If you are in HR or executive leadership, what are you doing to handle the current issues around Black Lives Matter, so it isnt spilling into your workplace and causing employee disagreements? Recently I worked with a Baby Boomer who is a VP of Diversity, who also happens to be Black. He had some keen insight. He stated, “companies need to do so much more. Organizations are not accepting that serious, and upsetting discussions and actions happen all the time at work. Racism is a prominent issue that needs to be addressed in the workplace.” We discussed the job interview process, and he replied that he believes all companies should be asking a few diversity questions before they make a hiring decision.
We can all agree that it is a very contentious time in our country with racial biases and “Black Lives Matter” in the news every day. Protests have happened in most cities across the US. If you spend five minutes on your personal Facebook page, youll see some people writing about support, others vocal about the message being lost amidst the looting and violence, with many wanting to defund the police, and still others supporting the police. Racism is a significant issue that companies cannot keep their blinders on about anymore. People are talking, and that means at work too.
I have several Fortune 500 companies as clients that have invested significantly in their Diversity program. Furthermore, research from McKinsey & Company shows that ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform the national industry median for financial returns. Gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform. One Fortune 100 company requires the interviewing team to ask 2-3 diversity questions of all its job applicants, and they hire thousands each year. Diversity, acceptance, and inclusion is a top company value, and they state on their website they believe in a diverse workforce. They have found that it leads to new ideas and innovation.
Saying that you hire people and do not discriminate is not the same as having a formal plan that asks how well people play in your diverse employee sandbox. Formally, diversity is about acceptance and inclusion among employees and the company. It is embracing cultural differences such as someones sexual orientation, their race, their gender, or even their upbringing in that there can be significant differences among generations.
How do you make sure that social/political/racial turmoil present in the country is not causing internal struggles within your organization? Talk to your employees, including all minorities and women too. Women should be included regardless of how well represented they are as that doesnt stop the inherent biases, hassles, mommy track, or glass ceilings issues that many women face. Lunch and learns, or fireside chats, and even small based zoom webinars are an excellent way to start people talking. MORE FOR YOU
You must create a safe environment where people can express themselves. You must allow and encourage honest and open conversations without fear of retaliation. Ask employees if their needs are being met? Do they feel welcome at work? Have they found racism to be an issue for them? If so, in what why? How can the company make improvements to reduce bias and racism in the workplace?
Also, ask these employees about what questions the company should ask of new hires? You may be surprised by what they say.
Your goal is to develop an equitable, inclusive organizational environment. Start with every interview. Diversity questions are usually unexpected by job applicants if you are not working in the HR field. Are you asking a few diversity questions? Now is the right time to ask why arent you then?
Take the time necessary to work with your HR leaders to compile a few effective diversity questions to ask every applicant you will interview. Situational questions work best to uncover an individuals biases. You are evaluating how the person acted in the past, and it will also help predict future behavior. With these types of situational questions, you can hear how they respond to an actual workplace scenario. You must ask every candidate interviewing for the same job identical diversity questions. This enables you to compare and evaluate each candidates responses objectively.
· When you set out to hire candidates whose beliefs align with your department mission, how do you avoid disqualifying people from different backgrounds?
· When it comes to inclusion, how do you foster an environment where people who come from different backgrounds know you value their ideas?
· Give an example of how your background and experience has prepared you to be effective in an environment that holds diversity core to the companys mission and values?
· Can you give us an example of when a persons cultural background affected your approach to a work situation?
· How do you challenge stereotypes and promote sensitivity and inclusion? Please provide a specific example.
· Tell us how you work with people to create or foster diversity in the workplace.
· Give us an example of what you have done to create an environment that is welcoming, inclusive, and increasingly diverse?
· Tell us about a time when you have taken steps to ensure that everyone on your team or in your department felt included. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome.
· What is your approach to dealing with discussions about potentially difficult topics, such as race, religion, politics, or sexual orientation? Please provide a specific example.
