Posted by Russ in 
A typical employment form contains sections that allows employers to dive a little into your past and personal life. However, during an interview employers are only allowed to ask questions that will allow them to judge how well you might perform in a position if the job is offered to you. Laws and regulation govern the selection process of an applicant. Employers are not allowed to ask questions during an interview based on race, religion,sex,age, national origin, ethnicity, and disability.
We have listed a few examples of questions that you should avoid answering (these are just examples but they give an idea on what not to answer during a job interview).
- We have a young group of people working for us. Do you think you can work well with colleagues that are much younger than you?
- How many children do you have? How old are they?
- Who did you vote for in 2008?
- Do you have any disabilities or health related problems?
- Have you ever been convicted?
- Are you religious? What church do you go to?
- Are you married? May I ask what your spouse does?
- Where are you from originally? You don’t sound like you were born in U.S.
- Do you rent or own a home?
- What would you call yourself : saver or spender?
Avoid answering interview questions that relates to :
- date of birth, age
- anything related to your health
- your credit history or finances
- religious affiliation
- political affiliation
- national origin
- arrest record
- marital history
- any personal information (family, number of children,etc.)
Those are some of the things that you don’t have to and shouldn’t answer during an interview. Some of these information are already collected through the job application form and interview questions should focus only on your ability to perform the job for the position you are being hired.
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Also, employers shouldn’t ask questions about pregnancy. Or plans for pregnancy in the future. I got that a lot when I was looking for a job in small town Utah. I also got a variation of #7: Why isn’t your husband applying for this job?
If you want the job so bad, you better answer, it wouldn’t look that professional saying in the first interview “I can’t answer that question”, what is there to hide anyway? If you are good for the job and intelligent enough to go through the interview, these questions wouldn’t be of much importance anyway.
While it is true that you should not be answering these types of questions, and more importantly – employers should not be asking them – still it would be more helpful to give us suggested answers that will diffuse any “weirdness” that occurs. For example if someone asks if you can work with younger employees..what kind of answer can you give that will still allow you gracefully finish the interview. Of course, you may not WANT to work for someone who asks such questions, in which case how you answer is up to you…but often you have gotten the interview due to a referral of some kind and you don’t want your friend or recruiter embarassed by your answer…any advice?
Do you have suggestions about how to politely not answer them?
@Natalia @Mary We will try and cover that sometimes soon – how to say “no” during an interview or something along that line. Thanks for pointing it out.
Natalia, makes a good point; you may not want to work for companies that ask these questions. It may be a hint to a future disaster job. It’s a tough choice in a tough time.
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How could i make one who adheres to that!?
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