How to Tap Dance Around Illegal Interview Questions

You've submitted a stellar résumé and shined in your phone screen interview. You've prepared stories and crafted questions that will demonstrate your skills and accomplishments when you meet the hiring manager face to face. You know in your heart that, if given the opportunity, you have the ability to succeed at the job you'll discuss. You're set to knock the ball out of the park.

At the same time, you might be a woman, 40 years old or older, a person of color or have an obvious disability. Perhaps you have a distinct foreign accent, or your name is uncommon and difficult to pronounce. Maybe you display an affect that is often associated with a particular sexual orientation.

And then it happens. You are in the midst of the job interview, and as the conversation progresses the hiring authority poses a question like one of these:

• When do you plan on starting a family?
• In what country were you born?
• Are you gay?
• What is your religion?
• Do you have a neurological or degenerative disease that caused you to limp into this room?
• How many years will it be before you qualify for social security?

You will likely assume that these questions reflect employment bias, however they might instead arise because the interviewer is inexperienced and isn't familiar with what can and can't be discussed. Whatever the case might be, each of these questions touches on a legally protected class and has no place in a job interview.

How do you respond?

If you directly challenge the interviewer you may win the point but lose the job opportunity. Doing so is likely to make the interviewer view you as combative – a trait that, in and of itself, can disqualify a job seeker.

Larry Bodine, editor-in-chief of Lawyers.com, offers two alternative approaches to deal with the situation:

Respond with a question of your own. "That's an interesting question. I've never been asked that in a job interview. Can you tell me why you asked?" Or, put it this way: "I'm happy to answer that question. But can you help me understand how that relates to the job?"

It is fair for an employer to ask a question that relates to a candidate's ability to accomplish the work intrinsic to any specific job. These questions give the interviewer the ability to justify the question – if at all possible. And, if not, they can give the interviewer a necessary but friendly prod to get back on solid ground.

Answer the concern behind the question. The hiring manager might ask the illegal question: "Do you have kids?" Rather than challenge the question itself, you might determine the issue behind it. For example, this instance might be rooted in the company's experience of high employee absenteeism due to child care issues. Bodine suggests you respond by saying simply: "There is nothing in my family life that will get in the way of doing the job."

Regardless if you take one or the other of Bodine's suggested responses, or go a different route, it is important to take control of the situation. You should try to keep the focus on the job, the company, your abilities, your accomplishments and how you represent a strong fit. And once your interview has concluded, you will be able to consider another response.

Evaluate the situation and what is in your best interest. Ask yourself if you believe the offending question was the product of real bias, or an unintentional misstep on the part of an inexperienced interviewer. If it is the former, is this really the kind of company at which you want to spend 40 hours every week? Is it a job you still want to pursue, or do you want to just move on to the next opportunity? Is the offense sufficiently clear cut and egregious so as to merit a formal complaint?

As a job hunter, you should take the time to educate yourself about what kinds of discrimination are prohibited by law. Sometimes, there are things you think ought to be illegal, but they are not. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces the laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on: age (for workers older than 40), disability, genetic information, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, race and religion.

For information about current federal laws and regulations regardingworkplace discrimination, visit the EEOC's site: http://www.eeoc.gov/employees/. For specific information about your particular situation, consult an attorney who specializes in employment law.

Unfortunately, we can't legislate away boorishness and all forms of prejudice. But there are effective ways to respond to it when it occurs. By responding intelligently, you maintain your own dignity and maximize the possibility of getting the job of your dreams.

Happy hunting!

The 4 Keys to a Great Interview

"Good interviews are rare and they really stand out!" said Sue Dahling Sullivan, chief of staff for the Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, during a recent gathering of the Career Counselors' Consortium Northeast. Over the years, Sullivan has conducted many hundreds of interviews for a wide variety of positions in both the profit and non-profit sectors. Here are four of her crucial tips for job hunters seeking interview success:

1. Know the cast of characters. Make certain when you're invited for a job interview to ask who you will be meeting, their roles within the organization, and your schedule. Diligently prepare by researching each individual. Check out their LinkedIn profiles, search for them on Google News, and do a general Google search.

With this knowledge, figure out their interest in the position for which you're interviewing, and what concerns they likely need to address in the interview. Be prepared to discuss how you have worked with people in similar roles, and to demonstrate how your actions reveal your understanding of their needs.

2. Be thoughtful. Take the interview discussion beyond the content of your resume and the company's job description. Listen carefully to pick up subtle cues that your interviewers impart, and take the initiative to thoughtfully address them.

Know your own story so well that you can bring up examples of times when you have done what it takes to address the particular concerns that you are receiving. Don't just say that you can do the job, but rather tell how specifically you would use your knowledge/experience to make a difference in this new environment.

