Crafting Equitable Interview Questions: A Practical Guide for Recruiters

For both employers and job seekers, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are more important than ever. I used to be the people manager at two startups that were growing quickly and am now the cofounder of a nationally recognized workplace inclusion strategy firm. I’ve seen firsthand how DEI questions are being used in the hiring process for all positions. Employers want a team that is as diverse as their customers and has a lot of different points of view. This will give them a competitive edge. They also need people who, no matter what the job, will help them create a welcoming and helpful environment instead of getting in the way of those efforts.

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Consumers are also starting to hold companies accountable for insensitive statements and biased blunders. Companies want employees who will represent them well and demonstrate cultural competency. Because of these goals and worries, interviewers are beginning to ask all applicants what they think about equality, diversity, and inclusion at work.

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You need to prepare for more than just the standard common interview questions. For example, if you’re looking for a job in digital marketing or customer service, you need to prepare for questions about your skills and experience in those areas. From my experience hiring people, I tell everyone who is looking for a job (no matter what position they are applying for) to expect questions about diversity and inclusion during the interview.

To help you get hired by an inclusive company, I’ve put together this list of DEI questions you might be asked, along with tips on how to answer them and sample answers to help you write your own.

The interview stage is a pivotal touchpoint in the recruiting process. It represents an opportunity for employers to assess candidates’ skills and fit But often, traditional interview practices inadvertently introduce bias and inequality

This prevents organizations from making objective, merit-based hiring decisions. It also limits their ability to build truly diverse and inclusive teams.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore practical strategies for creating equitable interview questions. These techniques help minimize bias, provide candidates with an equal opportunity to succeed, and ultimately allow you to hire the most qualified individuals.

Why Equitable Interviewing Matters

Before we dive into the specifics, let’s explore why equitable interviewing should be a priority:

Promotes diversity: Standardized questions assess candidates consistently, preventing certain groups from being unfairly disadvantaged. This expands and diversifies your candidate pool.
Reduces legal risks Biased interview practices can expose organizations to discrimination lawsuits and reputational damage, Equitable methods help avoid this
Enhances candidate experience: When interview processes are inclusive and unbiased, candidates feel more respected, engaged, and enthusiastic about your employer brand.
Improves quality of hire: Candidates are evaluated and hired based on their abilities — not irrelevant factors vulnerable to bias. This strengthens your teams with the best talent.
Drives innovation: Diverse teams with employees from different backgrounds excel at innovation. Equitable hiring enhances diversity.
Reflects company values Embedding equality and inclusion into your recruiting reflects well on your employer brand. Top candidates are drawn to socially responsible organizations

Let’s now explore specific strategies for developing equitable interview questions.

6 Steps to Create Unbiased Interview Questions

Follow these best practices to eliminate bias and level the playing field for all candidates:

1. Review Job Requirements

Carefully go through the skills, knowledge, and competencies required for the role.
Distinguish between “must-haves” vs. “nice-to-haves”.
Focus only on qualifications directly relevant to success in the role.

2. Use Clear, Simple Language

Use simple, unambiguous phrasing that is easily understood by all candidates.
Avoid idioms, colloquialisms, acronyms or culturally-specific terms candidates may be unfamiliar with.

3. Emphasize Capabilities Over Credentials

Instead of asking about previous job titles or educational pedigree, assess candidates’ capabilities.
For example, ask “How would you analyze this data set?” rather than “Do you have experience with data analysis?”

4. Standardize the Process

Ask all candidates the same baseline set of questions in the same sequence.
Any follow-up questions should focus on clarifying their initial responses.
This minimizes inadvertent bias in the types of questions individual candidates are asked.

5. Implement Blind Evaluations

When possible, remove identifying candidate details like name, age, gender, ethnicity, educational institutions, etc. from resumes before review.
For in-person interviews, train interviewers on unconscious bias and have them assess candidates’ responses in writing before discussing impressions.

6. Include Work Samples

Incorporate tests or simulations that objectively assess candidates’ abilities to execute core role responsibilities.
These should measure job-related skills, not abstract qualities vulnerable to biased perceptions.

Crafting Inclusive Interview Questions

Here are some examples of unbiased, equitable interview questions for different phases of the recruiting process:

Phone/Video Screening

What appeals to you about this role and our organization?
Could you walk me through your career trajectory thus far?
What are some achievements you’re particularly proud of in your work?
How do you stay current on developments and best practices in our field?

In-Person Interview

Describe a time you successfully led a team project with a tight deadline. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Tell me about a situation where you had to resolve a disagreement with a colleague. What was the context and how did you handle it?
Here is a sample data set from a project we recently completed. Please walk me through how you would analyze this data to draw insights.
What appeals to you about our organizational culture and values? How would you see yourself contributing?

Case/Presentation

With this product concept and customer segment in mind, how would you approach pricing and positioning it? Please outline your strategy.
If you were to create an ad campaign for our new consumer app aimed at millennials, what mediums and messaging would you use?
Here is an internal report on an operational issue our company is facing. Please review it and present a summary with recommendations for addressing the problem.

Ensuring a Positive Candidate Experience

An equitable, unbiased interview process creates a positive experience for all candidates – regardless of identity, background, or demographics. Here are some additional tips:

Provide candidates with an overview of the interview format and expectations in advance. This allows them to prepare accordingly.
Ensure the physical interview environment is welcoming and accessible. This includes reception staff interactions.
Maintain a respectful, conversational tone throughout. Avoid interruptions or distractions during the interview.
Give candidates opportunities to ask questions and highlight additional strengths not covered organically in the interview.
Conclude with next steps and anticipated timelines. Follow up promptly with outcomes and constructive feedback if requested.

