Guest post from Communicating Your Way to Success
Interviewers and interviewees alike are often unaware that certain questions asked during a job interview are considered illegal questions. Now by "illegal", it doesn't mean that someone will get arrested for asking such a question, but it does mean that the interviewee is not required to answer it to be considered for the job. The reason why these questions are considered illegal is to protect candidates from being discriminated against when applying for a job. These questions were made illegal as part of the Americans with Disability Act. In this article, we'll cover what the illegal questions are, why they're asked and how to respond.
Illegal questions can be worded hundreds of ways but here are some general guidelines for determining whether a question is considered illegal. Questions about age, race, religion and sexual orientation are considered illegal. Questions about your family life such as whether you're married, have kids or are in a relationship are also considered illegal. Additionally, questions about political beliefs and affiliations, country of origin and US citizenship are considered illegal. A good rule of thumb is that any question of a personal nature which is unrelated to the position you're interviewing for could be illegal.
So why do people ask illegal questions? For the most part, the interviewer doesn't realize that he or she is asking an illegal question. Many companies fail to train their employees in the process of interviewing and even companies that do train may have neglected to include illegal questions as a topic. When this happens, the interviewer may even have good intentions - such as asking the interviewee about his or her family in an effort to break the ice and relax the candidate. In other cases, the interviewer is looking for something in common with in the interviewee (again to relax the candidate).
On other occasions, the interviewer is trying to discriminate but isn't aware that the question is illegal. This often happens when the job is demanding and the interviewer is trying to screen out people who may not be able to meet the demands. For example, a job may require unusually long hours and/or extensive travel so an ideal candidate would be young, unmarried and without kids. So the interviewer may want to weed out candidates that they believe have too many commitments outside of work to be successful in the position.
On rare occasions, an interviewer may deliberately ask an illegal question. This could happen as part of a stress interview or they may be trying to discriminate and assume that the candidate would be too fearful or desperate to not comply with the question. Again, this is rare as most people don't want an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint filed against them.
Understanding why the interviewer is asking the question is needed to properly handle the situation. If answering the question doesn't harm your chances of landing the job (ex: if you're asked about children because the job is demanding and you don't have children) then go ahead and answer it. Especially if the interviewer doesn't realize that he or she is asking an illegal question, there's no need to get stressed out, embarrass the interviewer or make a scene.
If answering the question truthfully may harm your chances of being offered the position, then you need to dodge the question. One way to answer is to say something such as "I like to keep my business and personal lives separate and I don't see anything in my personal life preventing me from doing a great job here." If the job is something that you think you might be interested in, you need to be careful and clear with your answer. Saying things like "I've never been asked that before" or "I don't see how that has any affect on how I'd do my job" will immediately give the interview a sour tone.
Instead, you might politely say something like "I'm really enjoying our discussion but I want to let you know about a mistake a friend of mine made that got him in trouble. Most people aren't aware of illegal job interview questions and my friend asked one during an interview that got him in trouble. He didn't get fired, but he had a lot of unnecessary stress. The reason I'm telling you this is that you just asked such a question. Now since I haven't answered it, you have nothing to worry about but I'm telling you this so that you don't get in trouble in the future." This way, you look like you're looking out for the interviewer's best interest. He or she may even feel a little bit of guilt and that may even give them more reason to select you.
Regardless of the circumstances, being asked an illegal question puts you in a difficult situation during a job interview. The best plan of action is to be prepared for illegal questions ahead of time, so you might want to practice being asked these questions if you do any mock interviews. A little thought ahead of time can make an uncomfortable situation a little more manageable.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
In my 10 years as an employment mediator I have found that companies usually find themselves in hot water by not doing these things:
1. Proper evaluation of who they promote to management and supervisory positions. These involve things such as psychological profilers, interpersonal skills, etc. I have found this to be particularly true when promotion occurs from within the organization. The “good ole boy” system of manager being promoted and then with the help of HR and others gets a subordinate promoted to his/her former position. I have not done a statistical breakdown of percentages but far more often than not, the individual promoted is not qualified to function in a management capacity.
2. Specific training that involves all aspects of the employment experience. Inconsistent or no enforcement by a supervisor of local, state and federal guidelines always spells trouble. I have seen in my own employment experience and mediated cases where the manager was ignorant, biased or incapable of discerning what their management decisions were setting in motion. The result being a surprise legal quagmire for the company that can become quite expensive both financially, morale wise and in public image or perception.
I have encountered many job interviewers who didn’t have a clue about how to conduct a good job interview. Many of them receive poor job interview training and are not aware of what they should and should not ask. The article states, “On rare occasions, an interviewer may deliberately ask an illegal question. This could happen as part of a stress interview or they may be trying to discriminate and assume that the candidate would be too fearful or desperate to not comply with the question. Again, this is rare as most people don't want an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint filed against them.”
I could not disagree with this assessment more! I have encountered many situations where the intent with knowledge of the illegal or improper question was to discriminate. The article further states, “On other occasions, the interviewer is trying to discriminate but isn't aware that the question is illegal. This often happens when the job is demanding and the interviewer is trying to screen out people who may not be able to meet the demands.” I know of a situation where an individual with a computer programming degree, was asked this question in a job interview. “Would you have a problem mopping floors?” The position applied for was in computer systems operations. Hmmm…there was no mention of mopping floors in the job description.
