Category: Compliance

For Employers: 7 Questions That Are ILLEGAL To Ask During A Job Interview

As an employer, a fair amount of your time probably goes to conducting job interviews when hiring staff. While it’s crucial to ask questions about your candidates’ goals, personality, and skills, there are certain questions that are illegal to ask candidates during an interview.

Part of your job is to know with U.S. hiring laws and and maintain compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Not knowing which questions are illegal to ask during an interview could cause you to violate your candidates’ rights and put you at risk of lawsuits.

Below is a list of questions you legally cannot ask during an interview. If you need to know the answers to some or all of these questions, don’t worry. They’ll be answered organically after the candidate has been hired. But during the interview phase, you are not allowed to ask them.

Illegal Interview Questions:

  1. What is your national origin?
  2. Are you pregnant?
  3. How old are you?
  4. Do you have children?
  5. Have you ever been arrested?
  6. Are you married?
  7. Do you have any handicaps?

 

Legal Interview Questions

If you’re stumped on what you can ask your candidates, we have your back. Below is our list of suggested interview questions that will help you focus on the most crucial aspects of your candidates’ lives: their professional background, skills, passions, and more. Focusing on these aspects instead of your candidates personal lives and choices is a much more accurate way to determine the best candidate for the job.

  1. Tell me about yourself.
  2. Tell me about a time when you had to overcome a major obstacle at work.  What were the circumstances?  What did you do?  What was the result?
  3. How do you stay up to date with industry trends and regulations?
  4. When I contact your previous managers, what will they tell me about you?
  5. Tell me about a time you worked with others to achieve a result.
  6. What is the toughest feedback you received?  How did you react?  What changes did you make as a result?
  7. What was your most recent failure at work?  What did you learn?
  8. Why did you choose this career?

For Jobseekers: Beware of These Illegal Job Interview Questions

 

When you’re in the middle of a job interview, nervousness and a desire to make the best impression possible can take over. While feeling nervous and wanting to please your interviewer are completely normal and even productive during an interview, they can sometimes blind you from questions you may be asked that are not only inappropriate, but illegal.

Employers are supposed to stay updated on U.S. hiring laws and maintain compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Unfortunately, some employers fail to educate themselves on their legal responsibilities or know that asking certain questions during an interview is illegal, but do it anyway.

Below are the questions that are illegal to ask during an interview. Do not answer these. Most of these will be answered after a candidate is hired, anyway. There’s no need for employers to know these answers in the interview phase. But regardless of whether they need to know this information and at what point they need to know it, employers who ask you these questions during your interview are violating your rights.

Illegal Interview Questions:

  1. What is your national origin?
  2. Are you pregnant?
  3. How old are you?
  4. Do you have children?
  5. Have you ever been arrested?
  6. Are you married?
  7. Do you have any handicaps?

 

Legal Interview Questions:

Here are the legal interview questions that employers can ask you, and that you should answer:

  1. Tell me about yourself.
  2. Tell me about a time when you had to overcome a major obstacle at work.  What were the circumstances?  What did you do?  What was the result?
  3. How do you stay up to date with industry trends and regulations?
  4. When I contact your previous managers, what will they tell me about you?
  5. Tell me about a time you worked with others to achieve a result.
  6. What is the toughest feedback you received?  How did you react?  What changes did you make as a result?
  7. What was your most recent failure at work?  What did you learn?
  8. Why did you choose this career?

 

When you’re interviewing for a job, it’s crucial that you not only make the best impression possible on your interviewer, but also that you know your rights as a candidate. Stay alert for any questions that are illegal for interviewers to ask you.

For Employers: Why Your Company Needs an HR Specialist

 

Who’s in charge of your HR? It’s an easy role to overlook, especially when resources are stretched. But if you don’t have a human resources manager on your staff, you’re asking for trouble.

Continue reading “For Employers: Why Your Company Needs an HR Specialist”