We’ve talked before about the “gotcha” questions during interviews and how they’re pretty annoying and generally unuseful, but now we’re gonna talk about something that’s often much worse: the questions that are not legal to ask. Anyone who is interviewing you should have an understanding of what they are and know they can’t ask them, but the reality is this isn’t always the case, so it’s best to know your rights.

Sometimes the questions really do come with inappropriate motivations. A place that’s likely to ask you to work beyond 9 to 5 is probably going to be curious if you have other commitments like, say, children. They are absolutely not allowed to ask you if you have children. They can ask how flexible you are with work hours, but they can’t discriminate against you as a candidate because you have children. The most frequent offense reported is questions about whether or not you plan to have children (maternity leave). That is also not a legal question.

If during an interview you were asked about:
– your religion
– your political affiliation,
– if you are pregnant or planning for children,
– your race,
– your marital status,
– your personal finances, or
– your use of alcohol or tobacco products

You were asked an illegal question. Whether or not it was asked unwittingly, without the intention to discriminate against you doesn’t matter.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.