Hey. Take it from a former HR person⌠this goes double right now.
I just spent some time putting in some job applications myself (not for HR, lol) and got about 15 interviews. And idk if itâs because of COVID uncertainty or if places just donât fucking care anymore because they know people are desperate for work, but the amount of straight up illegal shit my interviewers asked me was appalling.
(Thatâs not even counting the questions that were technically legal but clearly fishing for information theyâre not legally allowed to ask.)
A tame example? Two questions into a phone interview, the guy on the other end of the line asked:Â âHow old are you?â
I said âExcuse me?â - giving him a chance to rethink that.
He didnât. âHow old are you?â
âSir, you are not allowed to ask me that question.â
âWell, I want to know. Iâm asking.â
âAnd youâre legally not allowed to ask me that. Iâm not required to tell you my age.â
At that point, I guess he managed to remember an old HR bulletin or something (I hope to god he wasnât actually HR himself), and he said, âWell, I need to know if youâre over the age of 18.â (Which is what he should have asked in the first place⌠or not, since that was in the application that he could have read.)
âYes. Iâm over the age of 18.âÂ
And we moved on. Two questions later, he tried another illegal question. I called him on it again and ended the interview, citing that a workplace with such a clear disregard for the law, especially upon first contact with a potential employee, was not going to be a good fit. (They offered me the job anyway, lol. I didnât send a thank-you or a response.)
At a different interview, the majority of questions were âfishingâ questions - just looking for that info theyâre not actually allowed to ask. (This person was also either not really HR or an HR person who was exceptionally bad at their job.)
I could tell they were getting frustrated when I dodged answering the personal stuff, and they actually got extremely upset when I mentioned later in the interview (re: less relevant work experience) I had worked in HR. They were super flustered for the remainder of our time, and I watched them skip over questions on their sheet they had clearly planned on asking. They KNEW they were being sketchy and were counting on me not knowing anything about HR - or my rights - and so they got upset when I did.
These were super tame examples. Iâm begging you, if youâre job searching right now, PLEASE know your rights. Please know what interviewers are allowed to ask.
Please donât volunteer information or elaborate more than youâre required to about personal things. Save your words (and everyoneâs time) by elaborating why youâre good for the position/what you can do.
I may create a resource list on this shit later but PLEASE PLEASE KNOW THIS STUFF BEFORE YOU TALK TO AN EMPLOYER. This goes for anywhere youâre interviewing as well as your current employer. This also goes for HR. HR may be the person you go to when shitty stuff happens, but that doesnât mean theyâre your friend (or competent).
They donât need to know your age (beyond 16+, 18+, or 21+, depending on the job). They donât need to know your medical history. (For the love of god, do NOT answer the âhave you been diagnosed with depression?â question.) They donât need to know if you have kids or whatever. They donât need to know a LOT of those things that may appear on an application, including your veteran status, whether youâre on/have been on unemployment, etc. Theyâre not entitled to know specifics about your transportation (unless youâre using that transportation for the job, like Uber/delivery drivers). Look this up for your state/the jobâs state.
Beware questions like âWhat year did you graduate?â if youâre like me and donât put dates on your resume (I just put amount of time spent at employers, not dates of employment). Theyâre fishing for your age. Itâs âOh, you know, 100 years ago,â if you feel comfortable making a joke, or âAbout [generic number, like 5 or 10] years agoâ if not.
Also beware things like the âWhat do you do in your free time?â question, even if you already work there. This is not a friendly getting-to-know-you question. This is a basis for judgement. Not up to an invisible standard? Theyâre going to be biased against you for pay raises, promotions, etc. Mention kids/lots of family/social engagements? Thatâs a tick against you for not being the kind of person who lives to work (yes, itâs gross and stupid). Mention lots of solitary things? Cool, thatâs their mental note to ask more from you because youâre ânot doing anything anyway.â By all means, be friendly with your coworkers/talk about shared interests if you want, but it is none of your bossâs business, and be aware what could get back to them.Â
Donât. Tell. Employers. Shit.
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