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#158988 10/01/06 09:21 AM
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,064
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Which of these questions can you ask, or not ask legally, when interviewing an applicant?


1. Of what country are you a citizen?
2. Are there any hours or regulary scheduled work days you are unwilling to work?
3.How old are you?
4. Please list or state your academic, vocational or professional education and schools attended?
5. Have you ever changed your name, by court order or otherwise?
6. If hired, can you provide proof of age? (for minors)
7. What religous denomination are you? or
Do you attend religous services?
8.Are you able to perform the essential funtions of the positions for which you are applying for?
9.Are you pregnant, do you plan on becoming pregnant?
10. Are you a citizen of the United States?
11. What is your native language?
12. Have you ever worked for this comapany under a different name?
13. What is your marital status?
14.What languages can you read or speak fluently?
15. Have you ever been arrested?
16. What is your height and wieght?
17. Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, when/what is the disposition?
18. Are your parents, spouse, or family, citizens of the United States?
19. In what country did you attend school?
20.What kind of work does your spouse do?

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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 138
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I once interviewed with GE for an engineering position and the interviewer asked me if my dad was dead. No lie. I think he was trying to shock me or something.
Some personal/family questions have no place in an interview regardless of legalities. Religion and politics come to mind. A married Catholic Republican may not be any better than a divorced Methodist Democrat. Has no bearing on his/her ability to do an effective job.
Alot of your questions should be submitted in a job application form before the interview to save each of you some valuable time. For $20-$30 bucks you can buy a very good job application form on line.

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 399
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You may want to check your local Human Relations office for guidelines.
In some areas it is known as the Equal Employement Office.
Alan--


Alan--
If it was easy, anyone could do it.
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 787
L
Member
I'm not a lawyer but ....

1. Of what country are you a citizen?
YES __if__ it is a defendable requirement of the job such as military.

2. Are there any hours or regulary scheduled work days you are unwilling to work?
Don't know.

3.How old are you?
NO.

4. Please list or state your academic, vocational or professional education and schools attended?
YES.

5. Have you ever changed your name, by court order or otherwise?
YES if a background or security checks are required as part of the job requirements.

6. If hired, can you provide proof of age? (for minors).
YES

7. What religous denomination are you? or
Do you attend religous services?
NO, except if it is part of the job requirements.

8.Are you able to perform the essential funtions of the positions for which you are applying for?
YES.

9.Are you pregnant, do you plan on becoming pregnant?
NO. However if becoming pregnant prevents the applicant from performing the essential functions of the position, or will expose the fetus to hazardous conditions such as ionizing radiation, toxic chemicals, etc. the candidate has the obligation to inform the employer so that the employer can relocate the candidate to a position of less hazards.

10. Are you a citizen of the United States?
YES __if__ it is a requirement of the job such as military.

11. What is your native language?
NO.

12. Have you ever worked for this comapany under a different name?
YES.

13. What is your marital status?
NO.

14.What languages can you read or speak fluently?
YES.

15. Have you ever been arrested?
__NO__ Changed after rereading question.

16. What is your height and wieght?
YES if it is a requirement to perform the essential funtions of the position.

17. Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, when/what is the disposition?
YES.

18. Are your parents, spouse, or family, citizens of the United States?
NO.

19. In what country did you attend school?
NO.

20.What kind of work does your spouse do?
NO.

Again I am not a lawyer.

Larry

Editted reply for #15

[This message has been edited by LarryC (edited 10-01-2006).]

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
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Interview and application questions.... now, there's a touchy subject.

I suppose the first response to any question should be "does it matter?" If the answer cannot have direct bearing on the job, then the question doesn't belong.

In other words, what do you really want to know?

Let's take religion as an example. While the wire won't care if it's pulled by either the Pope, or an atheist.... it would matter if the guy's practices meant he needed to leave early on Friday. While that might not be a problem, it need to be discussed.

Arrest? Sorry, not relevant. Conviction- there's another thing altogether.

When you ask things relating to nationality, what are you really asking?
Are you asking if the person has the right to work here? The I-9 form answers that.
Are you asking whether you can communicate with them? Apart from the interview, tests exist, that you usually ask everyone to take.
Are yopu questioning their qualifications? Quite relevant.... not only do wiring practices vary greatly, but other countries have differing standards. Neither a Phillipine 'engineer' or a Russian 'doctor' are what you'ld expect here!

Look at things from another perspective: how would you react if your customers asked YOU the same questions?

Hiring is, and always will be, a crap shoot. None can see into another's heart, or tell the future. While the Union Hall can be counted upon to do some screening, it's not the cat's meow either.

Then again, lots of employers wouldn't survive their own job application process, either!

So, the best you can do is to keep your eye on the ball, limit your questions to those that are relevant. Maybe even include a skills test- say, run pipe from one box to another, with a few obstacles in the way.

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,064
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Larry, the military doesn't require you to be citizen of the US.

You're close, they are 7 yes's, and 13 no's.

But which ones?

