Whether you are hosting a virtual interview or physical interview with your shortlisted job applicants, there are certain questions that you can’t ask during the interview.
Being a recruiter, an interview is the best chance for you to know attendants a little better and examine their skills. But, you have to refrain from asking certain questions, which can create a legal hassle for your organization.
Therefore, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already defined illegal questions that recruiters should not ask during the interviews. Besides illegal interview questions, there are numerous grey questions that interviewers should avoid asking related to personal choices.
You see, recruiters, conducting an interview is a challenging task, but if you prepare well, you can effortlessly weed out the best talent on interviews. So, note down these illegal questions now, interview takers.
#1 How old are you?
While conducting an interview, you can’t directly ask applicants about their age. That’s because under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which is developed to protect the rights of workers over 40 years, it’s illegal to ask a job applicant’s age. However, you can ask candidates whether they are 18 years old or not to avoid recruiting underage people.
#2 Are you a citizen?
You can’t legally ask job applicants about their citizenship status. It will be considered racist, which is both legally and morally wrong. Instead, you can ask candidates if they are eligible to work in the US or have an H1 visa?
Also, if you plan to harbor workplace diversity in your organization, you can ask questions like—
- Are you a fluent French speaker?
- Can you write and read in Hindi?
- What new cultural values can you bring to the organization?
#3 Are you married?
Now, this question seems very innocent that the interviewer might ask to know the availability or flexibility of a candidate. But, this question also discloses the marital status of a person, which further reveals their sexual preferences. And, it is illegal to hire someone based on their sexual preferences. So, instead of marital status, interviewers can directly ask—
- Are you available for long working hours?
- Are you open to working on weekends?
- Can you take spontaneous trips? Etc.
#4 What religion do you follow?
Now, you might want to know candidates’ religious beliefs to know which holidays they take, but asking about someone’s religion, caste or creed falls under the discrimination category. So, it is an illegal question.
However, it is important to know when a person prefers to take a holiday for remote recruitment. So, here again, you can straightaway ask candidates—
- Are you available to work during Christmas?
- Are you open to work on Sundays?
#5 Do you have kids or are you planning to start a family soon?
You can’t also ask people about their kids or plans of having children in the future, especially female applicants. This question is considered offensive because many organizations don’t hire new parents or pregnant women as they often take time off or even apply for paternity or maternity break.
So, here just simply ask applicants how many leaves they expect and how often they expect to take time off.
#6 Are you physically or mentally disabled?
This is big-time illegal to ask someone about their physical and mental capabilities. If a job applicant comes in a wheelchair for the interview, not even then you can ask about their physical incapabilities.
Although, you can ask whether they can do the job or they can handle pressure coming with the job.
#7 How much do you weigh?
Similar to age, it is illegal to ask about a candidate’s weight or other physical attributes in the interview. Asking questions related to weight can be categorized as body shaming or sexual harassment.
However, if the job demands certain physical attributes, you can ask such kinds of questions. For example, if you want to hire a technician to run heavy equipment, it is alright to ask about their weight or height. Like in police and army job interviews, physical attributes are one of the main deciding factors for recruiters.
#8 Are you a felon?
It is a very important thing that recruiters should know before hiring a person. But you can’t straightaway ask job applicants — are you a criminal, or have you ever been arrested?
You here have to tell applicants that you will be running a complete background check on them as it is mandatory to ask a person’s permission before investigating them. Plus, it will automatically indicate candidates to come clean about their previous criminal history as in investigation truth will anyway come out.
#9 Do you have outstanding debts?
Just like criminal history, you need permission to check a person’s credit history. If you hire a person to manage your finances, you might also be interested in knowing how they handle their personal finances. But, interviewers, it is illegal to ask about someone’s personal financial information. Plus, how a person manages his or her personal finances doesn’t define their professional skills.
#10 Are you a social drinker?
Once again, you can’t ask a person whether he or she is a drinker or consumes any other type of drug. However, you can state that your company has a no-tolerance policy against drinking or taking any other drugs during working hours. You can also get a candidate’s permission for a narco test if your job role demands, like Amazon, hire drivers after thoroughly drug testing them.
#11 How long have you been working?
If you want to know a person’s work experience, you have to refrain from asking questions like when you started working or how long you have been working? That’s because all these questions indirectly disclose a person’s age, which is illegal to ask.
Just Focus on your Words
Recruiters, it is your job to ask all sorts of personal and professional questions from interview participants to evaluate their performance and capabilities. But, you have to choose your words, aka frame your questions smartly.
For example, you can ask someone if they are fluent in English, but you can’t ask them from which country they belong.
So, just work on reframing your interview questions in the right way, and you won’t have to worry about getting into legal trouble for asking interview questions.
Author Bio:
Dr. Neha Manchanda is a founding team member of GreenThumbs. She is an Organizational Psychologist with a Ph.D. in the subject. Her expert services are extensively sought by leading multinationals.
