Interview Questions

joyce

Has anyone made up a list of questions NOT to be asked during an interview? I had one manager ask the applicant what his wife drove to work! He was trying to ascertain how the applicant would get to work (knowing they only had one car). While that particular question may not be illegal, it certainly didn't pertain the the job and I would like to hand out a list to all of our supervisors advising them areas to stay away from, improper questions, etc.

Gillian

Thinking up a list of things NOT to ask is harder than thinking of what CAN be asked, then eliminating other stuff. What can be asked is anything that is job related. Questions that clearly cannot be asked are the questions about race, color, religion, sex, national origin etc. etc. Then there are a whole host of things that are not about discriminatory things but are not job related. there is nothing illegal about asking about them but then decisions may be made based upon things that are not job related, leading to poor hiring decisions.

sonny

In addition to above, I avoid anything related to date of birth (year graduated for example), marital status, child care, place of birth, health." When given questions to review for interviews, I look at each and ask "how does this relate to the job in question and the persons ability to perform the essential functions?" If I can't see the connection, I advise, "don't ask it"

Gar

Let me add disabilities. Stay away from such questions even if a disability is apparent. If the applicant brings it up, you may ask if an accommodation will be necessary. The key is to not treat disabled applicants differently than those without disabilities. You may ask applicants to take a test if the test is job-related, consistent with business necessity, is offered to all applicants and the test does not serve to screen out persons with disabilities. You may ask applicants about their ability to perform the essential functions of the job as long as you ask all applicants the same question. Again, the key is to not treat disabled applicants differently than non-disabled applicants. Be very, very careful because this can be more art than science.

System

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-31-01 AT 07:24AM (CST)[/font][p]In preparation for Friday's issue of HR Hero Line, I've been looking through the Newsletter Archive in HRhero.com's members-only area for helpful feature articles. I came across a great article on which interview questions you should avoid, titled "Help for applications and interviews." I'll feature that article in this week's HR Hero Line ... so stay tuned to your e-mail inbox!

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WOCO Frank

I understand the pitfalls involved with asking an applicant questions about previous last names, and how that might indicate an interest in their marital status. However, one question I always ask is: "For the purpose of reference checks, have you worked in any of these previous jobs under a different name?"
It's just one of those cases where I'm going to let common sense prevail.