Are shy, quiet and introverted people discriminated against and is this fair?

Are quiet, reserved or shy people discriminated against during the hiring process in America?

• So much of hiring and job performance depends on selling oneself.

• Answer:

  Hiring in US is largely utilitarian - if some unusual category of people becomes surprisingly useful for a particular job, they will be actively sought out and hired because this can give the employers a significant edge. Such hiring can easily go against prejudice and even past statistics. For example, a hundred years ago, professional basketball in the US was dominated by white players, but then black players started improving, and things have changed. As for quiet, reserved and shy people, keep in mind that many jobs today require communication skills and good articulation interaction with coworkers/customers social skills (or even leadership skills) I can tell you firsthand that when working with a reserved person, it is often difficult to tell if they really know what they are doing. For someone who is missing technical skills and does not understand what their task is, it is common to react by being reserved. Even people known to be brilliant can misunderstand directions and spend time doing something else (I hear this often happens when US companies open remote offices in Russia or Israel). It can be disappointing to manage bright people who lack social skills, don't take advise, make mistakes that could have prevented with better interaction, etc. Another issue is that a job interview does not give shy candidates much time to show themselves. Put yourself in the shoes of an interviewer - would you hire someone who stays quiet when interviewed? (speculating is not a great idea because you can't fire people soon after hiring them)