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Richard · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 2:06 am Post subject: Illegal questions.

This is something that we're not acquainted with in the UK and I've yet had time to really form an opinion about it. We have various anti-discrmination laws that would be applicable I suppose but none specific to job applications as far as I know.

Various state and federal laws state that questions at all stages of the application process must relate to the job applied for. You must be aware that while you are well within your rights not to answer an illegally posed question, the manner of your refusal may make you appear uncooperative or even confrontational.

Here's a good link to enable you to prepare yourself for any such illegal questioning.

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

cv · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 7:22 am Post subject: illegal interview questions

This is a very interesting topic indeed.

I am afraid though, that any such legislation would be hard to enforce. Can you really file a complaint about you interviewer asking the wrong questions ?

How will this reflect in your interview score sheet ?

My suggestion would be to play around the answer and never give a direct one to illegal questions.

Example:
What is your faith ?
A good response:
I am a many of many faiths (with a sense of humour)

A bad response, especially if said aggressively:
This is an illegal question
----
Some questions you answer though you don't

Have you ever been arrested ?
- If you reply no and you have, you are lying (never a good option)
- If you decline to answer it generally means you have been arrested.

----

Do you see the dilemma in the illegal interview questions !

Camilla · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 3:52 pm Post subject:

This is indeed an interesting subject and while there aren't any specific laws related to this in the UK, I'm certainly very careful about what I will and won't ask potential employees.

If a question isn't directly related to the job, I don't ask it and wouldn't answer should I ever be asked at an interview, either.

As to the question of arrest, I would most certainly decline to answer that one. I mean, what does arrest mean? Absolutely nothing! Innocent until proven guilty stands in the UK and if a person hasn't been convicted, the fact that they've been arrested could give a false impression of their honesty.

If faced with such a question, I'd simply ask the interviewer why he/she wanted to know. I mean, I'd have to be pretty desperate to want to work for an employer who asks a question like that so if they chose to 'pass me over' because I refused to give an answer, so be it.

This is a subject I feel strongly about. If a person has been arrested AND convicted, surely the fact that they're able to meet for an interview means they've served their time? If all they got was a fine then it's doubful it was that serious anyway. Shouldn't even those who have committed a crime be given the chance to move on?

Actually, I'm wondering whether there could be some law here that would prevent interviewers from asking this. I must look into it.

~Camilla

Katja144 · Expert Joined: 22 Aug 2005 Posts: 176 Career Advice: +2/-0

A job counselor I knew made a good point about such things...he said most prospective employers won't dare ask such a thing because if they do and then don't hire you, you could say they didn't hire you because you gave the "wrong answer" and try to sue them. Whether it would work, I don't know, but I'm sure it's still a situation they'd like to avoid.

He also told me to try to imagine the real issue behind it and answer to that--for example, if they ask "do you have kids/plan to," to assure them that attendance is a high priority for you, without actually speaking to the question they're asking. On one hand, I like that response...on the other, to me that sounds like you're saying yes you do have kids (and no matter how good a parent's intentions are, there will always be something that will come up and they'll have to leave and miss work--and I'd almost rather answer "no, and I'm not planning to" (except then I'd be afraid I'd get a rabid parent of an interviewer who will then be pulling out the old tired standards of "oh, you'll change your mind" or "how can you not want kids??")

At one of the jobs I interviewed at, they had an interesting way of asking that question without asking it--one of the questions on the application was something like "is there anything else you want us to know about you or your family?" I can't think of any reason they'd ask about family unless they wanted to find out if I had any relatives working there (which I think they had already asked) or if they wanted to see if I'd start gushing on about "oh yes, I have two wonderful children and they're just so beautiful, and my husband/live-in/lesbian lover is just great" blahblahblah. Sneaky, sneaky.

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