Job Interview Questions for Hispanic Jobseekers: What to Ask Potential Employers about Diversity
By Rob Steward and Mesia Quartano for LatPro.com
Most job candidates agonize over how they will respond to the questions they'll be asked in a job interview. They anticipate, prepare and practice their answers.
Of course a large portion of any employment interview involves answering questions from your potential employer, but that's only part of the picture. You should also be interviewing the employer to discover if the company is a good fit for you.
A good interview is a two-way conversation. While the interviewer will obviously be taking the lead and asking the majority of the questions, jobseekers should also take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about a company (instead of making a leap of faith that could lead to disappointment down the road). The successful interview allows both sides to learn more about each other so the employer can determine if you are right for the job, but also so you can decide if the company is one you want to join.
As a Hispanic professional, it's a good idea to inquire about a company's diversity programs, community outreach initiatives and other opportunities that are available for Latinos. Ask when and how you could become involved with these programs, and if you can speak with one of the organizers. Just as the interviewer asked for examples about your experience, you can tactfully probe for more details about a company's diversity initiatives, including:
Ask for information and examples that show how company decision-makers value diversity, such as:
Find out about the demographic make-up of the company to see how well your ethnicity is represented, given responsibility and promoted. For example, you may want to ask:
It's always a good idea to ask how your cultural knowledge and language abilities would be used in your new position. This not only provides useful information for you, it also reinforces your specialized skills in the mind of the interviewer. You can ask questions like:
Remember, as a Latino candidate, you are in demand both for your language skills and multicultural knowledge. While you certainly must impress potential employers during an interview, they must impress you too! By taking the opportunity to discuss diversity, you will get a feel for a company's commitment to mentoring its minority employees. The answers to these questions can help you find organizations where your career will be actively supported and nurtured.
Most job candidates agonize over how they will respond to the questions they'll be asked in a job interview. They anticipate, prepare and practice their answers.
Of course a large portion of any employment interview involves answering questions from your potential employer, but that's only part of the picture. You should also be interviewing the employer to discover if the company is a good fit for you.
A good interview is a two-way conversation. While the interviewer will obviously be taking the lead and asking the majority of the questions, jobseekers should also take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about a company (instead of making a leap of faith that could lead to disappointment down the road). The successful interview allows both sides to learn more about each other so the employer can determine if you are right for the job, but also so you can decide if the company is one you want to join.
As a Hispanic professional, it's a good idea to inquire about a company's diversity programs, community outreach initiatives and other opportunities that are available for Latinos. Ask when and how you could become involved with these programs, and if you can speak with one of the organizers. Just as the interviewer asked for examples about your experience, you can tactfully probe for more details about a company's diversity initiatives, including:
- How active are these groups?
- Does the company sponsor these groups?
- Do they meet on company time?
Ask for information and examples that show how company decision-makers value diversity, such as:
- Does the diversity department influence decisions made by the company?
- How has diversity been promoted within the company?
- How has the CEO made diversity a top priority on the agenda?
Find out about the demographic make-up of the company to see how well your ethnicity is represented, given responsibility and promoted. For example, you may want to ask:
- How many Hispanics are on the board of directors?
- How many Hispanics are in management or executive roles?
- Of those Hispanics in managerial roles, can you give me some examples of their career paths through the company?
It's always a good idea to ask how your cultural knowledge and language abilities would be used in your new position. This not only provides useful information for you, it also reinforces your specialized skills in the mind of the interviewer. You can ask questions like:
- Will I be dealing directly with clients who prefer to converse in Spanish?
- Will I be working on strategies to build a new client base in the Hispanic community?
- Will I be leading a group of workers whose primary language is Spanish?
- Will I be using my multicultural experience to expand company operations in Latin America?
Remember, as a Latino candidate, you are in demand both for your language skills and multicultural knowledge. While you certainly must impress potential employers during an interview, they must impress you too! By taking the opportunity to discuss diversity, you will get a feel for a company's commitment to mentoring its minority employees. The answers to these questions can help you find organizations where your career will be actively supported and nurtured.
Tags: career articles & advice, career expert, diversity hiring & recruiting, interviewing & job offers, recruiting articles
Comment
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Comment by Marlin Bonilla on August 1, 2009 at 8:29pm -
Hi! Reading this article I found new strategies for interviewing and impress my new boss and DO NOT EXPECT, but instead have specific answers to multicultural opportunities.
I always had been working as a Bilingual Professional, but and my last job I was disappointed, because my boss want to hear me speaking only in Spanish just the necessary words, something that i completly disagree with her, I am a person I always stand out for myself that is not matter it can cost my position, we have to sit down and talk, because I found we have people from other countries like Asia, and their talk all time in their native language I never here her said anything about it to them, I just make very specific are you scared to tell them to speak only their native language as necessary, Why it has to be just me?........Them I explained her for me it's just became NATURAL to speak english or spanish, but it is like if you travel to another country and find tourist from here USA, you will approach them and became natural to you speak your language -English- I explained her my contract do not said how many words i have to speak and english or how many in spanish, it just specify perform my job the best in both languages, and I do not see the Asian people was doing something very different.
I want to be very clear because to obtain this job I had translated a document where their only found one word I cann't translated to english.
I would like to hear about is really 2 month the period of time the industry consider, or this is not really relevant to the time you need to commit with a company to make a decision if this is the best Position and the company we are looking for......?
Thank You.......SOOOooo much.
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