Handling Illegal or Negligent Interview Questions.
Interviews are imperfect vehicles for learning about the skills and compatibility of a potential employee or workplace, but they are, in the main, the best way to understand how people work, why they work, what drives them and what they want to gain from joining a new company. In this guide, we’ll explore how to answer illegal job interview questions.
Interviews are also emotional spaces, and as such a unique power dynamic quickly emerges during an interview, sometimes called a power differential - the interviewer sets the tone, the interviewer drives the conversation and the interviewer (traditionally) is the “decision maker”, while the interviewee answers and does not direct.
Coupled with this is the more unique interpersonal exchange where interviewers are asking interviewee’s personal, in depth questions about their life, emotions, career and future plans without revealing much about themselves (but will happily talk about the company in depth).
This unique set of communicative “rules” are obviously not set in stone, and many interviewers set very equitable environments for interviewees when they step in the room (such as making them a drink, approaching it from a casual conversation space, highlighting how “this isn’t formal” in pre-interview comms etc). But the vast majority of interviews are held within this power dynamic.
This is enshrined in law and is supported by the EEOC (the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Their Laws and Guidance page can give you everything you need to know about what they do, what your rights are, and what your interviewer’s guidance for language employed, and lines of questioning, should be.
How to handle illegal interview questions?
These questions, as much as they can be upsetting or confusing to you, are also putting the interviewer’s company at risk of negligence.
This power dynamic can lead to interviewers asking questions that can stray into the irrelevant (at best) and illegal (at worst). As an interviewee, you have rights to protect you from lines of questioning that have no bearing on your ability to do the job in question, or lines of questioning that are discriminatory.
As an interviewer, you need to know what your rights are and what constitutes an illegal line of questioning. They are:
- Questions that discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, sexual preference, health or disability.
Post-Interview Hack! There are a range of questions that can be used that muddy the waters: questions that make you think they’re not illegal, but they are, such as:
Illegal Interview Question Examples
- “Do you expect to have any children in the next 5 years?”
- “Where were you born again?”
- “What does your family think about this career move?”
- “Are you in a relationship right now?”
- “Do you go to church?”
Michael R. Neece, CEO at Interview Mastery provides sage advice for what to do if asked one of these, or any, questions that are not directly about the job:
Even though they’re asking an illegal question, it’s not effective for you to say, “That’s an illegal question.” Responding professionally is more effective than telling the interviewer they’re breaking the law.
Every question provides you with an opportunity to present information about your abilities. Even illegal questions are an opportunity. Your response strategy for handling illegal questions is:
First, do not directly answer the illegal question. Remain calm and be positive.
Second, deal with the concern behind the question.
If you’re not sure what the real concern is, ask the interviewer to elaborate why this information is important to them. You might ask “What are the realities of this position that prompt you to ask me that question?” Or “How is that important to the position?”
Third, express your commitment to your career and to perform the position at the highest
Levels.
The following example demonstrates how you can use this response strategy to handle most illegal interview questions.
The interviewer asks: “How does your family feel about the demands of this job and your career?”
Your Response:” I’m fully committed to performing my job at the highest level and delivering the results required. My career is very important to me and I have a strong support system. Could you rephrase or elaborate on your question. I want to make sure I address your concern.”
In this example, I did not show any negative emotions and did not say that the question was
illegal. I responded to what I believed was the real concern behind the question and then asked the interviewer to rephrase their question to ensure I understood and addressed their concern. The response strategy outlined here will help you deal with most of the illegal questions you’ll encounter during an interview.
References:
https://www.eeoc.gov/
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws-guidance-0