Illegal Interview Questions
December 16, 2008
We’ve heard instance of interviewers being a job-seeker’s nightmare only because they fired questions without giving the candidate reasonable time to think or even fitting in objectionable questions in between ones relevant to the job they were being interviewed for and thus, unnerving the poor chap.
Moreover, many men are not even aware of there being such things as illegal job interview questions, which are a grim reality and in societies that emphasize on politeness, decorum and respect to seniors, like South Asian countries (India, in particular), it would be unheard to actually deem an interview as an exchange between two people where even the job applicant is free to ask questions and counter-review what has been outlined to him. Because many people do not realize that an interview is just that – an inter-exchange of views; instead, it needed a civil rights acts (in USA) to address the legality of interview questions that are now considered local laws that could infringe on human rights and respectability issues and therefore empower candidates to refuse to answer any of these interview questions.
Using this as a base, any developed nation can intelligently hope to apply this logic to their line of questioning at a job interview and not be brow-beaten into answering any question that they justifiably feel is not related to the job. Furthermore, investigation proceedings can be initiated against the person conducting the interview, especially in cases of this being on video or an online interview, which shows records that can be checked for validation.
Do not think refusing to answer all the questions may cost you the job if the questions are objectionable, such as social life (stereotype for immaturity if partying is what they link with it), where you were born (could border on racial discrimination) and marital status (many a time employers equate married with responsible or perversely stressed and less likely to do overtime and unmarried with immature or conversely, more likely to be career focused with lesser responsibilities).
Decline answering any questions like the above, which you are awkward about and that are irrelevant to the job; instead, guide the topic back to the job profile and your potential value to the company.
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