If a hiring manager ever asked you if you were pregnant, or planning on having children (in the near future), they’ve asked an illegal question and could very well be sued for it. Any reputable professional resume writing company in AZ will confirm that hiring laws are very strict. They even define the types of questions hiring managers are (not) allowed to ask. The goal of these laws is very simple – to eliminate any potential bias that can arise from questions that are not related to a person’s job performance.
In other words, any questions that tell your hiring managers nothing of your job performance, but could still eliminate you from the hiring process are illegal to ask. However, there are ways hiring managers can still get useful information, without asking for it in an illegal or disrespectful way. Let’s take a closer look at what type of questions you should not be asked, and what is generally acceptable.
Illegal Job Interview Questions
Racial or color-related questions
It is incredible that in 2017 we still have to talk about this. Employers are not allowed to ask any race or color-related questions. You being of any race, or origin, has absolutely nothing to do with how well you can perform your tasks, and as such should not be asked about it.
Age
Age bias in the workplace is unfortunately nothing new, and it’s still something we have to tackle day in, day out. Professional resume writing help agencies usually avoid adding the candidate’s age to the resume for the same reason. Yet again, age has very little to do with how well you perform certain tasks, making age-related questions illegal.
Planning a family
Even though this one might sound logical for some hiring managers, it’s actually illegal to ask. For some hiring managers, employing a woman of child-bearing age might mean she could soon leave for 26 weeks, while a man might take a week off, max. This information puts the woman in an unfavorable position compared to a man, and is thus illegal to ask.
How Employers Asks (Legal) Job Interview Questions
On the other hand, there are questions hiring managers can ask which are legal and respectful. For example, if the hiring manager fears having children might hinder a woman’s ability to perform a task, he / she might ask: “This job requires travelling at least once a fortnight, is there anything preventing you from travelling?”
The pattern is similar with religion-based questions. If Saturday or Sunday are workdays, or if the job position requires the applicant to be present during certain religious holidays, hiring managers could ask if candidates would have a problem working on those days. The only thing that makes these questions legal is the fact that they determine the candidate’s job performance. Everything else simply fuels bias and should thus be avoided.
Best Ways To Prepare For Job Interview Questions
The abovementioned examples are just the tip of the hiring iceberg. Questions related to gender, affiliations, disability, native languages or criminal records are also both common and illegal. The best resume writing companies in Phoenix AZ will always prepare their job seeking clients for incoming interviews, and train them on how to behave in case they get asked such questions.
High-caliber resume companies such as DoMyResume.NET, will also train their clients on how to avoid disclosing illegal information without even being asked. This is actually quite common, and candidates sometimes unconsciously concede this type of information and reduce their chances of getting hired.