TIP OF THE DAY – 10 FRIENDLY QUESTIONS YOU SHOULDN’T ASK

A job interview is an opportunity to get to know the candidate on a personal level, and assess whether he or she will be a good fit in your organization. Often, however, friendly questions asked with the best of intentions stray into a protected area, causing the candidate to reveal information about their age, health, marital status, sexual orientation,* national origin or religion that, by law, cannot be considered in the hiring process. When that candidate is not offered the job, they may well make assumptions about your decision-making process that are completely incorrect, and you could be in the position of defending yourself and your company from allegations that the failure to hire was discriminatory.

Friendly questions that seem harmless on their face but can get you into trouble include the following:

1. River City, huh? My cousin went to high school there. What year did you graduate?
2. So, you’re new to the area. Do you need any help finding out about schools or churches?
3. I see from your resume that you’ve got over 30 years experience. How long are you planning to work before you retire?
4. You got married recently – congratulations! Are you planning to have kids?
5. That’s a very unusual name. What nationality is that?
6. Some of us are on a company softball team –I bet you’d be a great addition. Could we count on you?
7. Being here on time is important to us. As a single parent, do you think your childcare responsibilities will interfere with your attendance?
8. How do you feel about reporting to a (younger/female) supervisor?
9. I couldn’t help noticing your accent. Are you from the Middle East? What do you think about what’s going on over there?
10. Would you be relocating here yourself, or do you have a spouse or significant other who’d be coming with you?

None of these questions are necessarily asked with bad intentions. Each of them, however, has the potential for either eliciting information about membership in a protected class that would not otherwise be apparent pre-hiring, or creating the impression that certain protected characteristics are preferred over others in an employee.

By training your supervisory employees on proper interviewing, you can avoid unnecessary exposure to claims that your hiring practices are discriminatory.

*Although sexual orientation is not a protected class under federal law or Florida state law, numerous counties and municipalities have adopted ordinances which prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.