Are you prepared to answer questions about your company’s diversity when applicants ask? Your workplace culture and environment can be important factors for incoming employees. The savvy applicant may want information on these topics before moving forward in the interview process and accepting a job offer.
Even if an employer decides not to address diversity during the interview, an applicant may have a different plan. One example from my Diversity Hiring online training is from Diane, a Senior Office Support Supervisor who is African American. She said that even though the risk of not being hired might be involved, she would still ask about the diversity of the organization:
“If there aren’t any people of color in management, I would ask why. I would ask about the retention rate of managers of color. . . Someone in the interview process may not know these answers, and asking the questions may scare them off. But that would be a good indication of whether or not I would want to be at that company anyway. I don’t ever want to experience anything like what I did with five years in retail again, so it’s really important in an interview process that I be open about what my expectations are. When I came here, I said that I have to have the opportunity for advancement.”
Questions about diversity in the workplace may not have one appropriate response, because the questions will come from a variety of diverse perspectives. Training your interview team on how to respond will allow them to be prepared and able to respond in an appropriate and professional manner.
Additional diversity-related questions diverse applicants said they would ask can be found in the online training course Potentially Sensitive Interview Questions and How to Handle Them. This training includes reasons why applicants would ask those questions and suggestions for hiring managers and interviewers on ways to address them.
Copyright © 2023 Lila Kelly Associates, LLC. Not to be reprinted without written permission from Lila Kelly. Integrating Diversity into Hiring, Interviewing, Recruiting and Retention – Since 1992. This article includes excerpts from Lila Kelly’s research-based online training courses at diversityintegration.com, which offer training for interviewers and hiring managers on interview skills, cultural competencies, and methods to identify unconscious bias and eliminate barriers for diverse applicants. To stay up to date on all the latest from Lila Kelly Associates and DiversityIntegration subscribe to our newsletter.