What Can’t I Ask During an Interview?

Have you ever asked a question during an interview and as soon as it came out of your mouth you wished you could take it back? I remember the very first interview I conducted out of college – I was a walking liability, thinking I knew everything there was to know about recruiting and interviewing. Little did I know, I still had a lot to learn.

A colleague of mine has been interviewing around town recently and has been on many different types of interviews from group interviews to interviews with the owners of the company. Each interview is always different and is unique to both the organization and the person conducting the interview which is something we can all relate to. After an interview last week, I received a call from “Drew” and he was dying to tell me about his most recent interview.

“Drew” was in the final stages of the interview process and was calling me to let me know the terms of his offer. When he was asking the list of questions I gave him – such as vacation pay, benefits (etc), the owner of the company crossed the illegal line – what not to ask in an interview.

When “Drew” asked about benefits, the owner replied, “why, doesn’t your wife have benefits?” and “Drew” replied yes. Then the owner went on to say, “why, are you sick?” Now to some people this may seem like an innocent question, but as you ask this question over in your head right now, can you see why this is an illegal question to ask?

The rules of interviewing are to avoid questions revolving around: nationality, age, religion, marital and family status, gender/sex related and health as your major topics. The reason being; what happens if you don’t hire this person and they file a claim against you saying you asked a question as “Drew” was asked above? “Drew” could come back and say they didn’t hire him because they thought he was sick and was going to drive up their health insurance claims, thus costing the company more money.

You also cannot ask questions regarding transportation – “do you have a car to get to work?” or “have you ever been arrested?” Now some of you are thinking – yes you can. The answer is still – no you can’t. What you will see is questions similar to these on an application. There are questions on almost every company application that ask some form of “do you have a reliable way to get to and from work on time for the shifts you are applying for?” and there are also questions about conviction on applications.

Throughout my career in Human Resources I have always advised colleagues, friends and clients alike to develop a generic set of questions for each level a candidate will interview at. A generic set of questions not only helps as a guide to keep you on track, but also ensures you ask the same questions to each applicant and establishes a record of the interview and the answers the applicant provided.

A generic set of questions can be developed for any/all positions or developed by exempt/non-exempt or for each position in your company. Anyone can begin this process, but I would recommend having a Human Resources Professional or General Counsel review them prior to implementing them in your organization. This guide can be anywhere from 5 – 15 questions, depending on how detailed the questions are. It can also help to ensure you are asking open-ended job specific questions even when you lose your train of thought.

I use an interview guide every interview I conduct and I also take notes during the interview. I don’t know about you, but when I interview various candidates in a day/week/month, it is nice to have notes to look back on when I am reviewing applications and looking at the next step in the interview process. Not only does the set of questions help keep me organized, but ensures I am consistent in every interview and allows me to keep these notes on file for future position openings as well.

Even though the job market seems to be an employers market right now, employers have to continue to be careful and protect their company’s interests more now that ever. Employees are more intelligent and resourceful than ever. Even “Drew,” a non-HR applicant, knew that the question he was asked was inappropriate, so we all need to think before we speak and develop an interviewing strategy that works everytime.