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private/personal questions during interview
11

private/personal questions during interview

private/personal questions during interview

(OP)
Hello,

Here is a sample, hiring manager asking during interview:
- Are you married ? How many children do you have ?
- Is your wife working ? what kind of job / degree did she has ?
- So your partner lives abroad...mmm...but how often do you visit each other then ?

So you know, this kind of funny things.

At some point you try to escape the questions or make the interviewer understand you are not very comfortable to answer.
In any case, damage are done as it reflects badly on the company and their practices.

Apart from even possible compliance concerns, the question is would you work for an employer like this even if they are willing to take you on board ?

RE: private/personal questions during interview

It is a very context-specific in my opinion, granted i do not think it is appropriate and some may argue illegal (if it sways a hiring position it is illegal).

If the questions of married while one has on a wedding ring does not seem bad. if the interview is complete or just in small talk and children are brought up the question of how many is not odd. Now these questions have very different implications if the interviewee (job applicant) is female. If female, the answers can reflect on poorly either way; that's why one should not ask it.

If asked these questions in an awkward setting i would not want to work there if i felt uncomfortable but if they offered me a job and i thought the interviewer was just socially off but firm is good then i will let it slide (assuming something is offered).

Up to the person and the setting i suppose.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

In the USA, these kinds of questions are illegal, and can be grounds for a discrimination lawsuit if the person isn't hired. Where is the company based?

And no, I would never answer questions like that, nor work for a company that asked them.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

As slta notes, if those questions are asked and the applicant passed over, the company is open to a lawsuit. I would (and have) replied that the questions weren't really appropriate for an employment interview.

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Try to remember to do this.
To the questioner, say: "If you will put that (those)question(s) in writing on your company letterhead I will respond appropriately"

No, you will not get it in writing and you will not get the job but you don't want to work there anyway.

prognosis: Lead or Lag

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Those question would also be illegal in the UK. As to the question would I work for an employer like this, well that depends on how much I needed a job, if it means saving my house or feeding my family yes, but for just about any other reason no.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I sometimes find it useful to reverse the conversation to interviewing the interview about their techniques and what they are looking for. Not that hard to do, usually, as people love talking about themselves and how clever they are.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

What does the interviewer hope to gain by asking those questions? I don't understand why the answers would even matter to the employer. Can anyone provide some insight here?

Maui

www.EngineeringMetallurgy.com

RE: private/personal questions during interview

They are all basically poking around to see if you're the kind of person who'll work 24/7 or the kind of person with "external committments".

- Steve

RE: private/personal questions during interview

We wouldn't be allowed, nor want to ask any of these.
Not that it's right but;
Married employees with children are considered better rooted and less likely to leave for flaky reasons (like love). I'm sure that's not even partially true, but that's the stereotype.
Working wife (plus kids) adds to the stability, but might affect an employees ability to stay late, work weekends, etc. Or she might get a transfer and have to pick up and leave.
Partner living abroad, means if it continues, someone's moving.
Please don't jump on me for this, but these are the feelings of some dinosaurs.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Here's one more appropriate.
-here solve this D.E. you have 5 minutes wink

I think it's reasonable for employers to ask such questions as they are just looking out for themselves.
However, the candidate has the right to refuse to answer.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci

G. Coppola

RE: private/personal questions during interview

(OP)
Seems there is a kind of consensus that people would avoid working for a company that asks such personal questions. But why would you consider stayong away from such company (apart from legal aspects) ?

- Is it simply because those questions are offending privacy ?
- Is it based on your experience where you would have noticed in the past that such things are usually an indicator of potential abuses, misconduct from management, a signal that company will tend to mistreat you ? Maybe I am exagerating but just trying to understand people's feelings.

I am certainly not doing a survey but trying to sort out what is really wrong with companies asking such private questions and establish if my own reasons for feeling not comfortable with private questions during interviews are same as the large majority.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

3
If someone handed me a pencil and paper and asked me to solve a differential equation in an interview, first I'd see if I was wearing pants. Then I'd pinch myself to check again that it wasn't a nightmare. Then if I still hadn't woken up, I'd give it a shot.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I think context is very important in this issue. If your interviewer is chatty, and is talking about their family, and politely asks about yours, that's one thing. If they are asking if you are married right after asking about your experience and what college you attended, it's probably meant to discriminate. Obviously, the questions made you uncomfortable, otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up. I wouldn't pursue legal action or blow the whistle unless it can be done anonymously. Word will get around, and what other company would want to interview someone if they thought it may end in a discrimination lawsuit (even if it is justified)?

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Quote:

If someone handed me a pencil and paper and asked me to solve a differential equation in an interview, first I'd see if I was wearing pants. Then I'd pinch myself to check again that it wasn't a nightmare. Then if I still hadn't woken up, I'd give it a shot.

