True Story: Before I was a Recruiter, I was a Nail Technician and Salon Manager in Florida. When I moved to Illinois, I decided to transition into the corporate world. I created my first resume and posted it on the job boards. For months I went on interview after interview and got rejected over and over again. Through trial and error (many errors) I learned how to present myself during an interview and I learned how to communicate what I had to offer as an employee. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do for a living!
One day I got a call from a recruiter who found my resume online. They were calling me because they had an opening internally and were looking for new recruiters. The first words that came out of my mouth were literally, “what is a recruiter?”. And I was thinking, “why are they calling ME?“. Apparently they thought that my experience working with people in the beauty industry would transition well into a career as an agency recruiter. So they invited me in for an interview. I spent an entire day in that office. Interviewing with two different recruiters and the owner, taking all the skills tests, filling out paperwork and job shadowing. When I got home, I knew that this was going to be my career. It was perfect for me and I knew I’d be great at it.
Working for that particular company wasn’t exciting to me but the job itself was. I started calling other staffing agencies right out of the phone book and sending in my resume. I must have interviewed with at least 15 different firms before I finally decided on the one that I wanted to go to. Interviewing was exhausting and stressful and I learned a lot through the process.
One interview in particular stands out more than the rest. It was a small boutique firm that was owned by a husband and wife. The company had been in business for over 50 years and the recruiters I interviewed with spoke of how much they loved their job. It sounded like a great opportunity and an environment I would fit in well at. Who doesn’t love working with people that love their job?
After interviewing with two recruiters, I interviewed with the owners of the company separately. It was the most confusing interview process I had seen. The wife spoke of how the company culture is very family oriented and it’s important to bring on new staff with the same mindset. She asked me questions about where I grew up, why I moved from Florida to Illinois, what was my relationship status, what did my mother and father do for a living….the most personal questions I had ever been asked on an interview. When I met with her husband, it was a very similar situation. He even asked how much money my family made annually! No joke. At first I didn’t realize how strange this was. I had never been in the corporate world so I was still learning the ropes. As the interviews continued, I began to feel uncomfortable and almost angry. Why wasn’t this interview about me and what value I can bring to the company? My parents and relationship have nothing to do with me as a professional!
After the interview was done I left there with zero interest in working with them. The recruiters I met were great and seemed happy but I knew there was something odd about the owner’s strong interest in my personal life. After talking about the experience with multiple people, I then learned that almost every single question they asked me was completely illegal. When the HR manager called me two days later to make me an offer, I declined and was very upfront as to why.
Employment laws are not always common knowledge. Job seekers should be fully aware of their rights. Here is some information from the Illinois Department of Labor on how to handle discrimination.
Here are some examples of “no-no” interview questions:
1. Do you have any children? What are their ages?
2. Are you married, separated, divorced?
3. What arrangements will be made for childcare?
4. Are you pregnant? Do you plan to have children?
5. Would you be comfortable supervising men/women?
6. Would you be willing to take turns making coffee?
7. Does your husband/wife work?
8. What is your citizenship? Nationality?
9. What is your first language? Language spoken at home?
10. Do you intend to become a citizen of the United States?
11. Where were you born?
12. How old are you? What is your date of birth?
13. Can you work with or under the supervision of a younger supervisor?
14. When did you graduate from high school or college?
15. What is your race?
16. Were you ever arrested?
17. What church do you attend?
18. Can you work on Sundays?
19. Have you ever filed a charge of discrimination against your employer?
Have you ever experienced discrimination during an interview?
Have you ever been asked an interview question that seemed a little too personal?
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Great post Veronica! I can totally relate to this. A couple of years ago I was interviewed by well known partner at a law firm. The interview lasted probably about an hour. But he only spent 5 minutes going over my qualifications and experience. He spent the rest of the time asking about my family, what my father did for a living, where my parents live, etc. I was disgusted. He basically broke ever single rule on interviewing. Needless to say, I was not interested in working for him.
Thanks for reading Dorothy!
It’s intriguing to me that people at that professional level don’t understand how this is bad business practice and illegal. Why would someone care what your father did for a living? And how does that apply to anything exactly? I wish I knew then what I know now… It would have been quite a different type of conversation!
Thanks for posting this, Veronica. After recruiting for a while and listening to friends talk about their most recent interview experiences, I realize that there are a lot of job seekers that feel like they HAVE to answer those inappropriate (and a bit too personal) questions so they don’t jeopardize their chance at getting an offer. But it brings up the question – would you really want to work for an employer who is (very possibly) judging you more on your personal characteristics than on your job expertise?
@Kate Perry – Thanks for reading Kate!!
Very good point. At the time I had that crappy interview, I felt like I had to answer those questions too. After leaving with a bad gut feeling about the company and learning that my gut was correct, I definitely knew I did NOT want to work for people like that!
Hope all is well in Atlanta!!