Illegal Interview Questions

As a Human Resource Management major, I felt that it was quite fitting for me to mention the CBS News article that I stumbled upon that explains illegal job interview questions that everyone should look out for. These questions will typically only come up when you are interviewed by interviewers that are employed by small companies or interviewers that are interviewing for a business that they opened themselves. The reason for this is because large companies and corporations will normally have a well-trained human resources staff that has already been trained on how to conduct an interview appropriately. According to the CBS News article, there are only a few characteristics that are protected when it comes to interview questions.

The protected characteristics are as follows:

·         Race

·         Color

·         Sex

·         Religion

·         National Origin

·         Birthplace

·         Age

·         Disability

·         Marital Status

If an employer interviews you and asks any questions that are directly related to the previously mentioned characteristics, it may be an illegal question. Although employers may feel limited in their questions because of these protected characteristics, there are ways they can frame questions so that they are not illegal. For instance, rather than asking “Do you have kids?” an employer can ask “Are you willing to relocate or travel for this position?”

If an employer asks one of these “banned” questions, there are different ways that you can handle the situation. Always be sure to keep a respectful attitude and address the problem in the most appropriate way possible. You do not have to respond to those types of questions and it is perfectly OK if you refuse to do so.

Shayla Frinks
Career Educator