Nor would I consider that question to be covered under “other related duties as required”. How is mopping floors related to working with computer software and hardware?!? I was later to learn that question had not been asked of the applicant’s co-workers in the same job description who applied before and after him. This specific job seeker was a person of diversity while the co-workers were white. The question had a strong appearance of being racially stereotypical and while not necessarily illegal but it was certainly improper.
This particular manager had a history of issues with persons of diversity that had been well documented by HR, yet he maintained employment. My experience shows employers routinely ask improper, sensitive or illegal interview questions with full knowledge the questions are illegal regardless of EEOC considerations. Why? Loose cannon supervisors and managers are being protected. Unfortunately we still live in a society where the “cultural” mindset of many companies is to limit diversity participation to the bare minimum that EEOC guidelines allow. In my opinion the true issue is not the employee or manager/supervisor. The bottom line is the quality or the lack thereof in the management/ownership of the organization and its HR.
Posted by: Yancey from you can learn basic employee rights | July 19, 2008 at 08:33 PM
In my 10 years as an employment mediator I have found that companies usually find themselves in hot water by not doing these things:
1. Proper evaluation of who they promote to management and supervisory positions. These involve things such as psychological profilers, interpersonal skills, etc. I have found this to be particularly true when promotion occurs from within the organization. The “good ole boy” system of manager being promoted and then with the help of HR and others gets a subordinate promoted to his/her former position. I have not done a statistical breakdown of percentages but far more often than not, the individual promoted is not qualified to function in a management capacity.
2. Specific training that involves all aspects of the employment experience. Inconsistent or no enforcement by a supervisor of local, state and federal guidelines always spells trouble. I have seen in my own employment experience and mediated cases where the manager was ignorant, biased or incapable of discerning what their management decisions were setting in motion. The result being a surprise legal quagmire for the company that can become quite expensive both financially, morale wise and in public image or perception.
I have encountered many job interviewers who didn’t have a clue about how to conduct a good job interview. Many of them receive poor job interview training and are not aware of what they should and should not ask. The article states, “On rare occasions, an interviewer may deliberately ask an illegal question. This could happen as part of a stress interview or they may be trying to discriminate and assume that the candidate would be too fearful or desperate to not comply with the question. Again, this is rare as most people don't want an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint filed against them.”
I could not disagree with this assessment more! I have encountered many situations where the intent with knowledge of the illegal or improper question was to discriminate. The article further states, “On other occasions, the interviewer is trying to discriminate but isn't aware that the question is illegal. This often happens when the job is demanding and the interviewer is trying to screen out people who may not be able to meet the demands.” I know of a situation where an individual with a computer programming degree, was asked this question in a job interview. “Would you have a problem mopping floors?” The position applied for was in computer systems operations. Hmmm…there was no mention of mopping floors in the job description.
Nor would I consider that question to be covered under “other related duties as required”. How is mopping floors related to working with computer software and hardware?!? I was later to learn that question had not been asked of the applicant’s co-workers in the same job description who applied before and after him. This specific job seeker was a person of diversity while the co-workers were white. The question had a strong appearance of being racially stereotypical and while not necessarily illegal but it was certainly improper.
This particular manager had a history of issues with persons of diversity that had been well documented by HR, yet he maintained employment. My experience shows employers routinely ask improper, sensitive or illegal interview questions with full knowledge the questions are illegal regardless of EEOC considerations. Why? Loose cannon supervisors and managers are being protected. Unfortunately we still live in a society where the “cultural” mindset of many companies is to limit diversity participation to the bare minimum that EEOC guidelines allow. In my opinion the true issue is not the employee or manager/supervisor. The bottom line is the quality or the lack thereof in the management/ownership of the organization and its HR.
Posted by: Yancey from you can learn basic employee rights | July 19, 2008 at 08:39 PM
A common misnomer, there really isn't such a thing as an illegal interview question... Seriously. It is what you Do with the information that get's you into hot water, not asking the question.
Here in America, this wonderful land of free speech, you can pretty much ask any question on an interview. How old you are? How many months pregnant did you say you are? How many kids do you have?
They all seem so discriminatory - every one of those questions, but in reality, are they? by themselves, they are not.
Let's say the employer Asks EVERY on these silly questions and just happens not to hire you, and you have 3 little rugrats all under the age of 15. You get upset, pursue a lawsuit, to find out that he didn't hire you, but hired Jane, a single mom with 6 rugrats under th age of 12..
Do you have a possible lawsuit? What would be the grounds? illegal Question? obviously you couldn't pursue discrimination
Why can this pose a problem, and why it is a stupid thing to do - well, one may not have intent to discriminate to be found guilty of discrimination, so if your office is really quite homogeneous well my suggestion don't try asking the questions in the office, you know the ones.. those that can create legal complications for you further down the road, due to disparate impact, systemic discrimination, or just really are not too smart..
My thought on the "illegal" interview question..
Karen Mattonen
www.hirecentrix.com
Posted by: karen mattonen | August 26, 2008 at 09:10 AM