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There Are No Illegal Interview Questions by Mark Thomas
It is an article of faith that there are interview questions that are illegal, and may never be asked. My quick Google search returned 3,050,000 results for “illegal interview questions.” Hiring managers are trained by HR departments, who have been counseled by their attorneys, to avoid a broad list of interview questions relating to age, gender, race and other topics or face legal action. The concept of the illegal interview question is well and widely known and most people carry the idea of illegal questions into the interview with them.
When you are the candidate that is a problem. You need to build rapport quickly and effectively. When you consider a question illegal, you are naturally resistant or even adversarial in responding. Behaving this way can kill the opportunity by killing rapport. The fact is, there are no illegal questions, at least as far you as a candidate should be concerned.
Consider a client I worked with. Sylvester was an engineer, 35 years old, with great experience. A recruiter contacted him, complimented his great experience, and asked his first question: “How old are you?”
Sylvester’s training told him this was an illegal question, and he should not answer it. He knew he had to say something, so he dodged: “I am old enough to have that great experience, and young enough to have lots of career left.” Pressing, the recruiter noted that engineering is a challenging program, and many from Sylvester’s college take 5 or more years to finish. “How about you? Did you complete your degree in 4 years?” Sylvester remembered that graduation date was a trick way to get to age. Nonetheless, he was proud to have finished in 4 years, and said so. The recruiter said “So you are 35 years old.” Committed to avoid answering, Sylvester said “Somewhere around there.” The recruiter noted he had been recruiting for almost 40 years. “That would be longer than you have been alive, right?” Committed to avoiding these illegal questions, Sylvester said “That might be.”
Next, the recruiter asked “Do you have kids?” Another illegal question Sylvester knew should not be asked nor answered. “I want to talk about my engineering experience rather than my family situation.”
The recruiter said “Here’s what I am going to do. I am going to hang up, and throw your resume away.” And he did.
Certainly, the recruiter was a bit of a jerk. Just as certainly, had Sylvester simply answered “35” to the first question, he would have started to build rapport, signal his honesty, and most importantly show his age did not matter to him. It would have been the same if he shared he had a son he coached in little league and was very proud of. Those responses would have shown his confidence, his personality, and his humanity. Instead, he poisoned the well by being uncooperative, even antagonistic.
Perhaps this was going to be a great opportunity, perhaps not. Sylvester never found out. It is particularly disappointing because at 35 age was not going to be an issue until he made it one. If he was 55, or 65, where age might be an issue in the mind of the employer, it would be even more important for Sylvester to matter-of-factly give his age and show he could care less if they asked, because his age is just a number that does not scare him, does not bother him, and does not matter to him.
