Are your interview questions unknowingly exclusionary?

We talk a lot about unconscious bias in AI-driven recruitment, but what about human unconscious bias in the interview process? How are the language you use and the questions you ask making people feel unwelcome?

Inclusivity is the bread and butter of modern HR. There are tons of unconscious things we believe that are imbedded via an unequal society that we’ve internalised and often, don’t even realise we carry with us. Challenging that is vitally important to ensuring not only that our workplaces operate in a fair and just manner, but that we have the diversity of voice in our employees that mean we can reach a wider customer demographic.

The language we use in job adverts is an important strand to improving talent acquisition and retention – but once that’s sorted, what about the interview questions we ask?

Today's Top Stories

Jenny Garrett, diversity consultant and author of Equality vs Equity: Tackling Issues of Race in the Workplace, tells HR Grapevine that while subjective judgements are bound to happen, having a set process for interviewing can help quell our natural ‘affirmative action’ toward whiteness, maleness, heterosexuality, one’s education and even one’s personality.

“The main purpose of a job interview is to determine a candidate’s suitability for a role and the likelihood that they will perform well in the position,” she explains. “However, the process is fraught with pitfalls in which a biased view can mean that you miss out on the very best talent.