Equality Interview Question

nimbo

Flyonthewall wrote: »

True, but I was saying about treating people all equally in the sense of not being horrible to someone because of their race, religion, gender etc. That was my first thought and one they seemed to follow on from by asking about past experiences.

this isn't wrong - everyone should be treated politely, and kindly in all situations...

They really kept pushing with the past experience, but I really have no experience of that in any sense so I don't know what they expected and it rather put me off Then they went back to asking in that sense (equality with disabilities).

you will have - try to think outside the box.....

I did try and say that you'd have to cater to their needs,

this is where you need to expand - 'reasonable adjustments' is a key term here....

but still treat them like you would anyone else (as in being nice, not bullying, excluding them and so on).

They kept cutting in with their own little points/statements and questions though that weren't always about the thing I'd just said. I'm not sure both interviewers were expecting the same answer and there was a third person just sat in front of me not saying anything at all.

they were trying to prompt the terms they wanted out of you....

Ok -

where are the jobs that you are applying for? are they with public sector or the NHS?

look online at thier policies about equality and diversity - if they aren't in the public sector then look at the NHS website local to you as this will be good and generic... This little bit of research before an interview will be good reading for you...

http://work.chron.com/answer-diversity-questions-interview-3029.html


look on this website too....

good luck.

Flyonthewall

nimbo wrote: »

they were trying to prompt the terms they wanted out of you....

Ok -

where are the jobs that you are applying for? are they with public sector or the NHS?

look online at thier policies about equality and diversity - if they aren't in the public sector then look at the NHS website local to you as this will be good and generic... This little bit of research before an interview will be good reading for you...

http://work.chron.com/answer-diversity-questions-interview-3029.html


look on this website too....

good luck.

Yeah, exactly. I did try and expand on treating everyone kindly as well.

Think outside the box how? If nothing happened there's nothing to say. I suppose I could say if something had happened then it should have been like this, but when put on the spot my brain doesn't work that way. It didn't seem fair to me that they kept pushing for an event that never happened, it's not like they suggested an example it was like something must have happened at some point, tell us.

I didn't get any chance to expand on that

They may have been trying to prompt the terms out of me, but I was lost as to what else to say. I may not have got out what I wanted to say properly, I wasn't given a proper chance to expand on needs, but I did basically answer the question even if it wasn't in one sentence. It was, afterall, what my understanding of it is not just what is equality and diversity. That's why I was curious what the best answer is to give because it probably would have gone better had I gotten the whole answer out straight away lol.

Public sector. I actually had an interview with the same company before, different job, and I think they worded the question the same. I'm sure I gave one simple answer similar to the first reply I gave to them and they happily accepted it.

Thanks for the link. I did look at their equality and diversity policies I think before the interview, but I can't remember now what it says...will have to look it up again lol.

hcb42

what was the job?

For example in my industry (hotel trade), it might not be possible to put a lift in a listed building. They were testing your understand of what should be done, together with what limitations of what sometimes can be done

Flyonthewall

There's a stupidly large amount of information under their equality policy, but most of it isn't anything to do with an actual policy.

Anyhow, it does say they are committed to delivering equality of opportunity. Someone mentioned that before so I need to remember that for the future.

It then says they won't tolerate discrimination against age, race, gender, disability etc. Which was what I mentioned. It also says it is about more than ignoring differences, but that would it is about ignoring differences as well which is what I was trying to say.

Basically it just says everyone should be treated with respect, differences should be ignored and they will work with people to ensure this happens.

Flyonthewall

hcb42 wrote: »

what was the job?

For example in my industry (hotel trade), it might not be possible to put a lift in a listed building. They were testing your understand of what should be done, together with what limitations of what sometimes can be done

Just general admin.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Flyonthewall wrote: »

There's a stupidly large amount of information under their equality policy, but most of it isn't anything to do with an actual policy.

Anyhow, it does say they are committed to delivering equality of opportunity. Someone mentioned that before so I need to remember that for the future.

It then says they won't tolerate discrimination against age, race, gender, disability etc. Which was what I mentioned. It also says it is about more than ignoring differences, but that would it is about ignoring differences as well which is what I was trying to say.

Basically it just says everyone should be treated with respect, differences should be ignored and they will work with people to ensure this happens.

Really? I think you need to recheck that.
Equality means not treating anyone in an unequal manner for whatever reason
Diversity means recognising that people are different and that they sometimes need those differences to be taken into consideration.

Saying that 'I will be mean to everyone' is not equality and 'I will not help anyone, regardless of ability' is not diversity. Does that help to explain the difference?

Flyonthewall

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

Really? I think you need to recheck that.
Equality means not treating anyone in an unequal manner for whatever reason
Diversity means recognising that people are different and that they sometimes need those differences to be taken into consideration.

Saying that 'I will be mean to everyone' is not equality and 'I will not help anyone, regardless of ability' is not diversity. Does that help to explain the difference?

"more than disregarding differences" is the exact wording.

Technically being mean to everyone is treating everyone equally, it's not right or fair equality. As they say, everyone should be treated with respect. But yes, I understand the difference