What’s With The Illegal Interview Questions?
When I started this article I planned to write about how to handle illegal interview questions but while I was doing research for it I discovered some information that indicated asking the questions is not illegal but using the information to decide whether or not to hire the applicant is, so why bother asking. Is there a lawyer in the house? I’m still investigating this and I’ll share my findings with you as soon as I’m done.
In the meantime, it really doesn’t matter if the questions are illegal or not when it comes right down to it. If you are sitting in an interview and the interviewer asks you a question that you think is illegal, you have two options. Answer it, or don’t answer it. If you tell the interviewer that you believe the question is illegal, it’ll take an act of God for them to offer you the job.
There are a few reasons the interviewer may ask these questions.
- They are inappropriate and have no regard for proper hiring practices. This could be a preview of what it would be like to work for them.
- They are inexperienced and don’t know the law very well.
- They like you and they are just making small talk. I could see this happening with a hiring manager who has kids and may instinctively ask about it.
No matter the reason the interviewer is asking these tricky questions, there is usually a way to answer them that will satisfy the interviewer and be comfortable for you. The key is to think about why they are asking the question and then respond to their concern.
If you are asked about kids, it’s probably because the hiring manager is concerned you’ll miss a lot of work if your kids are sick. Answer this in a way that ensures them that you won’t need to miss a lot of work. “Don’t worry, you can count on me to be here when I’m supposed to be…my previous employer will also tell you that I don’t miss a lot of work.”
If you are asked if you are originally from a different area it could be because they are concerned that you won’t hold this job very long. Answer this in a way that ensures them you plan to stick around. This happened to me when I moved to Chicago and I’d just make a joke of it by saying “I love it here and I’m never going back! I can hardly make myself go visit my family now! ha ha”
Remember that the goal is to secure a good job so don’t get too hung up on whether or not the questions are illegal. Try to look at it from the perspective of “do I want to work for a guy that asks these kinds of things?”
Tags: how to answer illegal interview questions, interview-chatterRelated Stories
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