Beyond lived experience: choosing effective candidates for identified roles

Universities are increasingly recognising that for some positions, experience or membership of a community is an inherent requirement. As such, they are adopting hiring practices that ensure services and research are informed by people with relevant experience. This is an important shift away from designing policies, services and research solely from the perspective of majority groups.

However, appointing someone because they share an identity with a community does not guarantee that they can bring broader community perspectives into the role. So, for those who are not members of that community themselves, choosing among applicants can be challenging.

• We must dismantle the invisible career barriers in higher education
• How do universities successfully recruit faculty and staff?
• Get real about hiring people with disabilities

This article offers considerations for recruiting into roles with diversity, equity or inclusion responsibilities. Although the examples draw primarily from disability, many of the principles are relevant across other identified positions.

What is an identified role?

Identified roles recognise that an aspect of background or identity – whether that is ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status or disability – informs capacity, tasks and responsibilities.

Within universities these positions may include:

• research assistants who contribute lived experience expertise throughout the research process, including advising on accessible methods, identifying potentially problematic language and acting as an insider researcher where appropriate
• student support positions for vulnerable groups 
• advisory or leadership roles intended to strengthen institutional understanding of particular communities
• students as partners.

Although roles differ, the underlying principle is consistent: people with lived experience can identify issues, opportunities and perspectives that those from the dominant group might overlook.

Lived experience is not identical

Lived experience is invaluable across the university workforce. However, each person’s lived experience can differ significantly. Someone may have a highly representative experience that is shared by many in their community, while others experience more niche expressions such as rare diseases or unique intersections. Neither person is “more” identified with a particular group than the other. Rather, they bring different forms of expertise.

These considerations should never be a form of gatekeeping. Instead, they should be viewed as prompts to help employers think intentionally about what expertise an identified role requires.

Four considerations when recruiting for DEI positions

Many excellent candidates may have had limited opportunities to engage with their own identity, communities and conversations. There is value in understanding those who do not have broad formal or informal experience.

These questions can help shape the recruitment process for identified roles:

1. How does the candidate stay connected to the community?

Community engagement does not necessarily mean formal advocacy, and some people participate through disability organisations, professional networks or student societies. Others engage online or through informal peer networks, or they may experience their identity in isolation.

It matters less how “well connected” someone is than whether they regularly encounter perspectives beyond their own.

Someone who actively listens to a range of community voices is often better positioned to identify emerging issues, recognise diversity within the community and avoid assuming their own experiences are universal. 

Sample interview questions:

• How do you stay connected with developments within your community?
• Have you joined any communities [related to your identity]?
• Where do you connect with other [autistic, for example] people? 

2. How does the candidate expand their knowledge?

Many identified roles need a candidate who recognises that they are a part of a wider conversation with diverse experiences and perspectives. Curiosity and openness are valuable indicators that someone will continue developing within the role. They might, nevertheless, differ substantially in how they learn about issues affecting their community and not just themselves. Some read research, follow advocacy organisations, attend events or engage with online creators and commentators. 

Employers should support this development through mentoring and professional learning, while recognising the value of those at earlier stages in reflecting this part of the community.

Sample interview questions:

• Can you describe a recent issue that has been widely discussed within your community?
• How would you ensure that your personal experiences do not become the only perspective informing your work?
• How do you continue learning about experiences that differ from your own?

3. Who is under-represented within this group?

Communities are not homogeneous. Disability intersects with race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, culture, religion and many other identities, and intersectionality should be part of understanding diversity. Recruitment provides an opportunity to consider whose voices are already represented within a team and which might be missing.

For example, autistic people from culturally diverse backgrounds, First Nations communities or lower socio-economic backgrounds might encounter barriers that differ from those experienced by white autistic professionals. Including these perspectives can strengthen research, policy and service delivery but might be missed by members of the community who don’t experience the same intersections.

This section has no specific questions to follow. Rather, I encourage you to explicitly call for intersectionality in the job advertisement and engage with identities raised during the interview, rather than treating them as an add-on.

4. How does the candidate engage with disagreement?

Healthy communities contain debate, disagreement and competing priorities. So, employers might explore how candidates engage with viewpoints they disagree with. 

Consider whether they can:

• accurately describe differing perspectives
• explain why others hold opposing views
• distinguish their opinions from broader community discussions.

The candidate should be able to recognise important conversations within the community, represent them fairly to colleagues and ensure alternative views are taken into account.

Sample interview questions: 

• Tell us about a community perspective you initially disagreed with. How did your thinking develop?
• Why do people in your community tend to think [X], even if you don’t personally agree with them?

How to evaluate responses to interview questions

Strong responses are not those that demonstrate agreement with particular viewpoints. Rather, you are looking for answers that show reflection, curiosity, awareness of diversity within the community and an ability to communicate multiple perspectives fairly.

Identified roles represent an important step towards ensuring marginalised voices are centred in our work. However, their success depends not only on recruiting people with lived experience but also on ensuring those individuals are well positioned to bring broader community knowledge into their work and that hiring committees, managers and colleagues are ready to listen.

Disclaimer: This article is about identified roles where lived experience is integral to effective practice and is a key professional expertise. The legal basis for identified roles varies between jurisdictions, so institutions should always ensure recruitment processes comply with relevant legislation.

Brooke Szücs is chair of the Disability Inclusion Advocacy Network at the University of Queensland, Australia.