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Desmond · Guest

The first 4 questions I was asked this morning at an interview .. were these
1. Are you married?
2. Do you have any children?
3. How old are you?
4. Do you need health insurance?

I stood up and left ... saying you do not follow the rules. Was this a good idea ?

jeter4982 · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:06 pm Post subject:

I don't think it was a good idea to leave the interview, as I don't see how these questions "do not follow the rules". Employers have the right to do a background check, whether it is in writing, or asking you questions. Granted, these may not be the best interview questions to start off with, but I don't think you should just leave because they start somewhere other then where you want to start an interview.

Tom

James · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:04 pm Post subject:

whether or not these questions "follow the rules" would probably depend on what country you're in.

Where are you, and what kind of a position was it you were going for?
Big company or small?

jeter4982 · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:06 pm Post subject:

ACRNYC · Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject:

Desmond, in the USA, these first 3 questions are definitely discriminitory and should NOT be asked by any employer, regardless of the size of the company. The health insurace question is not discriminitory in and of itself, but it also should have been avoided, or asked in a different way. But asking your age, matital ststus, and if you have children? Big "no-no's."

ank06 · Expert Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 247 Career Advice: +1/-0

Desmond,

The questions are discriminatory because: it is clear that the interviewer is concerned about the expenses your hiring imply. If they were interested in your abilities, then these would not have been the first questions in the interview.

The questions may be legitimate if: they would have appeared in the questionnarire regarding the type of health insurance you need. In this case, they are perfectly legitimate actually.

Nevertheless, you did good that you left. I would have definitely done the same. It is clear that the comoany does not want to assume responsability for its employees.

Katja144 · Expert Joined: 22 Aug 2005 Posts: 177 Career Advice: +2/-0

I would imagine, though, that for determining health insurance coverage, these questions would only need to be asked AFTER you were hired, so they could sign you up.

You're right, they should not have been asked. I'm not sure I would've quite said it the way you did--I might've tried "I prefer not to anwer that question as I feel it has no bearing on my ability to do the job" and see how they responded to it before leaving, but good for you for not answering.

Richard · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:34 am Post subject:

Desmond is quite right, there are "illegal questions" in some parts of the US. All questions during the interview must relate to the job itself and you are not obliged to answer them. US citizens ought to make themselves aware of your rights in this respect. We have discussed this before earlier on this very same forum under the heading "Illegal questions". The following link will help to clarify the matter.

http://www.stat.washington.edu/www/jobs/questions/

Whether Desmond was right or not to leave during the interview is debatable. He was obviously aware of the correct etiquette so really should have pointed this out to the interviewer and my reasoning behind this is simple: it may well have been a set up. Desmond gave himself no means of correcting the situation but showed that his response to a difficult situation was to escape from it and this is not what the interviewer would have wanted to see. Goodness knows what tactics employers use during interviews to "test" candidates but always expect the unexpected.

lilo · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:02 pm Post subject:

Now that I've read all the posts, Richard may be right about those questions being part of a set up. Nevertheless, the only thing you did wrong, Desmond, is that you left. You should have stood there and ask some questions yourself. After all, you didn't have anything to lose (not more than you already did when leaving).

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