· Tell us about one or two specific things that you have done to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in your current (or last) job?
· In your experience, what are the challenges faced by members of historically underrepresented groups in the workplace? What strategies have you used to address these challenges, and how successful were those strategies?
· Tell us with a clear example of how you have fostered diversity and inclusion in the past?
· Tell me about a time that you adapted your style to work effectively with those who were different from you.
· Explain the kinds of experiences you have had in relating to people whose backgrounds are different than your own?
· Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to a wide variety of people by accepting/understanding their perspectives.
· Describe a specific situation in which you worked with a diverse group of people over a period of time. Based on this experience, what did you learn?
· Describe a situation in which you had to work within a culture different than your own.
· Describe how your career has been changed by exposure to diverse people, places, or experiences. Please provide a specific example.
· Describe a time when you needed to work cooperatively with someone that did not share the same ideas as you. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome.
· Tell us about a time when you responded to a co-worker or student who made an insensitive remark. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome.
· Tell us about a time where you communicated a complex topic so that others without your background understood the meaning.
· What do you see as the most challenging aspect of a diverse working environment? What steps have you taken to meet this challenge?
· Can you offer some specific examples of the kinds of experiences you have had working with others with different backgrounds than your own?
· Tell me about a time you had to alter your work style to meet a diversity need or challenge?
· How have you handled a situation when a colleague was not accepting of others diversity?
Your job as an interviewer is to listen carefully and decided can the person sitting in front of you effectively blend into your companys culture. Some people will. Others will not.
Diversity questions likely will catch the person off guard. Allow them to think and answer the question completely. Do not help them; only repeat a question if needed. Do not expect to hear the same answers from a minority or underrepresented person. Their experiences are likely very different as they are often on the receiving end of racism or bias.
Generations view diversity differently. As an interviewing expert, I know that Baby Boomers did not grow up in a world of acceptance. They lived through segregation, busing, race riots, and may have parents who practiced discrimination. Their upbringing may shape them, but it is unfair to assume that they have not overcome it. Racism is not a generational thing — every person, young or old, can be a racist. Changing the way your company interviews, and asking a few diversity questions, can help you foster a more inclusive workplace.
Trump walks off interview after racism question
In my very first column, I dropped some game on one question that any person from a marginalized community should ask while being interviewed for a new job: “How would you define diversity and what does that mean to you?” It’s a query that has, for the most part, helped me suss out companies that clearly don’t give a damn about making their work forces fair and safe spaces for Black employees like me. Yet as of late, I’ve been able to drop it from my repertoire completely.
My coworker Linda delivers it in the same deadpan manner every time—I’m starting to suspect that she gets a kick out of throwing folks off. And while I can’t help but feel some secondhand awkwardness, I eat it up every time, especially considering that thus far, all of the interviewees have been white. And their responses have run the gamut from empathetic to damn-near callous.advertisement
I was already turned off by the second candidate, this time a white man, before we even got to the DEI line of questioning. His interview strategy was cramming as many buzzwords as possible into every response. (We get it, dude. You’re a “disruptor” who also happens to be an “active listener” and a “thought leader.” How does someone manage to be a rock star and a ninja?) He, too, had never witnessed racism in his professional career, but to his credit, he made an effort to draw from relevant experience. He shared a story about supporting and encouraging one of his female employees to step forward after she was sexually harassed at a convention. She eventually did, which led to disciplinary action against the offender and some changes to the company’s harassment policy. It was a better response than Status Quo Stacey’s, even if dude made sure to mention he’s an “ally.”advertisement
Our first candidate outright said she’s never encountered racism on the job. After a few seconds of radio silence and studiously blank expressions, my colleague Dennis pivoted to ask, “Well, if you were to experience racism within a team, how would you handle it?” Her response—basically that she trusts whatever the company policy is, so she’d defer to that—was triggering for me. It was like she was passing the buck and hoping for the best, rather than tapping into her own moral ethos and acting accordingly. It’s how impartial systems continue to work exactly as they were intended; a more precise metaphor for America than any I’ve ever written in this column.
