You're sitting across the interview table from a prospective team member. The interview seems to be going well; all the responses have impressed you. You feel this candidate would be a great fit with the existing team structure. But your next question is this: "What's your ethnic background?"
Suddenly, the room's energy has dissipated; the smile from the candidate's face has gone.
In a more social setting, you might have gotten away with this question (just). However, during an interview, there are specific questions that you, as the interviewer, should avoid.
During a hiring process you must make sure that you are not breaching the Anti-Descrimination Act, the Equal Opportunity Act, or any other relevant legislation or regulation.
“As a leader, you have a responsibility to ensure everyone is treated fairly and given equal opportunity to demonstrate their suitability for the job. Asking the right questions will uncover powerful insights, but you also need to be mindful of not unintentionally asking inappropriate or unlawful questions.” Elizabeth Kingston, CEO of Kingston Human Capital says,
In this article, we will cover:
- 10 Illegal Questions You Cannot Ask an Interviewee
- How Can You Recover if You Ask an Illegal Question?
- How Can You Avoid Illegal Questions at Interview?
- When Is It Okay to Ask These Questions?
An interview is the opportunity to assess if a prospective candidate will become a team member. However, the following questions are illegal when asked in an interview as it does not help you assess the person's ability to fulfil a specific role.
Under the Equal Opportunity Act, a candidate doesn't need to share any information that can be discriminatory or cause unconscious bias.
10 Illegal Questions You Cannot Ask an Interviewee
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- How old are you?
- Are you married?
- Do you have or plan to have children soon?
- Where are you from?
- Is English your first language?
- Do you have health conditions? Do you have a disability?
- What are your religious beliefs?
- Have you ever made a worker's compensation claim?
- Do you drink or smoke?
- Are you a member of the union?
Read our ebook - Interview questions to avoid - to understand why you need to be mindful of asking such questions.
How Can You Recover if You Ask an Illegal Question?
After all, it is human to err. You might find yourself biting your tongue soon after you've asked an illegal interview question. If you've unintentionally done so, be quick to apologise and be genuine. It's also perfectly all right for the candidate to refuse to answer such a question. Having an effective interview plan and a strong technique will help ensure you don't ask any unlawful questions and veer the interview towards a positive outcome.
How Can You Avoid Illegal Questions at Interview?
A well-designed interview is essential to making informed, fair hiring decisions. It will also help you mitigate your risk of asking the wrong question at the interview. You can do this by designing appropriate questions that suit the role. An easy way to decide whether a question might be biased or discriminatory is to ask yourself:
- What do you need to know?
- Why are you asking the question?
- How can you best ask the question?
- Is this question relevant to performing the role?
When Is It Okay to Ask These Questions?
Like with all rules, there are exceptions. Suppose the role you're hiring for needs the candidate to undertake heavy-lifting. In that case, you're well within your rights to ask: "Does anything negatively affect your ability to perform heavy-lifting?"
In most interview cases, asking a person if English is their first language is discriminatory, except for when you're hiring for a language-specific role. The Fair Work Act allows for questions of such a nature so long as the purpose is non-discriminatory.
At Kingston Human Capital, we are committed to constantly evolving and improving our knowledge and processes. Our e-book — You can’t ask that: Interview questions to avoid, is a useful guide to help you design an interview process that is fair and gives everyone equal opportunity to demonstrate their suitability for the job.
