The Art of Inclusive Interviewing

What is The Art of Inclusive Interviewing?

This week I read an article in HR magazine that caused me concern.

The title was The Art of Inclusive Interviewing .

The article wandered all over the place, talking about people that don't fit in and, in some cases, giving confusing and problematic advice regarding personal diversity data.?

So I decided to have a go at it myself.?

I don't have all the answers, and I don't know if anyone out there right now is getting it perfectly right. But I do know that any article on this topic needs to give people practical guidance.?

Let's start with the problem we're trying to solve. What makes a job interview non-inclusive?

A non-inclusive interview is when a candidate is unfairly disadvantaged due to their intersectional identity, background or circumstances.?

How is intersectionality relevant to the art of inclusive interviewing? Sometimes when we think about inclusion, we naturally think about one aspect of someone's identity: race, ethnicity, gender or disability.??

The reality is that candidates often face disadvantages (or unearned advantages) due to multiple aspects of their identity.??

For example, a woman with autism and caring responsibilities faces different barriers than a neurotypical woman without caring responsibilities.?Both may face barriers due to their gender.

So we cannot base the art of inclusive interviewing on one under-represented group. This means that the art of inclusive interviewing has to be a set of principles rather than a one size fits all approach.?

The art of inclusive interviewing is not about accommodating those who might not "fit in". If, as an interviewer, you find yourself worrying about a candidate not fitting in, the chances are that you have an over-representation of one type of person in your business or team. And that worry is actually your natural bias as a human to fear what is different.

Inclusive interviewing also starts with recognising and acknowledging where a candidate's privilege gives them an unearned advantage—for example, having the ability to attend an interview at any time of the day or a neurotypical brain that can easily process a conventional interview.??

So back to the original question, what is The Art of Inclusive Interviewing? Here are a few thoughts

Accessibility?

From the moment a candidate enters your recruitment process, whether via application, a recruitment consultancy, headhunter or internal recruiter, it's essential to create trust and psychological safety that they can declare any disability or aspect of their identity, which may place them at a disadvantage. Throughout the recruitment lifecycle, trust needs to build through continuous signposting that they can request whatever adjustments or accommodations they need. This way, the interviewer provides the right equity and accessibility based on the individual.??

Adjustments really vary from providing interview questions and structure upfront to ensuring physical access to the building or arranging a sign language interpreter. It will always be case by case.?

Assessment?

Inclusive interviews should have a structure and style of questioning consistent for all candidates (with the exception of those needing an adjustment, such as an alternative format).

The qualities, skills and experience required should have been identified upfront, and the questions asked should directly relate to those. They should allow the candidate to provide evidence of whether they have them.?

Questions to set that candidate at ease and create a warm and welcoming environment for the interview are a great shout with a few caveats.

1. Vague and open-ended questions such as "Tell me about yourself" can place neurodivergent candidates at a disadvantage. They can also unfairly advantage candidates who are naturally confident interviewers.?
2. Questions that uncover a candidate's protected characteristics. Even the most innocent questions like "How do you spend your spare time" might feel threatening to someone who has previously experienced discrimination.?
3. Questions about hobbies and pastimes. They seem like a good ice-breaker, but they are a great way to trigger affinity bias.?

Remember, when interviewing, we're meant to gather facts, not feelings.?

This might feel counter-intuitive; why should we ignore our feelings when interviewing someone? Ignoring them isn't realistic or fair, but challenging them is a good idea because those feelings may be based on bias rather than facts and evidence.?

One way for an interviewer to hold themselves accountable to a fair and inclusive decision is to use a scoring matrix, which means they will have to carefully consider the facts and evidence they have gathered on each candidate. It will prevent the interviewer from defaulting to the "not quite the right fit" outcome.?

Candidate Experience

I believe that candidates want kindness, curiosity, empathy and transparency. Therefore, ensuring a dedicated space for questions from the candidate during the interview is vital. If your candidate is from an under-represented background, this is the point where they may choose to voice their concerns about diverse representation within your business.

Talking about the company's diversity celebration calendar is unlikely to address their concerns, mainly as many companies use such events (International Women's Day springs to mind) as a form of washing or performative DEI.

Instead, transparently talk about where your company is on the DEI journey, it's okay to say we're not perfect, but this is what we're doing and we'd welcome your thoughts.

Attracting under-represented talent isn't about creating a false illusion about what it might be like once they join; it's about honesty so they know what to expect but how things are and will change.?

Bias

The interviewer must have decent awareness levels of common recruitment biases, their own biases and be prepared to challenge them. It's also helpful to have several strategies and interventions in place to mitigate bias, such as?

1. Anonymising CV's up until the point of the interview to prevent Affinity and Confirmation Bias?
2. Including impartial colleagues in your interview team to break down GroupThink
3. Submitting interview feedback separately to mitigate Conformity Bias?

So, in conclusion, this is what I think the The Art of Inclusive Interviewing is?

• Understanding intersectionality and acknowledging the part privilege plays in interview outcomes.?
• Creating psychological safety for all candidates to request the equity and accessibility they need to compete on a level playing field?
• Creating a warm and welcoming interview that focuses on gathering facts and evidence?
• Fair and consistent assessment methods?
• Awareness of bias and interventions/strategies to mitigate bias
• Kindness, curiosity, transparency and empathy to create a positive candidate experience?
• Meaningful and factual feedback

Thank you for reading ??

Balance is an Inclusive Hiring Consultancy providing audits, workshops, e-learning and advisory to help companies achieve Inclusive, Equitable and Accessible Recruitment.