Question

he best test of any question posed to a job applicant is whether the employer can demonstrate a job-related necessity for asking the question. Because both the intent behind the question and how the information is to be used by the employer are important, an employer should consider whether the answers to the question, if used in making the selection, will adversely affect and screen out minorities or members of one gender. This chapter’s Develop Your Skills feature presented five improper interview questions below and should be avoided. Identify what the employer really wants to know by asking each question and come up with an alternative way to find out the same information.[i]

1. How many children do you have?

2. What is your native language?

3.To what clubs or organizations do you belong?

4. What is your height? What is your weight?

5. Are you able to work on Christmas Day?

Answer 1

1. The employer wants to understand that what is the family responsibility that the candidate has and how much time would he be able to devote towards work. An alternative way could be to ask about the future plans for children and then the employer can get to know how many children the candidate has.
2. The employer wants to understand that the candidate would be able to work in a diverse environment or not where there would be many people of different native languages. Better way of asking the same would be to explicitly ask that how comfortable the employee is working in diverse environment.
3. The employer wants to understand the hobbies and other responsibilities of the candidate to understand that would he be able to devote enough time in the office or he/she has other commitments. Better way would be go through the resume and check in extracurricular activities or hobbies.
4. The employer is trying to understand the BMI and the fitness level, better way is to explain the job role to the candidate and mention the expectations so that it can be easily discussed that whether the candidate would be able to perform the duties or not.
5. The employer wants to understand the candidates’ passion and priorities towards work. This can be understood form his or her past record.