Tracking Progress and Impact

Once you implement equitable interview practices, it’s important to track their effectiveness through metrics like:

Candidate NPS scores and interview feedback surveys
Diversity metrics for candidate slates and hires
Hiring manager assessments of quality of hire
Retention rates for diverse hires
Internal mobility and promotion rates across demographic groups

Driving Meaningful Change

Transforming traditional interview practices into equitable, inclusive processes requires intention, diligence and commitment from across the organization. But the long-term benefits make this culture shift well worth the effort.

Equitable interviewing practices allow you to continuously strengthen your employer brand, diversify your teams, mitigate unconscious bias, and hire the most qualified, empowered talent uniquely positioned to drive your organization forward.

Tell Me About a Time When You Advocated for Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.

There are usually one or two questions in interviews that are meant to find out how you’ll act in real life based on what you’ve done in the past. This question is meant to see how well you can act on your values and beliefs.

The STAR method should be used when someone asks you to “tell us about a time when” or something similar to get a real-life example of how you’ve dealt with a problem in the past. The STAR method gives you a way to provide a fitting example in a straightforward, compelling manner. STAR stands for:

Situation: Set the scene and give any background needed.
Task: Explain what you were responsible for in that situation.
Action: Describe the steps you took.
Talk about what happened after those steps and what you learned.

Don’t worry if you don’t have some grandiose story about making sweeping changes at an organization. The person interviewing you will want to know how you make decisions and take actions that are fair, diverse, and include everyone.

An answer could sound like:

“In a previous role, I served as office manager for a fast-growing tech startup. I was one of the only women in a company full of men. We were moving into a larger office and had the opportunity to name the conference rooms. It was my job to oversee many of the logistics of the move, including naming these rooms. I wanted to make the process more democratic, so I asked the rest of the team for name ideas based on the theme of famous inventors from history. However, the vast majority of suggestions I received were for male innovators (and most of them white). I learned at a diversity and inclusion workshop that naming most of the conference rooms after men could be a subtle turnoff for women job candidates. I also knew that we needed to get more women to apply. When I asked our team for more ideas, I told them about this situation. Some people didn’t like it, but we were able to work together and come up with names for conference rooms that everyone loved. It made me feel better to show female candidates around the office after that, and we were able to slowly get more women to work at the startup. ”.

What Is Your Approach to Understanding the Perspectives of Colleagues From Different Backgrounds?

Thriving in a diverse work environment is easier said than done. Research suggests that working on diverse teams produces stronger outcomes because the diversity of perspectives can actually make the process harder. It requires teamwork and a good deal of effort to create the type of connection and understanding across differences that will result in positive business outcomes. The goal of this type of question is to determine how active you will be in building a bridge of understanding between your colleagues and yourself.

Getting to know and understand someone should be an effort that starts well before decision-making time. You can’t really understand your coworkers until you take the time to get to know them outside of work. You’ll want to answer this question in a way that shows you recognize the power of relationship building.

So you might say:

“I take the time to get to know everyone I work with, whether they’re my boss, a subordinate, or a peer. Ideally, this takes the form of a scheduled lunch or coffee. It’s also easy to get to know someone on a personal level when we walk by each other in the hallway or break room. I’m interested in what people care about outside of work, what motivates them at work, what they believe in, and why. In my experience, this builds a relationship that helps instill a level of trust. When we disagree, the trust we already have in each other makes it easier to understand each other and solve the problem. ”.

Diversity and Inclusion Interview Questions and Answers

FAQ

What are examples of equity interview questions?

Describe your experience in serving or teaching underrepresented communities. What did you learn from this experience? Describe a situation in which you utilized your multicultural skills to solve a problem. Please provide an example of how you approached educating students about diversity, equity, or inclusion.

What is an equitable interview process?

The interview process is another area that may require firming up to achieve candidate equity. The candidate interview should consist of the same questions, asked in the same order, for each and every candidate. This ensures each candidate is given the same opportunity to share his or her story.

What is a good equality and diversity interview question?

Tell Me About a Time When You Advocated for Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. Can You Give Me an Example of How You Make Your Direct Reports Feel a Sense of Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity on a Daily Basis? What Steps Will You Take to Eliminate Bias From Your Hiring Process?

What does equity mean in an interview?

The term “equity” refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from equality: Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances.

How do you make interviews equitable?

In order to make interviews equitable, you must ensure that you’re selecting applicants from a diverse pool. The job description is the first barrier in the hiring process. This is harder than it sounds—many companies unintentionally use descriptions that eliminate applicants. To help all candidates feel comfortable applying, use these tips:

What are the most common equality and diversity interview questions?

Below, we discuss the most commonly asked Equality and Diversity interview questions and explain how to answer them. 1. Tell me about yourself. Interviewers ask this question to gain insights into your personal experiences and perspectives related to equality, inclusion, and diversity.

Why do companies ask diversity questions during interviews?

Companies and hiring managers ask diversity questions during interviews to better understand a candidate’s perspective on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. By asking these questions, they can gain insight into the candidate’s values, experiences and approach to working with people from diverse backgrounds.

Why should you adjust your interview process to ensure equity & inclusion?

Adjusting your interview process to ensure equity and inclusion makes hiring, and your organization as a whole, more effective. Take the time up-front to utilize these best practices and they will soon become the new normal and serve as an important signal to future employees about what they can expect from a career with your organization.