How to suss out whether job applicant might be sexist?

[CousinIT]

Applicants in question are for a high level IT leader in a higher ed Info Tech dept.

REALLY BAD: This is in the SOUTH and almost entire search committee are white guys except ONE woman.

Leader being hired will lead about 8 people, two women, one of whom is a senior IT person (she says may leave if new leader is a sexist ass).

Yes, it's totally not allowed to ask questions about "Diversity and Inclusion" or sexism of male job applicants when whey will lead a team which includes female analysts.

There must be SOMETHING you can ask to discretely suss it out. Otherwise at least two people will leave the org and morale will be in the shitter.

It needs to be kept legal - is there nothing they can ask to suss out these applicant's attitudes?

[talkingwithtrumpers]

1. Google, facebook, twitter? Nothing shows up?

If you have ask something, what about

"Harvard Business School published a study saying, 'More Diverse Teams make better decisions'".
https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter
"What do you think about that, and would you agree with their conclusions in your experience?"

[CousinIT]

2. Hmmm....good answer. I will consider.

Oh yea, I did Google. Nothing came up except how to handle sexist questions if you're a female applicant. Nothing about what it's legal to ask (or how to ask it) if the candidate is male.

Thank you!

[talkingwithtrumpers]

3. BTW I think it IS legal to ask about diversity.

See e.g. this
https://work.chron.com/answer-cultural-awareness-questions-interviews-10331.html

"With the growing awareness and legal repercussions related to workplace cultural diversity, employers are increasingly looking for employees who demonstrate cultural awareness. One way employers make sure new hires respect differences in the values and views of others is by asking interviewees questions about their cultural awareness experiences. The answers provided can help managers make decisions about whom to hire, especially in positions that deal with clients and personnel management."

Here's a link from Monster about using behavioral questions to build diversity.
https://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/interviewing-candidates/behavioral-interviews.aspx

'A good behavioral interview question might be, “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a customer service problem but couldn’t resolve it within current company guidelines.” '

[CousinIT]

4. Wow. Thanks again!

This will definitely be useful!

[talkingwithtrumpers]

5. +1

[Kajun Gal]

6. Just ask if they are qualified for the job. Good God! So glad I am retired!

You gotta jump thru hoops now days. Ridiculous!

[Kajun Gal]

7. PS..if they turn out to be crappy sexist pigs you'll find out quick enough. Then fire em!

[htuttle]

8. I'm a software developer in higher ed, and have been involved in a lot of developer hirings

We have a number of personality type questions that we use under the category of 'team cohesion' or 'fit'.

Something like:

"Describe a situation where you had to work with someone much different than yourself, and how you dealt with it."

or

"Describe a situation where you had to work with someone with a difficult personality, and how you dealt with it."

In any case, it's likely that the one woman on that committee will notice sexism long before the men will, so the real question is will they listen to her?

[CousinIT]

9. Those are good questions. I have some variations of them.

Last edited Sat Nov 3, 2018, 09:45 AM - Edit history (1)

I'll send them all!

Thank you!



Edit: my guess is that they won't listen to her. Even in higher ed with all their blah blah about D & I - they aren't.

[Soleta]

10. Who is the best candidate?

Is it someone that can pass an obvious test in an interview with a simple answer, or someone who seems pensive when asked a genuinely complex question?

Simple minded people are less likely to treat everyone with respect, but they can learn to avoid the obvious traps. Smart people often don't see the traps for what they are, and will answer your questions in good faith. You will find the latter group's behavior suspicious.