Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work

A groundbreaking work challenging the false narrative that diversity equals a lack of qualifications by uncovering the impact of “competency checking,” a practice that unjustly scrutinizes Black people and other people of color, forcing them to repeatedly prove their worth, intelligence, and even their right to be in the workplace.

The advancement of Black and other people of color in the workplace is under attack as there is a turn away from the promise of the ""racial reconciliation"" of 2020. This period saw Black talent rise in the workplace from DEI managers to CEOs to junior-level hires. Yet, the post-2020 workplace is seeing an alarming retreat from creating workplaces and leadership that reflect the nation’s diversity.

That retreat is characterized by underemployment, cracked glass cliffs, toxic work environments, and claims of “empty pipelines.” More concerning, Black professionals and other people of color often face greater scrutiny than their peers regarding job applications, work experience, and qualifications to even be considered for employment or advancement. And that scrutiny has a name: Competency Checking.

When it comes to hiring Black talent, the pipeline isn’t broken; rather, it is the assumptions we make about who is competent and qualified. In Qualified, award-winning executive and journalist Shari Dunn combines deep research with enlightening interviews and anecdotes from across the broad spectrum of her career to uncover the history of Competency Checking, how it manifests in the workplace, and what can be done to change it. Competency checking, Dunn argues, continues to be practiced consciously and unconsciously and is the key reason why Black people and other people of color are underrepresented in so many industries and why there continues to be a revolving door of Black talent even after the hiring surges of 2020.

© 2025 Harper Business (Audiobook): 9780063354081

Release date

Audiobook: February 25, 2025