Hiring for Diversity

CHAPTER 8Developing Fair Interviews

There is no part of the hiring process to which we dedicate more time, energy, or scrutiny than interviews. They are the focal point for most hiring decisions and often the most stressful part of the process for candidates. They also present the greatest risk for potential bias across the entire hiring process.

When home audio manufacturer Sonos set out to advance its diversity recruiting efforts in 2020, the company immediately recognized a need to overhaul its interview process. The company's GC and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Alaina Kwasizur, and her team assessed Sonos's full hiring process, revealing an unstructured and largely improvisational approach to interviews that left team members feeling unsupported. Employees who were tasked with interviewing candidates were routinely asking for guidance on how to navigate interviews so they could more confidently make decisions they knew would be consistent with the company's values, culture, and expectations.

Kwasizur and her team knew that a lot was riding on getting the interview process right, not only to create a more equitable experience for job seekers, but to give team members the support and confidence they needed to know that they were making the right decisions.

But they also knew that their new approach would have to leave room for creativity. They didn't want interviews to feel stiff or for interviewers to feel boxed in by overly burdensome strictures. Like Sonos itself, ...