The interview is a critical part of the hiring process. It helps you more fully understand a candidate’s abilities, interpersonal skills, and the likelihood that they will thrive within your organization. From work history to future goals, there’s are seemingly endless lists of important questions to ask your interviewees.
But there’s another list of questions you need to be aware of: the questions you should never, ever ask during an interview. From giving candidates the ick to legal trouble, let’s take a look at the top 10 types of questions you should never ask during a job interview:
1. “When did you graduate?”
Asking specific questions about when a candidate graduated high school or college could be perceived as you indirectly calculating their age. As a result, questions like this are discouraged as they can discriminate against an applicant’s age, which is protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act in the US.
This law is specifically designed to create protections for individuals over the age of 40, but in general, avoid any questions surrounding age, unless there are legal requirements that must be met.
For example, if teenagers are applying for the role, you need to know how old they are to provide the mandatory breaks in their schedule. Or, if you are hiring servers, you need to know if they are over 21 to legally able to provide alcohol to customers. If you do need to ask these clarifying questions, do so carefully, requiring only “yes” or “no” answers.
“Are you over 18 years old?” gets the green light in these scenarios. The more direct “How old are you?” does not.
2. “How is your health?”
It is illegal to ask a candidate about their health history, disabilities, or medical conditions. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) created protections against discrimination of qualified individuals with disabilities.
You are allowed to ask if a person is able to perform the essential functions of the job, as long as the questions are directly related to the role.
For example, it is reasonable to ask if a person interviewing for a stocking position can lift up to 40 pounds multiple times a day, as it is a regular occurrence on the job. It would not be reasonable to ask the same question of someone interviewing for a data analyst role.
3. “Where were you born?”
What seems like a casual conversation starter is a total no-go during a job interview. Asking an applicant where they are from (or where their family is from) would be classified as potential discrimination against their nationality, which is protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
While you cannot ask a candidate for their citizenship, you are allowed to ask if they are authorized to work in the US, as that is relevant to their capacity to accept the position.
4. “What is your maiden name?”
Asking questions (even indirectly) about an applicant’s marital status are off-limits. Many US states have laws against discrimination based on marital status, so it’s best to avoid the topic. Whether a person is married has no bearing on their ability to perform on the job, and by not inquiring about it, you help prevent gender discrimination.
5. “What church do you attend?”
A person’s religious background is not relevant to the work they are able to perform. As such, all questions regarding a person’s faith are seen as non-job-related, making these types of questions illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
6. “Are you dating anyone?”
This question is a sure-fire way to give candidates the ick and land yourself in hot legal water. While a person’s dating illegibility isn’t specifically a protected class, questions like this tap into sexual orientation, which is protected in many states.
Avoid asking any questions related to a candidate’s relationship status. Not only does it protect you from legal scrutiny, it also gives you more time to focus on things that are relevant to the job.
7. “Do you have any children? Are you planning to?”
Asking candidates about their home life or family plans are prohibited, as these types of questions have been used to discriminate against women and parents on the basis of sex, family responsibility, and a perceived “lack of commitment” to their jobs.
It is always inappropriate to ask someone if they are pregnant or planning to become pregnant during a job interview, as pregnant and postpartum workers and applicants are protected by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2023.
8. “Are you biracial?”
Trying to determine a candidate’s race or ethnicity is never acceptable during an interview (or any time thereafter!). A person’s color, creed, or racial background is irrelevant to their ability to perform the responsibilities of the role. Racial discrimination at work is protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Asking questions like this – even if it’s done so out of “harmless” curiosity – can be perceived as discriminatory, and the EEOC would back the candidate up.
9. “Have you ever been arrested?”
We get it – you want to make sure that you’re hiring an upstanding, trustworthy person. However, asking a candidate about their arrest record is frowned upon (with some exceptions, like law enforcement agencies or security-sensitive roles) as arrests disproportionately impact people of color and the poor.
Additionally, arrests are not convictions, so rejecting candidates on their arrest record alone can be considered discriminatory and remove qualified candidates from your hiring pool.
10. “Do you have any family history of disorders or disease?”
A candidate’s genetic background is considered protected under Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. Depending on the question, asking about genetic background could open the door to discrimination based on disabilities, health status, race, or gender identity, and should therefore be avoided all together.
How do I know what questions I can ask as an interviewer?
While they cover a variety of topics, these 10 questions all have one thing in common: none of these questions are relevant to the role or a person’s ability to perform the job.
Even though it feels like a lot of restrictions around what can and cannot be asked, job-relevant questions get the green light, and the number of informative, valuable, and insightful questions you can ask a candidate are practically endless.
On top of that, these protections exist for a reason. Laws are not often made preventatively, but reactively. The employment protections provided by the Civil Rights Act, the ADA, GINA, PWRA, and more were hard-fought after years discrimination that unfairly kept worthy people out of work they would have excelled at.
As a rule of thumb, avoid asking about citizenship, age, sex, gender, race, color, religion, marital status, family life, or health conditions, and you’ll steer clear of an inquiry from the EEOC and their 95% litigation win-rate.
If you’re trying to create an effective interview process, the basis of that success is found in the questions you choose to ask. Research has shown that structured interviews – where every candidate is asked the same job relevant questions in the same order – are the single best predictor of future job performance.