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Broom Pusher and
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I'll bite [Linked Image]

***KEY***
"No" = Illegal to ask an Applicant;
"Yes" = Not Illegal to ask an Applicant.
(trying to remember the items per "Civil Rights Acts of 1964, Title VII; Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; and Americans With Disabilities Act "ADA" of 1991, Title I)

#1:
Q: "Of what country are you a citizen?"
A: No.
Reason: Discrimination per Nationality.

#2:
Q: "Are there any hours or regularly scheduled work days you are unwilling to work?"
A: Maybe No, Maybe Yes.
Reason for "No": Discrimination per Religion.
Reason for "Yes": Scheduling of Night and Weekend Work.

#3:
Q: "How old are you?"
A: No.
Reason: Discrimination per Age.

#4:
Q: "Please list or state your academic, vocational or professional education and schools attended?"
A: Yes.
Reason: May be additional benefits, or even requirements for the intended Position.

#5:
Q: "Have you ever changed your name, by court order or otherwise?"
A: No.
Reason: Name changes are Confidential.

#6:
Q: "If hired, can you provide proof of age? (for minors)"
A: Yes.
Reason: Child Labor Laws!!!

#7:
Q: "What religious denomination are you? or
Do you attend religious services?"
A: No.
Reason: Discrimination per Religion.

#8:
Q: "Are you able to perform the essential functions of the positions for which you are applying for?"
A: No.
Reason: Discrimination per Medical History (often violated!).

#9:
Q: "Are you pregnant, do you plan on becoming pregnant?"
A: No.
Reason: Status of Pregnancy information is irrelevant.

#10:
Q: "Are you a citizen of the United States?"
A: No.
Reason: Discrimination per Nationality. Information pertaining to Citizenship is disclosed on Form I-9 (IRS).

#11:
Q: "What is your native language?"
A: Yes.
Reason: Not Discrimination per Nationality question.

#12:
Q: "Have you ever worked for this company under a different name?"
A: No.
Reason: Name changes are Confidential.

#13:
Q: "What is your marital status?"
A: Not sure on this one, but "My Gut Feelings" say _No_.
Reason: Spousal information is irrelevant.

#14:
Q: "What languages can you read or speak fluently?"
A: Yes.
Reason: Bi-lingual Personnel are assets in many places.

#15:
Q: "Have you ever been arrested?"
A: No.
Reason: Irrelevant.

#16:
Q: "What is your height and weight?"
A: Yes.
Reason: Mainly is not a Discriminative question.

#17:
Q: "Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, when/what is the disposition?"
A: No.
Reason: Irrelevant.

#18:
Q: "Are your parents, spouse, or family, citizens of the United States?"
A: Sounds like "No", but may be "Yes"???.

#19:
Q: "In what country did you attend school?"
A: Yes.

#20:
Q: "What kind of work does your spouse do?"
A: No.
Reason: Spousal information is irrelevant.

It has been a while since I have done any interviewing for new Employees, but when I did the Interviews, the questions and topics discussed were directed towards the past work experience of the Candidate, and a small part towards Education and future goals.
All other information listed on Application went along the guidelines listed at the top part of this post.

I tended to keep off all Personal stuff of Candidates during Interviews - since this is of no relevance anyway. Only focused on what was relevant to the Company's well-being, which would be the Person's qualifications and where to place that Person, if accepted.
However, there were a few times when Candidates mentioned something of interest - like Trains, Music (instruments), Injunearring (Engineering), Corn-Puters (Computers), and such, which were openly discussed.

Kind of miss those days! [Linked Image]
Now I am "In The Other Seat!" being Interviewed, rather than doing the Interviewing.
Let me tell ya, I have been thrown way too many questions which are definite "No-No's", and so many "Borderlining No-No's"!!!
Even some of the Applications have No-No's imbedded!
Then there are some of the "Pre Qualification Electrician's Quizzes" which are very inadequate, or simply written very poorly, that I went and added so much "Examples and/or Exceptions" writing - in addition to my (possibly) already long-winded answer, that I either frightened off, confused, or just irritated the Interviewer; resulting in "Thank You For Your Time, We Will Contact You".

However, had 3 "Good" Leads, which had good Applications, Great Interviewers and a decent quiz!
These People have called back, and I am on the fence as to which one to choose from.

Scott35

edited spelling errors - which were not intended! [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by Scott35 (edited 10-02-2006).]


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 44
T
Member
I agree with Larry's responses. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents discrimination based on several categories. However, depending on the work and hazards involved, some of the questions could be asked. Others, however, such as marital status and religion, are never permitted to be asked.

Kevin


Kevin
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 717
M
Member
I have a question. It has been a number of years since I had to give any of this stuff a second glance and am not up on all of it anymore. Do any of the not allowed answers posted above have any exemptions for number of employee's? Meaning if you are a small employeer with say 5 employee's, then are you allowed to ask any of the questions above? (discounting local or state rules).

Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,064
D
Member
The way the questions are worded, the answers are:

1 no
2 y
3 n
4 y
5 n
6 y
7 n
8 y
9 n
10 n
11 n
12 y
13 n
14 n, unless it is a essential feature of the job, ie. language teacher, interperator.
15 n
16 n
17 y
18 n
19 n
20 n

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