6 things I did to make my hiring process more inclusive

The way tech companies hire people is far from perfect. The process can exclude many – not only candidates with disabilities or neurodivergence, but also those with multiple waged jobs or caretaking responsibilities outside of paid work. Bias in decision-making is another big challenge.

So when I recently went to hire for 3 content design roles, I made some very intentional choices to ensure my process was as inclusive as possible. I learned a lot from my time with the Canadian Digital Service, which provided an exceptional candidate experience, and from wonderful conversations with the former Head of Talent there, Andrea Gilbrook.

Here are 6 things that improved my hiring process and gave me the information I needed to make smart decisions:

• I sent out interview questions in advance. For the first hiring manager interview, I used a structured interview format so I could be sure I was assessing candidates fairly and against the same criteria. (Massive shout-out to my good friend and former colleague Lyn Elliot for the idea to send questions in advance.)

• I asked people to be vulnerable. I asked candidates to share an experience where they may have inadvertently caused harm to a person or community, how they responded and what they learned. I did this to find out if applicants were capable of vulnerability, self-awareness and reflecting on their privilege and power. It also showed candidates that awareness of privilege and power is important to me. This is the one thing I did on this list that was entirely my own idea.

• I didn’t conduct a design exercise. Design exercises ask for a lot of time and prep from candidates, and often don’t give you a full picture of their skills because they lack real world context. Instead, I pre-screened all applications myself, using their resume, cover letter, and 3 optional questions to assess their content design skills. I looked for how they structured information, whether they included results and impact (not just activities), whether they could write confidently with a human voice, and how they used visual design and hierarchy.

• I didn’t require a full portfolio. Although I did ask for samples of work, I didn’t want to just see polished finished products. I was much more interested in how candidates described their process, the problem they needed to solve, and the results. I think reflection is an essential part of career growth, so it’s important to share work samples, even though preparing them can take some time.

• I used a cross-disciplinary panel. This allowed us to assess the candidate’s organization and presentation skills, and gives the candidate more exposure to the wider team they may end up joining. It also ensures different perspectives are represented in the hiring decisions. We sent candidates the prompt before they gave their available times for interviews, so they could plan their prep time accordingly. We were also very open on format, so candidates could choose the format that made them most comfortable.

• I created a scoring rubric. The absolute scores were fairly arbitrary, but having relative scores to compare across candidates kept us from being swept up by vibes and allowed us to assess reserved candidates more fairly. We based our scores on all the evidence we had available, not just one interview or source at a time. That meant one stumble or bad answer wouldn’t disqualify someone. The scoring rubric also helped align the panelists on the priorities I had for each role, and multiple panelists told me the rubric made it easier for them to participate.

Drum roll please: 100% offer acceptance rate!

My hiring process worked! I was able to hire the top candidate for every role! 

I find this particularly great, because our content design practice is still maturing. I was very candid in describing the situation, because I needed people who were excited to mature our content design practice and had the patience and perspective this work requires.

Supplying questions: what I learned

Sending questions ahead of time for the hiring manager interview is definitely a practice I will keep. Candidates repeatedly told me how much more comfortable this made them with the process. It meant we could have a genuine and meaningful conversation about their experience and fit for the role. 

People might worry that lesser candidates will do better and potentially lead to bad hires. But I found that less-experienced candidates still gave answers that showed their lack of experience and strategic thinking. Some candidates clearly didn’t make any notes or think carefully beforehand, and their answers missed the mark. 

Conversely, one candidate was quite reserved during a screening call. But in my interview I found them quite personable. At the end of the interview the candidate said they found our conversation fun and really appreciated getting the questions in advance. This gave me an accurate picture of what they might actually be like in the workplace.

Vulnerability: what I learned

In every interview, I made sure to acknowledge the vulnerability of this question in a job interview context, and I explained my rationale for asking it. I usually said something like “So this next question is super vulnerable, and I hesitated about asking it, but I think it’s important to learn from our mistakes, and also to be able to talk about learning from our mistakes.”

I heard a range of answers. Some people chose fairly trivial examples. Others were very courageous and shared stories of making a mistake that caused harm, taking steps to repair and ensuring they didn’t repeat that mistake again. Some candidates, especially those who disclosed some experience of being marginalized, were excited by this question, and said that being asked the question made them want to work here.

A better candidate experience: what I learned

A company’s candidate experience should be at least as good as its product experience. There was plenty of evidence my improvements were appreciated:

• A few candidates connected with me on LinkedIn after not proceeding to further interviews or offers because they’d like to work with me in the future.

• I did my best to make my interviews feel like a conversation between colleagues. I used a structured format to assess and compare candidates fairly, but I focused on being warm and curious to create a welcoming interview environment. This was something I learned from CDS.

• The panel style interview meant that onboarding was a bit easier because the candidate had already met some key people.

Overall, trying these new things has been great. The people I hired bring a diversity of experiences and identities, and all of them are already proving to be fantastic additions to the team. I couldn’t be happier with them.