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It's up to recruiters and hiring managers to ensure the language barrier doesn't become an employment barrier for ESL candidates, according to an expert who says that unless spoken language skills are a key component of a role, an interview might not even be necessary.

"If you work in a publishing company and you are hiring someone to be a book editor for literary manuscripts, then go for your life with complicated English language; that's a requirement of the job," says Diversity Council Australia CEO Lisa Annese.

If it doesn't matter, however, recruiters should speak as plainly as possible when interviewing candidates with limited English skills...