As I've already told a number of people, I started this blog after reading one too many articles about all the things candidates were doing wrong in their job interviews. Nobody, it seemed, had anything to say about what companies were frequently doing to turn off their prospective employees, and after one too many negative experiences myself, I figured the time had come for someone to put some examples and notes together to (hopefully) level the playing field of gripes just a tiny bit.
Boy, was I ever dreaming.
A few weeks ago, I was at a happy hour with some former colleagues and one commented about how life was different when she started in the workforce a number of years ago. (How many she did not say, but out of respect for her privacy I'll mention neither her name nor her age, basically because I don't know her exact age but do know better than to ask...keep reading) Anyway, she mentioned how when she started that it was not atypical for a woman to be asked - point blank, mind you - "You don't plan to get pregnant and have children, do you?" during a job interview.
Granted, nowadays the closest a company can come to asking about parenting issues conflicting with job demands is to say, "Is there anything that would prevent you from being able to fulfill your duties in this job if it requires occasional overtime or extensive travel?" We all know that this is doublespeak for "Do you have kids?" but the law's the law as far as this kind of questioning is concerned, so such is life.
But not more than a few days later, I got a bomb dropped on me. I was at another networking group meeting, and one of the women - I'll call her "Ashley" - related that she was actually asked how old she was during a phone interview. The interviewer even prefaced the question with, "I know this is not legal, but I have to ask..."
Now, here's where I'm not sure which point of Ashley's story is the most interesting. One one hand, the question itself is so blatantly politically incorrect (to say nothing of illegal and discriminatory) that it boggles the mind. But here's some more fuel for the fire: The person who asked the question was the HR representative for the company. As if that were not enough, here's the final kicker: The person asking the question was herself another woman.
Granted, I may admittedly be as thick-headed from time to time as the next person, but I seem to remember being advised long ago that there were certain topics that were taboo in polite conversation, and asking a woman her age was pretty much toward the top of the list. (Although I suspect asking her about her weight would undoubtedly rank even higher...) What's most surprising about this story is it's difficult to determine which aspect is most puzzling - was it the fact that the questioner was herself female, that she was in HR, or that she asked such a blatantly improper question in the first place? It boggles the mind, if "boggle" can indeed be a verb.
On the other hand, ask anyone in the workforce (or who's trying desperately to re-enter it) and you'll probably find all sorts of slyly camouflaged questions that seek to skirt around (note word choice here) legal and sensitive issues. In that respect, learning to deal with the occasional impropriety (or illegality) to a large extent comes with the job market. But it does represent yet another "facepalm" moment if you're a candidate doing your very best to appear qualified and professional only to have something so directly inappropriate and irrelevant thrown directly in your face. ("For this I got all dressed up and prepared today???")
Then again, sometimes even stories as these have the occasional happier ending. For instance, Ashley advised us last week that she landed a new job and will start next week - with the same company whose representative asked her that inappropriate question...
No comments:
Post a Comment