Best Practices for Interviewing a Deaf Candidate Who Relies on Interpreters

Note: Please read the introduction to this guide before continuing.

If you haven’t interviewed deaf or hard of hearing candidates before, this guide will help you navigate the process smoothly and set both parties up for success.

This guide contains different sections tailored for various audiences. Please make sure everyone reviews the sections relevant to them in advance.

• HR or Recruitment Team Guide (below)

• Interviewer and Hiring Manager Guide

• Interpreter Guide

• Interview Stage-Specific Guide

HR and Recruitment Team Guide

At this stage, you already know that the candidate will need interpreters and want to set up the initial screening meeting or call.

Initial HR Screening

Before setting up the initial screening call, ask whether the candidate has a preferred interpreter. If they do, be sure to ensure you use theirs (for more details see below). If the interview takes over 30 minutes, you’ll need two interpreters.

• If they have a preferred interpreter, request the interpreter’s contact details to facilitate scheduling and payment (or pass the details to the Accessibility team to handle that).
• If they do not have a preferred interpreter, book a qualified interpreter via an interpreter agency. Be sure to book someone with experience interpreting technical conversations. An interpreter without proper experience can negatively impact the interview outcome. Once you have booked someone, send the interpreter’s contact details to the candidate so the candidate can brief the interpreter and provide any important information prior to the interview.

Consider sending HR-related questions you might typically cover during a screening interview, such as visa status, notice period, etc., via email instead.

Why Is It Important to Use the Candidate’s Preferred Interpreter?

• Technical familiarity: Sign language interpreters tend to cover a variety of topics and aren’t hyper-specialized in one topic. A candidate’s regular interpreter is often familiar with the technical jargon of the candidate’s job field.
• Accuracy and nuance: Sign language relies on facial expressions and body language. An interpreter familiar with the candidate’s work drastically reduces ambiguity, and building up that familiarity takes time.
• Risk of error: If the interpreter gets it wrong, you might attribute the error to the candidate, which might make all the difference between getting the job or not. This risk still exists with preferred interpreters, but is significantly reduced.

Why Aren’t Captions Enough?

Some deaf individuals have excellent pronunciation but may still need an interpreter. While automated captions can help verify the accuracy of words, they don’t capture the tone, pacing, and emotion, which are all part of effective communication. These are all subtleties the interpreter can help communicate.

There Will Be Communication Challenges

Even with preferred interpreters, in a technical interview, miscommunication is likely to occur. Job interviews might branch out into topics that are not necessarily familiar to the interpreter. Always keep in mind that interpreters are not technical, even if they are familiar with some of the technical jargon.

Sign language interpreters often aren’t highly specialized in one area, and supporting your candidate might be just one of many topic areas they cover. That’s very different from interpreters for spoken language, who tend to be highly specialized in one specific area. It’s much more feasible for them to interpret for someone they have never worked with.

How Do You Minimize That Risk?

If the candidate’s response seems off, ask again and post the question in the chat if allowed. It is more likely that there was a misunderstanding than not. And always keep in mind that the interpreter, who does not have a technical background, needs to understand the question to interpret it correctly.

Prepare the Environment (Virtual and In-Person)

Before any interaction, ensure the physical or virtual environment is accessible:

• Good lighting: The interviewer’s face must be well-lit and clearly visible. Avoid sitting with a bright window behind you. Since deaf people can’t hear your voice, they fully rely on visuals to make a personal connection.
• Stable camera: In virtual interviews, use a stable connection and position the camera at eye level.
• Minimal distractions: A quiet environment with minimal background noise or visual clutter helps everyone focus.

Brief the Interview Team

Educate all participants in the interview process about the accommodation details. Provide the interviewer with details about the candidate and the interview process, as this information will likely be new to them. Your briefing should include:

• Logistical details: Interview format, the role of the interpreter, and the use of any technical aids.
• Interpersonal preparation: It’s common for interviewers to feel nervous or unsure if they haven’t interacted with a deaf individual before. Assure them that the key is patience, respect, and directing questions to the candidate, not the interpreter. A 5-minute pre-briefing can significantly reduce their anxiety and create a more welcoming atmosphere. Please be sure to share the resources below to help them start their experience on a positive note.
• Share relevant resources. You can copy and paste the message below in your brief:

Here are the best practices by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation Deaf and Hard of Hearing Working Group for the interview process. Please be sure to read them ahead of time to ensure a smooth interview for you and the candidate: [Select the appropriate resource for the interview stage]
- Interviewer & Hiring Manager Guide
- Interview Stage Specific Guide

Brief Candidate and Interpreter on What to Expect

Why Is This Briefing Important?

A successful interview requires a prepared interpreter. Deaf candidates need to prepare their interpreters by providing domain-specific vocabulary, agreeing on signs (since many technical terms lack official signs), and determining when they might prefer to switch to written communication to prevent potential misinterpretations that could jeopardize their job prospects.

For senior tech leaders with a broad range of expertise, the communication challenge becomes more complex. While the interpreter can prepare for an in-depth discussion on one or two topics, they may struggle to keep up when the candidate discusses cross-functional knowledge, strategic trade-offs, or historical context from various technical domains.

These gaps in the interpreter’s knowledge can make the candidate appear less knowledgeable. To prevent this, consider sharing the following information before the interview:

• Interview format: What’s the interview flow? For example, CV walkthrough, job experience, technical discussion, live coding, or system design. Interpreters need preparation.
• Topics and domains of focus: Without revealing specific questions, share the general technical areas that will be covered. For example: “The system design session will focus on data-intensive applications” or “The technical discussion will cover Kubernetes and infrastructure as code.”
• Tools and platforms: Inform the candidate about any specialized tools that will be used (e.g., whiteboard and coding) so they can familiarize themselves with the interface and understand how to work with the interpreter, who may not see the code or diagrams if screen sharing is not permitted.
• Prepare the interpreter: If you booked an interpreter through the agency, please share the Interpreter Guide with them. You can copy and paste the message below:

To ensure a smooth interview experience for all parties, please review the guideline for interpreters and connect with the candidate to prepare for the interview.

Providing this information is not to give candidates an edge but rather to ensure the interpreter is ready for the task. It’s about equipping the interpreter to accurately convey the candidate’s experience, which ensures a better evaluation.

The Next Interview Stages

After successful initial screening and moving to the next stages, please be sure to follow the checklist below:

✔️ Review HR and Recruitment Team Guide.

✔️ Review Interview Stage Specific Guide.

✔️ Brief the Interview Team.

✔️ Share the Interviewer and Hiring Manager Guide and relevant sections of the Interview Stage Specific Guide for each specific interview stage with the interview team.

✔️ Brief Candidate and Interpreter on What to Expect

✔️ Share the Interpreter Guide and Interview Stage Specific Guide with the interpreters if arranged via an agency.