What does diversity mean?
Diversity is that specific trait that everyone possesses which makes us different from each other, based on religion, caste, creed, colour, age, gender, race, ethnicity and so on. Diversity tends to bridge the gap between different individuals with varied needs and behaviours and makes us more adept at co-operation with all the individuals that we come in contact with within our day-to-day lives. In the process, we become more comfortable in dealing with unknown strangers.
What does Workplace Diversity mean?
Workplace diversity means that the organisation recruits individuals are coming from different backgrounds and have different traits in terms of religion, caste, creed, colour, age, gender, race, ethnicity and so on. This is a very important aspect of any good organisation because firstly, it is a sign that the recruiters are not part of the mentioned parameters while recruitment and secondly, they are likely to employ a wider variety of people who have varied skills and experiences.
What Does Diversity Mean to You?
Q1. What do you understand by the term Workplace diversity?
Answer. Honesty is as always the best policy. The interview panel is just wanting to know that whether you have any experience in cooperative work and communication. If you are having, then well and good, you are having a plus point there. However, if you are not having any previous experience as such, then try to be honest with the interview panel. This will leave a better impact on your personality in front of them.
Q2. How difficult is working in a diverse environment according to you?
Answer. Try and be as much honest as possible. You have to answer what you think is difficult in working in a diverse environment. However, also try and give a solution to what you think is difficult as this will make your answer much more attractive. You will have to convince them that you are quite aware of all the hard situations and also know how to overcome the problem.
Q3. Cite an incident at the workplace where you had to handle one’s disagreement with another on workplace diversity and how could you solve them.
Answer. Remember any such incidences? Then go cite such a situation and get one step ahead towards winning that position. However, if you do not have any such situation, then do not panic at the moment. Try and recall a similar kind of experience, even if not to the point of the question, but make sure you take permission of the interview panel regarding any such diversions from the topic. If they allow you, then do so.
Q4. Cite an incident where you were able to help someone from a different race or religion?
Answer. Again, all you have to do is recall any such incidences. You will have to do the same for this question as well as you did for the previous situation. Be honest with your answer and just say what ways did you opt for helping out the individual and how well he could get out of the situation.
Q5. List some of the strategies that you make use of while dealing with diversity issues.
Answer. Make sure that the interview panel gets fully convinced with whatever you wish to say. Try and mention all the pros and cons of using those mentioned strategies or if you are good at communication skills, then cite how could you do that with your vocal skills.
Q6. Describe Diversity in your words.
Answer. Diversity is that specific trait that everyone possesses which makes us different from each other, based on religion, caste, creed, colour, age, gender, appearance, race, ethnicity and so on. This is the shortest, yet the most comprehensive definitions of all.
Q7. Explain how important has been diversity for your career.
Answer. “Diversity shaped you into who have emerged into today”. You should start the sentence with this line to present a more firm base to your interview. And after that state whatever relevant story you have related to what you said at the start of your sentence.
Q8. Most of the organisations have a wrong perception of Diversity. Can you state that?
Answer. Claire Brown gives us the most prominent answer to this question. Mostly what happens is that the organisation claims to obey the rules and policies related to Diversity, however, when it comes to its execution, they fail to do so. As we all know, “Actions shall speak louder than Words”. That is when a company will be able to take a stand in this competitive world.
Q9. Cite an incident where you had to co-operate with other members to meet the workplace diversity.
Answer. Co-operation in the workplace plays a key role in any organisation’s success. We will have to alter our strategies and styles as needed to complete any task. Just cite this line as this will provide a strong base to whatever you answer and then continue with your story.
Q10. Talk about any training programme you had attended in the past relating to Diversity.
Answer. Try and recall any training, workshops or seminar you had attended on Diversity. If you are having any certifications for so, then try to present it in front of the interview panel which should give you an added advantage concerning the other candidates.
Conclusion
In this article, we focussed on mainly providing you with a comprehensive set of sample questions and answers on what does diversity mean to you. This is a full verbal interview sample question set in a written format. Hope that this article will provide you with what you are looking for. If you have any suggestions or questions apart from these, then comment down in the comment section below so that we can pick up your doubt and clear it out as soon as possible.
Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
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