How do I identify?

A few months ago, I interviewed for a director-level position at a Fortune 500 company. Everything went great, and I had four total interviews, which included the hiring manager (twice), a panel of immediate peers (same manager), and a panel of other colleagues.

In the second interview with the hiring manager, he told me that I was a perfect fit for the role, and they were looking forward to bringing me onboard. However, due to internal HR requirements, they needed more diverse candidates to go through the interview process. The position had been open for over a month already, and I had been going through the interview process for two weeks.

A couple of things to note: first, I’m a middle-aged, straight, white male, so I’m not “diverse.” Second, the hiring manager was diverse, so what follows isn’t some elaborate conspiracy between two straight, white males attempting to continue an illegitimate “power structure.”

Over the next six weeks, the hiring manager assured me that I was their top candidate and they were only waiting due to the need to demonstrate that enough diverse candidates had been interviewed for the position. However, in the sixth week, the company decided to pull back some of the open requisitions to tighten their belts, which meant that I didn’t get the chance to join the organization.

As a manager in a different Fortune 500 company, I’m well aware of this practice and have unfortunately experienced the same with an open requisition. In fact, in the company I work for now, it’s commonly known that you need to fill roles as quickly as possible. Roles left open for too long can be looked at with the lens of “if they’ve made it this long, do they really need that position?”

This situation was a disappointment for both me and the hiring manager. Although the role had a unique blend of skill sets that made me uniquely qualified, more qualified diverse candidates weren’t even applying for the role. Was I naive to think I was the best candidate for that role in the entire world? Of course not, but I was the best candidate who actually applied.

I can’t believe that we live in a world where we have become so scared of being targeted by the vocal minority that executive-level hiring managers can’t hire someone who meets and exceeds the requirements for a role they are filling. According to the Manager Tools podcast, you don’t compare candidates to each other. Instead, you hire for the requirements of the role and then hire the one who meets all the requirements. In this case, I was that candidate, and not only that, I was the only candidate.

So, how do I identify? I now look at diversity questions that are part of every job application differently. I see them as a tool to help me find my next role. I won’t lie, but I also don’t need to provide unnecessary information.

What is my sexual orientation? “I prefer not to answer” — checked

What is my gender? “I prefer not to answer” — checked

What is my race? “Two or more nationalities” — checked, because who doesn’t have some small part of two or more?

If I can check some different boxes to help hiring managers overcome stupid internal company policies, I will.