Interview Questions to Avoid
When you’re conducting job
interviews, you want to elicit as much information as possible —
but you don’t want to run afoul of civil rights laws.
Remember: You cannot ask…
•
The original name of someone whose name has been changed by
court order or an applicant’s maiden name.
•
Religious affiliation, pastor’s name, or what religious
holidays that applicants observe.
•
Skin color, height, or weight — nor can you
ask for a photograph prior to hire.
•
Marital status, parental status, the name or employment status
of an applicant’s spouse, or whether applicants prefer
“Mr.,” “Mrs.,” “Ms.,” or
“Miss.”
•
Whether female applicants can have or plan to have
children — and you cannot advocate any form of birth
control or require pelvic examinations.
•
For information regarding an applicant’s physical
or mental condition unless it is directly related to the job
requirements and is used only as permitted by federal law.
•
About the birthplace, lineage, ancestry, or national origin of
applicants, their spouses, parents, or relatives.
•
About the citizenship status of applicants, their spouses, or
parents unless asked as part of the federal I-9 process.
•
For birth certificates, naturalization records, or baptismal
records.
•
How applicants learned to read, speak, or write a foreign
language.
•
Whether applicants have arrests that didn’t result in
convictions (except when hiring for law enforcement agencies).
In some cases, wording is everything. For
example, you can ask for the name and address of someone to notify in
case of an emergency; you cannot ask for the name and address
of the nearest relative to notify in case of an emergency. You can ask
about organizations to which applicants belong, but not for a
list of all the organizations nor about those indicating race,
color, religion, national origin, or ancestry. You cannot ask
an
applicant’s marital status, but you
can ask whether the applicant has a spouse or relatives in your
company’s employ. You cannot ask an applicant’s age,
but you can ask if applicants are 18 or older to determine
whether they meet the legal age requirement for the job.
Of course, it’s possible that
you’ve innocently asked some of these questions in the
past — without consequence. But since it only takes
one challenge to land you in hot water, in the future it would
be wiser to be safe in interviews than sorry in court.
-Adapted from “Legal & Illegal
Pre-employment Inquiries,” from
the Web site of Nolo Press
Purge These Off-limits Questions Now
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, it’s illegal for any employer with 15 or more
workers to discriminate against an applicant on the basis of
race, color, religion, gender or national origin. Many state
and local governments extend the prohibition to smaller
companies.
Avoid the appearance of discrimination during
interviews by making sure your hiring managers aren’t
asking these questions:
1. Are you married? Divorced?
2. If you’re single, are you living
with anyone?
3. How old are you?
4. Do you have children? If so, how many
and how old are they?
5. Do you own or rent your home?
6. What church do you attend?
7. Do you have any debts?
8. Do you belong to any social or
political groups?
9. How much and what kinds of
insurance do you have?
10. Do you feel comfortable supervising
men/women?
11. Is there any health-related reason you
may not be able to perform the job you seek?
12. Have you ever had or been treated for
any of these conditions or diseases (followed by a checklist of
various conditions)?
13. Have you been hospitalized? What for?
14. Have you ever been treated by a
psychiatrist or psychologist?
15. Have you had a major illness recently?
16. How many days were you absent from
work because of illness last year?
17. Do you have any disabilities or
impairments that might affect your performance in this job?
18. Are you taking any prescribed drugs?
19. Have you ever been treated for drug
addiction or alcoholism?
Source: Excerpted from Employer’s Practical Legal Guide: Plain Language
about Current Employment Law
published by the National Institute of Business Management,
(800) 543-2055
Avoid These 10 Common
Interview Mistakes
Mistakes during the hiring process can be
costly for a company later, and are often made while
interviewing the applicant. Here are 10 of the most common
mistakes made by interviewers. Do any of them sound familiar?
1. Failure to
focus on job-related information. This
can happen when the interview targets only a few critical areas
and does not develop a complete picture of the applicant.
2. Overlapping
of interviewers. Although covering
some of the same ground is desirable, too much overlap is a
waste of time.
3. Misinterpreting
applicant information. This
can result when theoretical or hypothetical questions are
interpreted incorrectly, or when interviewers try to guess the
meaning behind an applicant’s response.
4. Overlooking
the candidate’s motivation to do the job. Many interviewers focus on the “can
do” and ignore the “will do.”
5. Allowing
one characteristic to color judgement. Sometimes interviewers allow one especially weak
or strong characteristic to negatively or positively influence
their perception of a candidate.
6. Making snap
decisions. Some decisions are
made after only a few questions are asked, or even on the basis
of a handshake.
7. Lowering
standards when pressured to fill a position. It can be tempting to fill a key position
quickly, but often recruiters end up rationalizing their
decisions about candidates and thinking that limitations or
drawbacks can be remedied through training or close
supervision.
8. Taking
insufficient notes. Without notes,
an interviewer will have trouble recalling the facts
discussed and eventually will retain only an impression of the
candidate.
9. Asking
illegal, non-job-related questions.
If an organization’s hiring practices are not based
strictly on job-related criteria, interviewers could be leaving
the company open to lawsuits.
10. Turning
off viable candidates.
When candidates feel uncomfortable with
the interviewer or the selection process, it affects their
opinion of the company.
-Adapted from Development Dimensions
International, Marketing Information Center, 1225 Washington
Pike, Bridgeville, PA 15017-2838.
