Re: Unwelcome/Improper Interview Questions

[Roy Jacobsen <rjacobse -at- GREATPLAINS -dot- COM>]

In one of my interviews with my present employer, I made reference to being
married in response to a question (which wasn't about marital status, BTW).
The interviewer, the head of HR, said "I have to tell you that your marital
status will have no bearing on whether you are offered this position."

Later, when I was in the position to do the interviewing, we were coached by
the HR department to NEVER raise issues like that, and to give that response
whenever anybody mentioned marital status, age, religion, race or sexual
orientation, and to make a note of it if the issue was brought up. This was
a CYA measure, in the event a disgruntled applicant wanted to accuse us of
_____-based bias. We'd be able to point to the interview notes and say
"Look, at no time did we ask about _____; it was the applicant brought the
issue up, and the interviewer stated at that point that ______ has nothing
to do with the applicant being offered a position."

There are ways to find out about someone's personality, their work habits,
their social skills, etc., as pertaining to a work environment, without
asking about their personal life. <brag>My company must be good at
recruiting and screening candidates; our turnover rate is far below average
for the high-tech industry.</brag>

Regards,
Roy M. Jacobsen
Editor
Great Plains
rjacobse -at- greatplains -dot- com

Read and revise, reread and revise, keep reading and revising until your
text seems adequate to your thought.  -- Jacques Barzun


 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=