MAR001

I may be stock in the subject, but;

A British guy interviewed me for a cool position; nice guy, good interview, great company but I'm still wondering why I still have to be in the position of responding or avoiding questions that can be considered as discriminatory.

I am quite keen on the position, but I have to add to the distress of the interview, how to deal with questions such as:

What is your age?
Are you married?
Do you have kids?
How are you dealing financially since you arrive in Australia?
What is your country of origin?

Honestly, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable with these kind questions from everybody (mostly from agents) and I do my best to avoid thinking that I can be under any kind of discrimination... I had the impression the other day that one agent (female) (very good agency) was flirting at me just with how far she went into personal questions...

I have read all the books and asked for advise, but considering how competitive is the job hunting here I rather being honest than to be taken as rude or uncooperative for avoiding questions that perhaps are normal to them.

I think that I may ask my next interviews over a pint..

chris955

I'm not sure I would consider those discriminatory questions to be honest. Are you embarrassed by your age, marital status or any kids you might have ? The one about how you are coping financially is a little personal but just answer 'fine'.

Tuxtrip

Personally, I do not see these questions as discriminatory. Most CV's have some of this information on them anyway and had you supplied one, she would likely not have had to ask you about your age and marital status. Only if they use if against you could they be seen to be discriminating.
They may want to know about any dependents because of their private health cover plan, or about your settlement situation because they have a financial support package available. There could be all kinds of reasons - if answering such questions bothers you, just ask them why they want this information.
As for flirting ... perhaps she was just being friendly.

pumpkin blossom

There is only one question there which I could see as being a problem, that being do you have children. That is far more if a problem question for a woman though as they might assume you will want to start a family and end up on maternity leave. I have heard employers talking this way about women after their interviews (depending on age). In the uk at least I was under the impression that they are not allowed to ask you about children. Here in oz most things are done very differently though....

Kelli28

I've had a few interviews a while ago and was asked similar questions, and down right ticks me off
Another one I got was ooh it's a very male dominated workplace, will you be ok with that?
The worst was from a British guy who had watched me drive into the car park from his office, when I met him he said " that's a nice car" I thanked him then he asked if it was mine!

Red_V_Roger

I've never had a problem asking people I interview if they have kids. Some of the work we do involves people working away a lot and its important that both the employer and the potential employee knows what the situation is, as it can put a huge pressure on family life.

Dorothy

Is it possible they're just being friendly? You're obviously a newcomer to the country, so perhaps they're trying to break the ice a bit by being friendly.

northernbird

As long as they asked those questions to all applicants both male and female then there is nothing discriminatory about them.

Bermudashorts

I think they are being friendly, maybe asking you some personal questions to make you relax. What is discriminatory about asking whether you are married with kids for example? It might make me wonder if you were a woman, but as you are not ... well as mentioed I expect they were just being friendly.

MAR001

Thank you all for your comments..

I would consider inappropriate (not saying discriminatory) any question that is not directly related to the job or the qualities needed to be done that may affect or alter the possibilities of moving forward or at the end getting the job or that can put you in disadvantage in comparison to other candidates.

I don't really care and most of the time I respond them in a really polite way with a smile in my face, it's just that they have become too frequent, making them now the norm and not the exception.

Brisneyland

I think there was a big thing a few years back about not having to put your age on a CV in the UK. So I took mine off and then realised that they can still work it out from the school and college dates and work history, so it's pretty pointless really. People are more friendly here but until you get used to it it can come across as a bit blunt.

PunkDebutante

My neighbour's husband is an employment lawyer and she said that she believes married and where were you born questions are actually illegal.

ukecadet

Many years ago in the the UK my wife applied to retrain as an RN.She was a 22 year old enrolled nurse at the time and married to me.At the interview she was informed by a woman on the panel that as she was married and would probably having children soon she wasn't worth training. When we moved to Aus my wife got her RN and we had our first born at the age of 34 and she's still working after 31 years in nursing.The UK missed out on a good nurse.Think we may have had a good discrimination case for that one now but back then you just had to suck it up.

Pollyana

I think it is, in that the interviewee doesn't HAVE to give the information, they can say its private. However that then looks uncooperative to the employer/interviewer. So a lot of interviewers I know will ask that kind of thing under the pretext of being friendly, rather than as direct questions - kind-of "put you at your ease" stuff at the start of the interview.
They aren't supposed to take it into account, but....they're human after all. I remember losing a job to someone at interview because (as I was told later off the record) "she is pregnant, currently on a temp contract, and needs a perm job to come back to once the baby is born"

MAR001

thanks Pollyana,

In an hypothetical situation, what would you (our anyone else) do in the case you think you did very well in an interview and your CV tick all the boxes and then you don't progress further perhaps as result of answering honestly one or more "inappropriate" questions (regardless the nature)..?