From HR World comes a handy post, meant for employers but just as informative for job seekers, outlining the questions they can’t ask you. Read the whole enchilada here.
It never ceases to amaze me how many employers feel they have a right to know incredibly personal information such as that sought by the questions in this post. Be a smart employee and know your rights, so that when the conversation veers into impermissible territory, you can (nicely, of course) educate your interviewer.
Of course, that raises another red flag for many: not getting the job simply because you refused to answer the question or pointed out (however nicely) that the question wasn’t permitted under the law. To that, I can only state: do you really want to work for an employer that plays fast and loose with your rights before they even know you?
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When you’re at a job interview it’s really difficult to question what the interviewer is asking you - you want to be open and receptive to all their questions, and the thought of whether they are within their rights to ask or not tends not to cross your mind! Also, I never realised there were so many things interviewers aren’t allowed to ask - for example “How old are you?” - seems like a reasonable question to me!
Might seem that way at first, but think about it. What possible lawful reason could an employer have for wanting to know your age? The only issue is whether you can do the job - age has nothing to do with that. So, that leaves the possibility that the employer doesn’t want a particular kind of person merely because of their age - and if the age is “over 40″, then that’s against the law under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
In the UK, the government is thinking of allowing race and gender to be factored into the employer’s decision on whether to employ the candidate. So the Employer can legally choose a woman from a minority group over a male candidate, who is equally qualified. Is this right? Does this not harm race relations? Does it work both ways? Can I legally choose a white male over a woman from a minority group? It would be interesting what your readers think.