#JobSearch : How To Answer New, Hard Interview Questions Employers Now Ask. Companies are Asking about a New Line of Interview Questioning that is Stumping Them.
Career Counseling clients started asking about a new line of interview questioning that is stumping them. They wanted guidance on how to develop an effective answer to diversity questions. Larger employers, especially Fortune 500 employers, have begun to add one or two diversity questions into their interviewing process. These are very difficult when you are not prepared for them.
One Fortune 100 Recruiter said, “our company has implemented a few new policies in response to the need to diversify the workforce. The key problem is that hiring managers often introduce their personal biases into the hiring process. So, the first change has been to send our hiring managers resumes to review where the recruiter has replaced the job candidate’s name with a number.
This way, everyone is equal, and no one brings personal biases into the interviewing process. Having had twenty years of hiring experience, I’ll tell you EVERYONE is raised with some innate biases against other cultures, races, genders, or sexual orientation. If you don’t think so, ask Baby Boomers what they think of tattoos? You will hear an opinion, for sure. Our company wants to level the playing field when hiring new employees and develop a culture where they feel they belong. We now have all our hiring managers ask a couple of diversity questions during the job interview.”
“Diversity initiatives are now at the forefront of every HR leader’s to-do list,” said a Chief of Human Resources who asked to remain nameless. “SHRM (the Society of Human Resources Management) has provided plenty of valuable resources to help companies big and small deal with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion issues which start with hiring new talent. I’ve been sitting through numerous webinars in the last few months covering this topic. Our company is smaller, and we are just beginning to develop a diversity plan. I am currently asking job candidates at least one diversity question in their interview with me.”
Like this Article? Share It! You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-g-laughter-b46389198/
Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc
Best Daily Choice: Follow the Best of FSC Career Articles/Blogs @
https://twitter.com/search?q=bestoffscblog&src=typeahead_click
Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?
Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search: https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/
What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?
Article continued …
Diversity questions often catch people off guard. It is a sign of the times that more employers are asking these, though. The job hunter, if unprepared, typically answers diversity questions poorly. That can mean elimination from that job.
Right approach
We live in a global workplace with many companies doing business with other nations. How do you define diversity? It’s not just race, but it can also include gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, and generational gap.
To answer appropriately, you must stress these three things:
· tolerance
· acceptance
· inclusion
Older, more mature workers may have more biases because of the times which they were raised. Maybe you support vets. Perhaps you dislike a nationality because of war experiences. You must bring a more neutral attitude to your job in these sensitive times. All ages can have biases, so you are likely not immune from this issue, whether you are 30 or 60.
Answering Diversity questions
Here are a few questions and sample answers to help you understand how you can answer these questions.
Describe a time you were in a group of diverse people?
One client was from the Middle East, and she had experienced a great deal of discrimination. This question threw her in the interview. She confessed she had a complete block on how to handle this question. I worked with her in our interview coaching session to make her position and experiences better known. She said:
“I’m usually the person with the most diversity in any workgroup because of my Middle East birth. I have found others are usually afraid to ask me questions for fear of offending me. I am rather introverted, and in my culture, men’s opinions mattered more. I have realized that I must speak out more frequently and offer my ideas. I now actively participate in brainstorming sessions to solve problems. I even talk a bit about some of my life growing up in the Middle East. People are more comfortable around me because I made a significant effort to be more open and share.”
Here is how a male engineer in a global company answered.
“In my company, we have people from all over the world, so our workgroup is very diverse. I noticed some people are very quiet in the group. They offer more if we two are talking, but they remain silent in a group. I have realized the reluctance to speak in a larger group was because of age or generational differences or cultural differences. I then took on a more active role in group settings, even though I am not the leader. I’ll ask each person by name if they have any ideas or anything to add. This approach has given us new and better ideas to solve problems because everyone comes from a different perspective. It has also helped build more acceptance and make these people feel included and not like outsiders.”
As a manager, what strategies have you used to address diversity challenges?
“Many of our customers are from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds, so being savvy on how to act and what to say shows insight and good business acumen. As a result, I have taken several classes on diversity and became more sensitive to this issue. I do my best to promote tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion. I work with some resistant people who need additional training classes and coaching to be more sensitive. I coach them privately or call in HR and have HR offer a training course for my teams and indirect reports. I sell it as a terrific way to get more input from every person on the team, which allows us to come up with new ideas, productivity, and process/system or design improvements. That approach has been successful for me.”
Another answered with a clear-cut example:
“I had a female tech employee come to me and stated she overheard some men talking about their salaries. She did the same job and was shocked to hear that these men made more than $10,000 more than her. She requested an immediate raise to be equal to her male peers. I investigated the issue, and I found that all seven women I had in my division were underpaid. I took the issue to senior leadership and asked them to rectify the situation. This was not an easy sell because the company was in a so-called ‘no promotion, no raises’ timeframe. I talked to all the women involved and kept them informed. I was able to get equity raises through and retroactive to the beginning of the year. I pushed hard for this because it was the right thing to do. I feel strongly we need to offer fair, equitable pay to both men and women.”
Think about a few diversity questions you might be asked. (This Forbes article has more). Many interviewers want you to offer a specific work example. Think about the best illustration you can present, showing you to be accepting and tolerant. Write out your answer. Roleplay and say the words out loud. Perfect the answer, so you are ready to handle these challenging questions when asked.
Forbes.com | November 3, 2020 | Robin Ryan
