job, it's much better to explain why you're the perfect candidate in person than in an email, a new study suggests. And it's got nothing to do with power suits—it's all about your voice. Employers are more likely to rate people as intelligent if they hear their pitch than if they read it, say researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In their experiments, the researchers had students prepare videotaped pitches for their dream companies. Evaluators rated the applicants more highly if they listened to the audio rather than reading the same words in a transcript, the researchers write at phys.org. Watching the video didn't seem to affect the scores at all. "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 lead researcher Nicholas Epley. In the tests, "intellect was conveyed primarily through voice," perhaps through subtle variances in pitch and cadence, writes Wray Herbert at the Huffington Post. He thinks it backs up that age-old advice about the importance of wrangling face time with a potential boss. Or as a post at Counsel & Heal puts it, "work on your voice to get your dream job." (In other voice research, a study finds that lousy singers can improve—by singing more.)