Questions Not to Ask During Interviews
Some questions are illegal to ask during job interviews. Here is a checklist with the questions you should sidestep.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines, as well as federal and state laws, prohibit asking certain questions of a job applicant, either on the application form or during the interview. What questions should you sidestep? Basically, you can't ask about anything not directly related to the job, including:
Age or date of birth (if interviewing a teenager, you can ask if he or she is 16 years old)
Sex, race, creed, color, religion or national origin
Disabilities of any kind
Date and type of military discharge
Marital status
Maiden name (for female applicants)
If a person is a citizen; however, you can ask if he or she has the legal right to work in the United States
Other questions you should avoid include:
How many children do you have? How old are they? Who will care for them while you are at work?
Have you ever been treated by a psychologist or psychiatrist?
Have you ever been treated for drug addiction or alcoholism?
Have you ever been arrested? (You may, however, ask if the person has been convicted if it is accompanied by a statement saying that a conviction will not necessarily disqualify an applicant for employment.)
How many days were you sick last year?
Have you ever filed for worker's compensation? Have you ever been injured on the job?
Entrepreneur Editors' Picks
-
These Co-Founders Are Using 'Quiet Confidence' to Flip the Script on Cutthroat Startup Culture and Make Their Mark on a $46 Billion Industry
-
My 7-Year-Old Daughter Started Selling Eggs. Here's What She Taught Me About Running a Startup.
-
Why You Need to Become an Inclusive Leader (and How to Do It)
-
Career Transitions You Can Make in Your 40s and 50s
-
Billionaire Naveen Jain Is an Expert at Disrupting Fields He Has No Experience In. His Secret Sauce for Building Multi-Million Dollar Companies? 'You Have to Come as Naive.'
-
4 Principles to Develop Next-Level Leadership at Your Company
-
This Filipino American Founder Is Disrupting the Beverage Aisle by Introducing New Flavors to the Crowded Bubbly Water Market