What do you do if you�re faced with a question you
think is unlawful? And how do you know what an unlawful
question is?
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, all questions must be job related.
Topics that are usually not job related are:
marital or family status, national origin, birth date
and place, native language, and arrest record.
Here are two non- threatening methods you can
use to answer unlawful questions.
Let's use the question, "How old are you" as an example.
First, you can ask how the question relates to the job,
"I'm not quite sure how my age relates to my ability
to do this job. Could you please explain?"
Or second, you could answer the question behind the
question "If you're wondering if I'd feel comfortable
supervising employees that may be older than I am, I can
assure you that my subordinates' ages are not important to me.
I have three years experience supervising a staff of ten,
some older than I am, and some younger. "
Many times unlawful questions are not asked out of blatant
disregard of the law. They are asked because
inexperienced interviewers are simply curious or making small
talk before the interview begins. Handling these
questions with tact is crucial.