What you need to know about what they can ask
Job interviewers are not allowed to ask certain questions. But what do you say if they do?
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Mr. Harrison offers another approach. "Maybe it's a great company," he says. "Instead of just saying, 'Game's over, you just asked an illegal question,' one way of dealing with it is to ask another question: 'Just what motivates you to ask that question? Is this an occupational requirement? What does this have to do with the job I'm interviewing for?' "
He finds that challenges sometimes arise during the third interview. "It's time for an informal lunch. The guard is down on both sides a bit."
Carole Martin, an interview coach, offers choices for handling these situations. First, she says, "You can answer the question and move on. This may not feel good, but how important is the question to you?"
Second, you can choose not to answer. "This may feel good, but they might take offense and consider you a troublemaker," Ms. Martin says. Third, consider the nature of the question. "Do you want to work for a company that asks this type of question in an interview?"
Christopher Novak, head of an executive coaching firm in Marcellus, N.Y., tells interview candidates to be prepared for inappropriate questions. But he suggests giving errant interviewers the benefit of the doubt the first time, assuming that they just misspoke. "I advise them to respond to the essence of the question rather than the specifics when it involves an out-of-bounds issue," he says.
For example, Mr. Novak says, "A skilled interviewer might ask, 'This sales position requires 75 percent travel. Is there any reason you would not be able to meet that obligation?' That same probing in the words of an untrained hiring manager might sound like, 'We're on the road a lot in this job, so how would you take care of your children?' The first question is legal while the second is not."
He would advise the candidate to respond, "I certainly understand the travel requirements of this position, and I am fully prepared to meet that obligation." The answer "satisfies the query on travel availability without disclosing specific child-care arrangements or even verifying that there are children in the family." A persistent bias in questioning, Novak says, should be a red flag to the candidate.
Stiff laws on interviews may be uniquely American. "In Europe, you can ask a lot of questions," Harrison says, noting that a photo may appear on a résumé. Although US employers understand the need for these laws, Petrella says, "It makes it hard to know who's coming to work for you. In the best-case scenario, you'd like to be able to talk about a lot of things."
Julia Sherlock, director of career services at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, cautions students to be careful about answering "anything that can be used in a discriminatory manner that has nothing to do with the skills or knowledge needed to successfully perform in the position." That includes anything of a personal nature that could lead to a personal answer – religious beliefs, politics, family life.
Despite these cautions, Ms. Sherlock finds that employers who recruit on campuses are "pretty much in tune with what's appropriate." She adds, "From where I stand, 97 percent of the time these are professional interviewers."
Gibbs urges applicants to keep interviews focused on their qualifications and accomplishments. As competition for talent increases, he offers employers this advice: "Applicants are looking at you as much as you're looking at them. They have choices. Improper questions may lead them to accept another position with a company that may not be as focused on non-job-related issues."
