employment (senior and otherwise)

[JaniceM]

I don't know about other countries, but in the U.S. there's quite a range of subjects/questions interviewers are, by law, not allowed to bring up to a person who's applying for a job.
My first question: What if they do it anyway? It seems to me if you refuse to answer, even politely, it almost guarantees you will not be hired.
It can be even more complicated if an interviewer points out something on an application or resume, and requests an explanation that falls into the 'questions that aren't allowed' category.

I'll provide details if anyone has input on this subject, but wanted to ask this question first.

 

[tnthomas]

There may be some variations from state to state, but generally interviewers will ask questions to determine your job related experience and qualifications.

If you require a security clearance, that is usually handled separately, submitting a completed questionnaire for examination.

I'm not sure what kinds of questions a person might choose to decline answering. They can't ask you about your sexual orientation, your religious preference or national origin.

Of course, if citizenship needs to be established, then national origin would be permissible to inquire about, I believe.

 

[JaniceM]

There may be some variations from state to state, but benerally interviewers will ask questions to determine your job related experience and qualifications.

If you require a security clearance, that is usually handled seperately, submitting a completed questionnaire for examination.

I'm not sure what kinds of questions a person might choose to decline answering. They can't ask you about your sexual orientation, your religious preference or national origin.

Of course, if citizenship needs to be established, then national origin would be permissible to inquire about, I believe.

I'm sorry, I didn't think to add this til after I logged off- the line of questioning wasn't relevant to the job or my qualifications.
While it might be o.k. for an employer to ask about gaps in employment history, it doesn't seem an employer's personal opinions should be relevant in whether or not the explanation is considered acceptable.
Not long ago I read an employer cannot legally ask women/mothers what they intend to do about childcare if they are hired, but my experiences go way beyond that. In this area, there's only one way to do anything- their way- and anything else is automatically 'wrong.' I was actually told the reason I was not hired was when my kids were young I took care of them myself, and didn't put them in daycare. And the 'gaps' were in the distant past, as my youngest was 13 yrs old and in middle school at the time- childcare had not been an issue for a very long time. With only slight variations in wording, I was told this at numerous interviews- that I was 'unemployable' by local standards because of 'incompatible lifestyles.' In other words, they disapproved of the fact that I took care of my own kids, and refused to hire me because of it. I'd guess it's flat-out illegal, but I have no idea how to get around the questioning if it were to happen again.

 

[terry123]

When I was hiring office workers I could usually tell from conversations a person's status where their children was concerned. They usually volunteered it in normal conversation without me asking anything. If I could tell a person had adequate child care help I would consider them. If I could tell they did not then I would consider someone else. I usually hired mainly settled older people as they were more stable. When checking references my magic question was "are they eligible for rehire" If not I did not consider them any further. This was a small town and I personally knew the other managers and we would talk freely among ourselves about people asking to work for us. If one of us considered someone not reliable or a bad apple we would not consider them as we knew each other so well.

 

[Butterfly]

Of course it has been a few years since I looked for a job -- I was at my last job for 15 years and have been retired for 4 years -- but I was never asked such a question. The big issue for me when I was younger was that I was a military wife, which meant that I very likely wouldn't be around for more than 3 or 4 years. But even with that, I always found a decent job -- it was a different world back then and there were always lots of jobs around.