For the first time in more than a year, I’ve been playing the field for a heat check on my market value. I’ve noticed that things are different this time around—and not just because I’m staring potential employers in the face via my laptop screen. In what’s likely hangover effect of Freedom Summer 2020, interviewers have been beating me to the punch engaging with topics like diversity, equality, and inclusion. It’s an encouraging indicator of the small shifts happening in corporate America.
The anti-racist job interview question
Throughout its website, Fractured Atlas notes the companys ongoing work of making sure its employee base and the artists in their membership accurately reflect the diversity of the arts community and society as a whole. Additionally, every job description includes the companys value statement of anti-racism and anti-oppression.
Applicants should be prepared to have a conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion by the time they get to an interview, says Ruffin. Thats why, often during the initial phone screen, job candidates will be asked: “Without using the word different, whats your definition of diversity?”
“Its such a simple question,” Ruffin says, though “as a Black queer woman whos hiring, Im always astounded by the responses I get.”
Ruffin and Cynova explain that when they ask the diversity question, theyre really trying to gauge whether the candidate has done proper research on the company, its values and how it shows up in their work. Sometimes, the candidate will push back and say theyre asking the wrong question about diversity, which Cynova says could actually be a sign of a good culture fit. For example, instead of simply defining diversity, the candidate may instead want to discuss how diversity is actively suppressed through existing social systems, and the work it takes to actively promote diversity across race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability.
A candidate who gives a vague answer or a response filled with “alphabet soup” probably hasnt done their research on the company or doesnt have a grasp of diversity as a concept, Ruffin says.
Now and then, even if a candidate gives a weak answer but still shows promise as an employee in general, theyll advance to second-round interviews.
In these more formal conversations, hiring managers will ask how the candidate has promoted equity, sensitivity and inclusion through their previous work experiences. If they still cant discuss how theyve worked to break down systems of oppression or even acknowledge its existence, whether through their job history or in their own personal lives, Cynova says its usually a sign of a bad culture fit.
An alternate reality to help global majority people discover safe work spacesJun 30, 2021
Going through the job interview process can be stressful for global majority people, especially when there are multiple interview rounds and not a face that looks like yours at any of them.
In addition to the normal stress that every interviewee goes through, you’re likely to face the double-take as you walk through the door (maybe less so now that prospective employers can find you on LinkedIn, but it still isn’t gone).
And there could be an unusual level of questioning about your birth, nationality, qualifications and right to be there. (I’m not making this up; it’s happened to me more than once, and I know it’s happened to others, too including President Obama).
Even if you get the job, there’s no guarantee it will be a safe space for you to work.
But what if you could use the interview process to find out what you really need to know as a global majority person? You might not get the job, but you’d be a whole lot clearer about whether it was the right workplace for you.
I know this will probably never happen, but here are some of the questions I wish I’d asked. (This is part one of a two part series.)
Why aren’t there any people who look like me on the interview panel?
Almost every Black or brown person I know has walked into an interview room and seen a sea of white faces staring back at them. It can be overwhelming, especially if you get the double take at the start that lets you know you don’t fit in.
Related reading: The Double Take
FAQ
What is a good diversity interview question?
How do you answer interview question about diversity?
What is equality and diversity interview questions?
- Have you ever had to handle a situation when a team member was not accepting of another team member’s background? …
- What strategies have you used to respond to diversity challenges? …
- In your opinion, what is the most challenging aspect of working in a diverse environment?
What are diversity questions?
- What does diversity, equality and inclusion mean to you? …
- How would you react if you heard a coworker say something racist, ableist, homophobic or otherwise inappropriate? …
- How do you approach understanding coworkers from different backgrounds?
