Illegal or Inappropriate Interview Questions and How To Handle Them

So, we all know that there are certain questions employers (or recruiters) can’t ask in the interview process… some are pretty simple, and some border on “not quite sure”… One of my subscribers reached out to me yesterday and let me know that someone had asked her an inappropriate question on an interview form and she asked if I could address the topic in a post… a little friendly reminder for both sides of the fence…

Here’s the cold hard fact of it… there are questions that are illegal or inappropriate… but if you are unemployed and desperate to get hired, you probably are going to let a lot of them slide right past. Sometimes these questions may not be intentional, maybe the person doing the interviewing doesn’t even realize they are asking an illegal question, or is simply trying to break the ice by being conversational. I know when I was interviewing, I volunteered information that would have been illegal for my employer to ask, such as the fact that I am married, childless and my place of birth, etc.

How you handle the issue is up to you, but you have a couple of options. You can simply choose to answer the question, you can side step it and change the subject tactfully, or you can point out the fact that it is illegal and refuse to answer.  Only YOU can decide what path you want to take.  If YOU are okay with answering the question, there is no reason you can’t answer it. But on the other hand, if the employer is asking questions that are blatantly illegal – do you really want to work for that kind of company?

So, I’ve compiled some links here that have some valuable information, they will help you get an idea on what questions are illegal and hopefully how to handle them as well.

What questions Are illegal?

Interview Questions – Appropriate or Inappropriate?

Illegal or Inappropriate Interview Questions

30 interview questions you can’t ask and 30 sneaky legal alternatives to get the same information

How to answer tricky – and illegal – interview questions

How do you handle illegal questions?

Tactful answers to illegal interview questions

How to answer illegal interview questions

Illegal Interview Questions, Alternative Questions and Answers

5 Illegal Interview Questions and How to Dodge Them

How to handle inappropriate or personally invasive questions in an interview (video)