With 2015 fast approaching, many companies are looking to add staff. That means hiring and hiring means interviews. Interviews can be a source of liability for employers because of the tendency to ask seemingly innocent questions that actually touch upon many protected classes under federal, state, and local law.
As a guide for employers, I offer a few Dos and Don’ts during the interview process.
Do This:
- Look for past experiences not hypothetical situations. You are almost certainly looking for some specific attributes when you hire for a position. Instead of asking the candidate how they would hypothetically handle a situation, ask them about a specific incident in their past where they had to use the attribute you value. For example, if you need a high level of customer service for your hire, ask the candidate to describe a situation in their past where they had to use their customer service skills and how the situation was handled. You may also want to ask the opposite question – when they experienced poor customer service – and what happened to create the bad experience.
- Ask open-ended questions. When you ask yes or no questions, you often get a yes or no answer. This doesn’t give you much information to evaluate a candidate. You want to ask questions that begin with, “Describe a time when …” or “What happened when you had to use those customer service skills?”
- You have two ears and one mouth. Use them in proportion. You should be listening in an interview much more than you speak. Your goal in an interview is to gather as much information from the candidate as possible so you can make an appropriate hiring decision. Not only to you need to determine whether the candidate has the skills do to the job, you also need to see if the interviewee is a good fit for the culture of your organization.
- Interview at least 3 people for each position. You need a good sample of candidates to properly evaluate your hire. Additionally, you have to guard against the primacy/recency phenomenon. You may fall in love with the first candidate or the last candidate you interview. Have some method to objectively measure the candidates.
- Meet with candidates at different locations. You would be surprised at how differently a candidate will behave in you the walls of your office and at a coffee shop or lunch at a local restaurant. Using a different location to do a follow up interview may give you more insight into the candidate’s personality and whether they are a good fit for you.
Not This:
- Don’t ask questions which lead to a protected class (Race, Sex (including pregnancy)/Sexual Orientation, Religion, Age, Marital or Family Status (children), National Origin, Disability (including weight)). Examples of many unwise questions are below.
- Don’t promise job security. Many employers feel so strongly about a candidate, they get carried away. “If you come work for me, you will have a job for life!” Unfortunately, statements like that may create an implied contract of employment. Texas is an at-will employment state. That means either the employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship for any reason except for those protected under federal, state, and local law (the protected classes). Statements like the one above can change the at-will relationship and make it much more difficult to terminate the candidate.
- Don’t use criminal backgrounds without relation of crime and job. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act has a number of restrictions on the use of criminal background checks in hiring. First, the criminal conviction must stand some relation to the job. Second, there are a number of reporting requirements if an employer uses a negative criminal background as a basis for denying employment. More on this subject in a separate blog entry.
Interview Questions You Should Not Ask
- What arrangements are you able to make for child care while you work?
- How old are your children?
- When did you graduate from high school?
- Are you a U.S. citizen?
- What does your wife do for a living?
- Where did you live while you were growing up?
- What clubs or organizations do you belong to?
- Have you ever filed a workers’ compensation claim?
- Will you need personal time for particular religious holidays?
- Are you comfortable working for a female boss?
- There is a large disparity between your age and that of the position’s coworkers. Is this a problem for you?
- How long do you plan to work until you retire?
- Have you experienced any serious illnesses in the past year?
- What disabilities do you have?
- What is your maiden name?
- Do you smoke?