Worst questions you have been asked while interviewing

LeeR

I have been asked: Sexual preference, marital status, age, number of children, racial preferences some of these by corporate attorneys. I even had a prospective employer ask me if I beat my wife. This after he arrived at the interview telling me how great his wife was the night before. Couldn't get out of that one fast enough.

Margaret Morford

Fresh out of law school, the named partner in a law firm I was interviewing with asked if I would mind making the coffee each morning. I told him I didn't drink coffee, but would be glad to make it for everyone else. Three pots later, I was asked to quit making the coffee because it was so bad. Almost like I planned it!

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

ray a

Margaret, have you learned to make coffee yet?

I don't drink it either, but I do make it for our "breakfast meetings with the employees" and no one has complained yet.

Leslie

When I returned to work in January 1984 after the birth of my third son the previous May, I was asked about their ages, school arrangements, child care arrangements, and transportation arrangements. My how things have changed.

Margaret Morford

I'm afraid not! I'm a tea drinker, so I never can get the coffee right. Although I'm a good cook, my husband absolutely forbids me to make him coffee. Mine is apparently terrible no matter what I do!

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Parabeagle

Margaret, how is it possible to mess up coffee????

Zanne

I had just graduated with my paralegal certificate and communications degree and interviewed with a local law firm. First of all, the two attorneys made me walk up a flight of stairs in front of them and they giggled all the way like little boys. Then, they offered me the job, provided that I keep my (then) current part time pharmacy tech position with the hospital.

Seems that their bread and butter was malpractice suits.

I declined the job of being a mole.

Don D

No, Zanne. They were little boys who like quaaludes and amphetamines, but only so they could stay up and study all night long.

Hunter1

Why is it attorneys? I was on an interview panel once, interviewing attorneys, and the one attorney we had on our panel was taken aback when a female we were interviewing responded to his second discriminatory question with: "That's the second discriminatory question you've asked, and I decline to answer." She got the job; by that time, what could we do?? Actually she was the best candidate, and I, for one, admired her intestinal fortitude.

njjel

Our attorneys are the worst offenders of HR law! They may have graduated from law school but their degree isn't in HR! :-)

lorrie

I have to laugh at this. When I interviewed for this HR job I was asked (by the company president) marital status, how many children, where did I grow up, where do my parents live now, the marital status of my parents, various info. about my siblings, my husband's employer, about my in-laws, where was my husband raised, my age, height, weight, and oh yeah - my favorite color.

I could not tell if this was a test to see if I know the law, or just someone who truly likes to know his employees. It turns out to be the latter, and even though he has been told these questions could lead to trouble, he chooses to do things his way.

I never ask these questions in my interviews with candidates, and I have done my job by informing others (including the president) who interview candidates on the appropriate questions, and I'm comfortable that's all I can do.

I have the courage to change the things I can, and in this case I have enough serenity to accept what I cannot change.

cebudragonlady

After I graduated, went to an interview at a big firm . First thing interviewer ( male )says to me :"You graduated from the wrong school", second thing he says to me : "You are female, so there are two strikes against you." Interview for an accounting job was suddenly over.

If I only knew then what I know now !

Chari

psrcello

I ran into the same type of questioning when I interviewed for my current job a couple of years ago, with the president of our division. He'd retired from a larger division several years previous, but had come out of retirement.

A couple of his more memorable questions were, "This man you live with, are you married, unmarried, shacking up, what?", and "How much longer do you intend to work - you're a little long in the tooth, you know." (I was 49 at the time.)

After my interview over lunch with him, I had a short interview with the VP of HR, whose first question for me was, "I hate to ask this, but what kind of questions did he ask you?" He just shook his head when I told him - but I got the job anyway!

PS - The "Dinosaur" retired again the first of January - this time for good, we're told!

annie1992

I've been employed by the county for 25 years now. One of the Assistant Attorney's did the interview, and asked respectful and intelligent questions. The boss came in and was asked if he would like to ask me anything. He asked me two questions: "Are those real?" pointing to my chest and "Are you pregnant". I was so stunned I answered "yes" and "no". He left the room, came back and asked "Do you plan to get pregnant any time soon?" I just stared at him and he left. The Assistant hired me.

Annie

WOCO Frank

I've been asked if I've ever had sex with a co-worker (unknown to me at the time, the question was being asked by a man who was hiring someone to work at night with his granddaughter). I've also been asked why I was applying for a woman's job.