Haha! This made me crack up smile
I'd probably do the same if given a DE in an interview.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci

G. Coppola

RE: private/personal questions during interview

As ha been said it can come up fairly causally in interview, for instance at a recent interview the issue was travel was brought up. So I mentioned my kids etc. it turned to a fairly informal chat about how old they were etx. No maybe they were being clever in making it innocent and getting the info but I don't think so. We even talked about their kids. I didn't get the job but don't think it was because of that.but this was a senior director, if it was a hr person making notes as we were talking then That would be different

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I'd be more concerned with working for a company that asked me to solve a DE question on the spot in an interview than one that asked a few questions about my family. I'd say if you're not sure I'm qualified for the position, what am I doing here?

When I was in college at the job fair, there was a company asking everyone they interviewed to solve structural engineering problems. The word spread quickly through my peers, and most people avoided that company for the rest of the day. Any one of us likely could have answered the question, but it starts the entire relationship off on a bad foot.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Maui (Materials) wrote
"What does the interviewer hope to gain by asking those questions? I don't understand why the answers would even matter to the employer. Can anyone provide some insight here?"

With the developments in medical insurance this may now be a moot point, and most of these questions in the USA are now illegal, but the interviewer could be fishing, to see if you would be a liability on their group insurance policy. Example, couple married a few years with one or no children, strong possibility of pregnancy with hit to policies bottom line.
Or wife working in high powered job, gets promotion and leaves area, hubby would be expected to follow, same thing with wife if hubby gets better job.
I will not even touch the spouse living abroad question.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Most interviewers probably aren't thinking about insurance, but they certainly would be thinking about how much they can abuse your "free" time. If you're married, etc., the likelihood of corralling you for overtime and extended travel is probably lower than if you are a single, unattached person.

If they're thinking about insurance, a more relevant question or questions would be, "how's your health," "do you smoke," etc.

TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers

RE: private/personal questions during interview

2
Them: Are you married?
Me: For now.

Them: You have children?
Me: Why, are you in the market to buy some?

Them: Is your wife working?
Me: She damn sure better be!

Sorry, I just can't take this topic too seriously. If someone asks me those questions, the answers above will probably come spewing out of my mouth. I wouldn't work there anyway, may as well have some fun at the interviewer's expense.

If you're disturbed by the interviewer's illegal questions, just wait until you accept an offer and go to deal with the HR weenies. Some of them will want your passwords, some will want to interview all of your relatives and neighbors, and some will want to participate in your next colonoscopy. That's a topic for a different thread, though.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Quote:


"participate in your next colonoscopy"

Giving or receiving end ? wink


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
G. Coppola

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Yes these kind of questions are illegal. But a smart interviewer knows how to get this sort of information if they feel it's important for their decision. For instance, if they are wearing a wedding ring, in all likelihood they are married. If they ask about the area your company is in, you can mention various kids activities/events and see if they show any interest. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that there are ways to get this sort of information.

PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

RE: private/personal questions during interview

steellion: not sure I understand your response there. Are you saying that people avoid an employer who actually cares whether or not you know how to do your job, on a technical level? Or are you saying that they asked questions of candidates as a way to get work done for free?

We ask technical questions in interviews for engineers- right off the bat. No, we don't expect anyone to solve DEs on the spot, but we do probe the candidates' access to the fundamentals they should have learned in school. We want to understand the depth and breadth of the stuff they've learned on the job that is relevant to what we do. We also need to probe how they reason and think

As to personal questions: I'd give an honest answer to anything of that sort that they were willing to ask. If they're not going to hire me because I have a family, frankly I don't want to work there anyway.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

It isn't so much that I mind them knowing the answers to personal questions as it is the ethics of them violating the law in so doing.

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

RE: private/personal questions during interview

If the interviewer asked me if I was married and if I had kids, I'd first think about the gender of the person asking the questions, then their sexual orientation, and then think about how good looking they were, before answering. The answers could depend on who asked, and why I thought they were asking. Possibility exists that it could well be an interesting place to work, maybe employee 'relations' are very good?

RE: private/personal questions during interview

TenPenny, that brings up another good interview question: Are you prone to dipping your pen in the company ink?

Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

RE: private/personal questions during interview

If someone handed me a pencil and paper and asked me to solve a DE in an interview, I would ask:

"Why are you asking me? Aren't you "dX-pert"?"

As they say in Quebec, "There is le time and la Place for everything".

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Groan

Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Simple. Integral e ^ x = f (u ^n)

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I love how everyone picked up on the DE question.

I have had an employer give me a test during an interview before. This was a while back. They gave 30min to solve some fundamental engineering questions (on paper), and to do some CAD. No DE's involved lol.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
G. Coppola

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Not counting my current field of work, it was an extreme rarity not to get tested during an interview.

Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Guess I've been lucky since then :)


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Never been asked for a FB password though.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Not asking some basic technical test questions of a candidate for a technical job is a derilliction of duty. HR cannot do it. I've seen some very poor hires because basic technical skills were just assumed to be there.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

"you have 5 seconds to answer this". "How many poles would it take to hold up a 28 ft fence if there are poles every 7ft?"


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

FeX32 (Mechanical)
What if the one in the middle was Romanian? [ponder]
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Do the Poles have to stand there forever or can they get a relative to hold it from time to time?

Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

RE: private/personal questions during interview

LMAO. The Romanian one would take a day off here and then. So the answer is uncertain wink


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Well, the expected answer is 5, of course, but some people would answer 4 = 28/7 and be declared wrong. But, since the problem clearly implies that each pole can support 7 ft of fencing, a valid answer is 4, where the outer poles are 3.5 ft from the edges.

TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Good points IRStuff.
I was once asked this question (when I was 20). I immediately said 4, and was told it was incorrect. For the rest of the questions I thought a bit more about.. smile


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I was 17 when interviewed for a sponsorship with a diesel FIE company. The engineer took out a cut-away of a diesel fuel injector and asked me to describe what happens at the instant the needle leaves its seat. I managed to blurt out something about the pressure suddenly acting on a much bigger area, causing the needle to rise really quickly once unseated. I got that one.

- Steve

RE: private/personal questions during interview

The Romanian one would take a day off here and then. So the answer is uncertain

Wellll, it depends on whether your certain that Romanian Pole holding up the 28 foot long French is a Slovak'er or a FastVak'er ....

RE: private/personal questions during interview

That sounds like it was a hands on interview Steve smile

"FastVak'er" ? So I guess the Slovack'er will take the most days off ? wink


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

A little more seriously, and certainly more towards the original poster's original "legal/ethical/moral/non-fattening" questions about privacy and personal questions, " If I had the time and ability to think during the interview to answer one of these type questions, the best reply would be "I am not allowed to answer that because it would put you in an illegal position under today's current privacy laws. Is there anything else I can show you about what I can bring your company to fulfill this specific job?"

Then again, the only time I was asked any similar question, I was a midshipman (apprentice officer basically) interviewing Admiral Rickover to see if I wanted to work in his reactor program. To his questions "Are you married?" "Are you going to get married?" "When? " I amswered ... "No, sir." "Yes, sir." "May 7th, sir."

Got hired by him.
Probably the only one who ever got hired by him while wearing cowboy boots.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Speaking of Slovacker...

That is why the IOC won't sanction a marathon event in Prague.

They would have to pay overtime to the official that would have to stay at the finish line until the last racer crossed.

To Czech A Slow Valk.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Going back to the original post: IMO those questions are perfectly legit (i dont know about legal), and i would answer these thruthfully without hessitation. Assuming that you have nothing to be ashamed of - then i would rather see their reaction to the answers and draw my own consequences than try to not answer these questions if they were raised!

Best regards, Morten (Denmark)

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Snorgy....

words fail me.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

To rotaryw:

My approach to interviews is that I'll answer whatever they ask. I don't particularly care if they like the answer. People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. If I can't be honest during the interview, then what is the expectation of my conduct when I start work?

To MortenA:

Skol!

To btrueblood:

That observation is consistent with my observations here in the office: usually when I say something, people just shake their heads and leave. I have never been able to figure out why.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Snorgy,
If they hired some Czechs, that would solve the problem in Prague. As for Slovaks, maybe they are quicker in Bratislava.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I think I'd just lie and give them the answer that they wanted. If I get the job and someone questioned it, then I'd probably say "well, it wasn't a question you should have asked."

If you are offended by the things I say, imagine the stuff I hold back.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Quote (hokie66)

If they hired some Czechs, that would solve the problem in Prague. As for Slovaks, maybe they are quicker in Bratislava.

Unless the Slovaks were also sketched bad Czechs in cartoons in Brataslava.

Then they would be overdrawn on all accounts.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

(moan)

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

RE: private/personal questions during interview

machinegunelephant2


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

RE: private/personal questions during interview

3
I would answer:
Well, my same sex partner (who currently lives overseas) and I are waiting for this state to legalize marriage so that we can then adopt an African baby together as equal partners. Would we all be covered by your current medical plan? Oh, and do you guys do drug testing?


And then dare them NOT to hire me.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

I would answer:
Well, my same sex partner (who currently lives overseas) and I are waiting for this state to legalize marriage so that we can then adopt an African baby together as equal partners. Would we all be covered by your current medical plan? Oh, and do you guys do drug testing?

I just have a mental picture of the HR person squirming in their seat as you say this.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

seems to me, you are dealing with a micro-manager who is awkward and does not know how to get his information.
- Are you married ? How many children do you have ?
May be he is thinking about how much insurance he will have to cough up for you.

- Is your wife working ? what kind of job / degree did she has ?
If your wife works, you may be called to do lot of taking care of kids, trips to the pediatrician, picking them up early from school, no baby sitter, can't take kids to day-care, got to stay at home cause wife's job is more important, therefore engineer will not be available.

- So your partner lives abroad...mmm...but how often do you visit each other then ?
Hummmm, then you will travel often overseas, including asking for unpaid leave, etc.. again, not available.

NOT Available means NOT Reliable.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Hm, cry seems to want a slave, not an employee.

RE: private/personal questions during interview

Hey Tom, I resent that
But thanks for the smile.

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