Masonry Magazine June 1997 Page. 19
Interview Questions
If you ask personal questions that are not job specific and you do not hire that applicant, you can open yourself up to a possible discrimination lawsuit.
There are two basic guidelines to follow in deciding the legality of an interview question.
1) All questions must be job related. If necessary, the interviewer must be prepared to prove that all questions are related to a specific job.
2) The same basic questions must be asked of all applicants for a position. In other words, there can't be a series of questions for females and a different set of questions for males.
Using the above mentioned guidelines, please try to determine what would be considered lawful if asked in an interview. The answers are found at the end of the article.
1 Are you a citizen of the United States?
2 Have you ever been arrested?
3 Do you have any physical disabilities?
4 Have you ever been fired from a previous job?
5 What work experience have you had that you feel prepared you for this job?
6 Are you married, divorced or single?
7 What personal qualities do you have that you think would be helpful in working with the people within our organization?
8 What kinds of people do you enjoy working with the most?
9 Can you read or write a foreign language?
10 What religious holidays do you observe?
11 Do you have any children? How will your child care be handled?
Closing Phase
Closing the interview is as important as opening one. It is important to give a quick summary of the information exchanged and to review what the next steps would be and when an applicant can expect that you will make a decision. This is also the point in the interview when the applicant should ask questions about any other matters that have not already been covered, or perhaps clarify information shared previously. It is also the time to sell the benefits of working for you and your company. You want the applicant to have enough information about you and your company to be able to accept your position if offered.
It is a professional courtesy to send all applicants a final response. (Commonly called a rejection letter.) If you were impressed with a candidate, but the fit wasn't quite right, tell them this and indicate that you will keep their name on file. As an employer, you never can tell when your personnel situation will change. If you keep records of people you were impressed with it can reduce the amount of time you may have to look when filling your next job opening.
Making the Decision
Pay attention to whether or not the applicant is asking questions and what kinds of questions they are. The type of questions an applicant asks can give you an idea of how much he or she knew about the company before the interview (they should have a basic knowledge of what your company does) and the requirements of the job they are applying for. Keep notes on each candidate so you will have a record to go back to when you are making the hiring decision.
DO NOT just "go with your gut". If you have a good feeling about someone, conduct a complete interview with every applicant anyway. It is important to give yourself time to digest all of the information you have been receiving. It is also important to have several candidates for a job because your first choice may decline the offer. A practice that is occurring more frequently is having more than one person in an organization interview an applicant. It is often very helpful to have the individuals who will be working with the new hire involved in the interview process. Multiple interviews take more time to complete but you have more people able to provide feedback about candidates.
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