None!
Yes, larger companies have HR and many smaller ones at least have someone who knows what isn’t legal to ask. Likely in such places, you'll be treated more professionally, and the interview will focus more on the skills, education and experience you offer - the things that REALLY matter re: how well you are qualified.However, many who interview have NO idea about what they can ask. Or even what they should! While the person may be qualified to SUPERVISE, he or she may have had NO training or guidance on interviewing. So, that person may "wing it" or worked from a prepared list of questions.
While such doesn’t always mean that you’ll have a tough or difficult interview, you could run into questions or approaches that are not even close to being professional or appropriate.
For example, you may be asked illegal questions or ones that make no sense. Here's a weird one a student of mine was asked a few years back - "How many gas stations are there in Los Angeles?" Keep in mind that the student had never been to LA, had no preparation time, nor was allowed to use any resources like the internet. So, the student had to take a wild guess! However, the interviewer said that the purpose was to test how people reason! Now, I'm not certain how one can reason or figure something out with no information, nor the ability to research!
Sometimes, the interviewer may show “attitude” towards you, or negativity about the company, co-workers or the person who had the job before. How much "fun" would it be to work for someone like this?
Recently, while working in Career Services, I found that the Medical Assistants I got interviews for often were grilled by Physicians who asked illegal questions about children, marriage, etc. In addition, I had other employers asking me about ages of my students, if they had kids or if they had ever been in an accident: all are ILLEGAL questions. And I let the employers know that they couldn’t ask those types of questions.
In most cases, they were surprised.
Several years back, I interviewed at a staffing firm locally for an internal position. The owner, who was also the manager, asked me if I was married. Then, we went to a conference room, where I told him flatly that he couldn’t ask me that. His response was that since it was HIS company, he could ask whatever he wanted to!
(You’d think someone who owned a staffing firm would know something about employment law, or at least pay some attention to it!)
I left very soon after.
If you are being interviewed by someone who is causing you difficulty, whether by asking illegal personal questions or simply behaving in unprofessional ways, do you really want to work in such an environment? After all, the interview is a FIRST IMPRESSION for the employer – and FOR YOU!
My suggestion, bluntly, is to say something like “I really don’t think this is a fit for me. Thanks for you time.” And leave. However, that's just one opinion.
Here is a link to info on illegal questions and other ways to deal with them:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8963-2003Apr11.html
In addition, I’ve been asked “What if you need the job?” Well, I can’t answer that for anyone.
However, I might ask how much you needed a job where it was clear from the start that you weren’t going to be respected or treated properly.
You deserve better!
No comments:
Post a Comment