How do you feel about working for a company that celebrates and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion?
This question is a test of your cultural competence to determine how well you would work with and support fellow members of your teams. When answering this question, focus on your sense of innovation through collaboration. Being interested in, supportive of, and wanting to learn from those with different perspectives suggests you are team focused and take charge of your development with a drive to build upon your experience wherever you can. As Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, puts it, "We all just want to be respected - to be treated with dignity; listened to; and heard. Once you understand that, you realize how simple it is to reach out and make connections. So as we face a daunting set of global challenges, we have to face them not as adversaries, but as fellow human beings."
Here are some diversity and inclusion statements taken from BlackRock's website: "Our philosophy of working as One BlackRock is at the core of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across every level of our firm and within every region and country we operate - across gender, race, ethnicity, disability and veteran status, among others. At BlackRock, DEI is a business imperative. We know that a diverse workforce is indispensable to our creativity and success. It's how we answer the biggest questions and solve the toughest problems. An inclusive, equitable environment makes us thrive. It enables us to draw on expertise and unique experiences from across the firm and bring out the best in each other."
Both BlackRock and HireVue advertise that they continually make efforts to mitigate bias. BlackRock states that they regularly review job postings for biased language. HireVue also states that they "actively work to prevent the introduction or propagation of bias against any group or individual" and claims their assessments focus on skills and competencies, not age, race, or gender. "We also continue to advance our abilities to monitor, detect, and mitigate bias. We strive to build teams from diverse backgrounds with diverse knowledge, experiences, and perspectives to best represent the people our systems serve."
"I would feel weird about working for a company that didn't. I consider myself pretty cultured. The more diverse and varied everyone is, the more there is to learn about others and myself."
Conveying cultural competence requires interest, openness, and curiosity. It also helps to showcase your communication skills while delivering your answer to suggest you have overcome any language bias. Language bias refers to preferentially communicating with those who communicate similarly to oneself, which requires less effort and less of a test of one's communication skills.
So when delivering your answer, lean in, tilt your head as you speak, smile and make eye contact with the camera. Avoid giving signs of discomfort or avoidance, which could be interpreted as negative bias and antipathy. Such nonverbal cues include decreased positivity, less eye contact and more gaze aversion, fewer smiles, greater interpersonal distance, and increased blinking. Consider these points when formulating your answer.
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