Hiring remote employees in different part of the world is challenging. Moreover, hiring in the Southeastern United States has its own set of challenges.
If you want to overcome common cultural, ideological, and unforeseen hurdles you will likely face while hiring an experienced professional who lives in a state such as Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, or even the “great state of Texas,” look no further – and keep these things in mind:
Southern Hospitality
In the Southern United States, certain manners and a polite attitude is appreciated and often practiced by the older population, commonly known as the “baby boomer” generation and the younger generation alike. These manners are otherwise known as “southern hospitality” and include:
- Saying please and thank you
- Using table manners (i.e. not chewing with you mouth open, holding your fork and spoon the correct way, waiting until everyone sits down to eat)
- Referring to someone as “sir” or “ma’am”
- Offering someone food or drink when they visit your home (a common favorite is sweetened iced tea)
- Holding the door open for women, treating women with respect
Of course, most of these manners are practiced in all areas of the US, and many areas of the world NNRoad operates in. It’s just that an importance are especially placed on these values in the Southeastern US.
Lack of Access to Internet/ Information
There is an old saying – art imitates life. This is true of the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou starring George Clooney set in the early 1900’s Southern United States. The South is depicted as a poor, rural area where most people lack access to basic necessities such as electricity and running water. Although most, if not all people living in the Southern US have access to electricity and running water today, many people lack access to what would be considered basic necessities today – such as wifi or internet.
Accents
Because of the vast size of the US, the countries population is fairly spread out and has a wide range of accents to an extent that it can make it hard to communicate with different people from differing areas. Someone from New York, New York will tend to pronounce their vowels different from someone who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Even people living in the Midwestern United States will pronounce their “o’s” very elongated and prounounced, such as when they say bagel it would sound like “behgul.” Someone in the South might prounounce the same word as “baygul” with a different pronunciation of the letter “a.”
Pride/Nationalism
Just like with their different accents, many people in the South consider themselves to have a different nation on their own compared to the rest of the United States. This was somewhat more extreme in the 1860’s during the American Civil War, where the Southern United States actually seceded themselves from the Union and considered themselves a separate country, but the South still considers themselves to be a separate nation today within the United States, similar to regions such as Catalonia in Spain. There are even groups of people who have their own nation inside the Southern United States, such as “the great state of Texas,” where citizens in Texas usually say, “I’m a Texan first, and an American second.”
Love of Country
Ironically, some of the most patriotic people live in the United States live in the South. Driving through a rural area of the South through farmland and pastures you will usually see American flags hanging on the porches. You will hear people shout “God Bless The USA!” at college football games in stadiums such as Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN that seats more than 100,000 spectators. You will see bumper stickers on the back of trucks with American flags. You will hear people recite the common phrase “God, Country, Family” and see them paint the American flag on their mailboxes and even paint shipping pallets in their yard the colors of the red, white, and blue American flag to show their love for the USA.
Bonus: Religion
An added key to take into account for people living in the Southern US is religion. Many people are notoriously religious living in the Southern US, and the region is commonly referred to as “the Bible Belt.” This is because of all the Baptist Christians who live there. So it may be important to remember the holidays Christmas and Easter while working with someone from the Southeastern United States – because people living in the Bible Belt sure will.
Conclusion
If you are hiring in the Southern United States, it’s important to keep these characteristics of the Southern US in mind. They could make or break the next time you hire someone, and could mean the difference of finding the talent you and your business needs and secure your next hire for an invaluable asset to your organization.