3. Be passionate. Sometimes you'll interview for a job because you're passionate about the specific work you would do. Alternatively, you might be passionate about the overall cause or mission of the organization or company you seek to join. Either way, it is important to display an emotional connection to whatever it is that this job represents to you. Why do you see this as a job or employer-of-choice for you, more than just a paycheck? When you do this, you show your interviewer that you're a fit that truly makes sense based on "who you are" as a person.

At the same time, however, it is important to show passion about what it is that you're offering to the employer. Show your passion for bringing great value to your new job. You talk about the enthusiasm that drove you to this particular career in the first place, your delight with a particular success or accomplishment you achieved, or how you will be someone who does more than simply kill time. Show your passion to make a difference for your employer.

4. Dress for success. You've heard this advice over and over again. Still, Sullivan laments, job seekers fail to present themselves appropriately. These days, there is no one "right way" to dress for an interview. It is a matter of context. Demonstrate your knowledge of the kind of place to which you're applying by the way you present yourself.

If you're interviewing for a high-powered Wall Street position, you will be laughed out of the room if you show up in business casual, no matter how well you might perform the job. If you're applying for a software engineering role at a company like Google, you aren't likely to get far if you show up in a grey pinstripe suit. And if you're applying for an executive role in a prestigious non-profit arts organization, you should accessorize that pinstripe suit with something that demonstrates your personal "artsy" flair.

A job interview is more than sitting down to cross-index a company's requirements with your capacities. It is about showing that you can not only do the work essential to a job, but that you also intuitively fit into the organization's culture and have a genuine commitment to furthering its success. When you do this, you take a large step in insuring your own success as well.

Happy hunting!

5 Toughest Interview Questions And How To Answer Them

When it comes to your job interview, "hope for the best and prepare for the worst" is the best possible mantra. Walking into your interview feeling positive and well-rehearsed is a surefire way to knock the interview out of the park. But preparation can be daunting. You have no idea what sort of interview style this hiring manager will prefer --behavioral? Situational? A mix? 

Rehearsing your answers to the most common job interview questions is a given. But another great way to make sure you cover as many bases as possible is to practice answering the questions that make many of your peers and competition stumble. Here, straight from hiring managers, are five tough interview questions that frequently trip up job candidates:


1. 'How long are you willing to fail at this job before you succeed?'
This is one of the favorite tough questions of Jon Sterling, co-founder of Interview Circuit. It's tricky because "I don't have an answer in mind when I ask it," he says, "and I use it to see how the candidate reacts."

A variety of answers would be acceptable in this scenario. "A good answer would be, 'I'm willing to stick with this job for as long as it takes to succeed,'" Sterling says. This shows endurance and that you're in it for the long-haul.

Alternatively, you could say that you plan to fail as quickly as possible so that you can learn from your mistakes and move on. "That answer would indicate that they're impatient, aggressive, and not afraid to fail (which are things I like)," Sterling says.

Bad answer: "A few months, or I don't know ... what do you think?"

2. 'What are you most proud of in your career?'
Kimberly Bishop, a retained executive recruiter, often gets blank stares when she asks candidates this question. "'I don't know ... that's a good question!' is often the answer," she says. Rookie mistake.

There should be no pause or confusion -- whatsoever.

The best way to answer this question is to tell them one significant accomplishment and explain why you are proud of it. In other words, how did your proud moment impact the bottom line, overcome a hurdle or knock out a personal goal?


3. 'What skills are you lacking?'
How you explain your biggest weakness is one of the most telling interview questions of all. "Interviewees show up thinking they should just be talking about what they're great at, but I'm more interested in where the gaps are and if they are self-critical," says Mel Carson of Delightful Communications, a social media consultancy company.

To answer this, LinkedIn's Career Expert Nicole Williams recommends that you should never draw negative attention to yourself by stating a weakness that would lead an employer to think you're not the best person for the job. An honest but positive answer would be something like "I have a tendency to say yes and get over-committed," Williams suggests. "Then follow that with an example of how you are working on prioritizing and setting personal limits."

4. 'Which past manager has liked you the least, and what would this person tell me about you?'
Here's a doozy of a question that tests not only your self-awareness but also demands that you talk about your weaknesses from the perspective of others. "A good way to approach this one is to be positive about your past relationships at work, be honest about your shortcomings, and be candid about what you have learned," says Allison VanNest, head of communications at Grammarly, a software suite service for perfecting written English.

Be careful not to cross the line into self-deprecation -- or worse -- pointing fingers at how annoying your old boss was. Positivity is golden here.


5. 'Tell me what you felt was unfair to you in your last job.'
"If they say nothing, they are lying," says Don Phin, president of HR That Works, a human resources management and consulting agency. "And you don't hire liars." According to Phin, the fact is that things are guaranteed to feel unfair at some point -- it's all too common -- and he wants to know how you deal with it before he hires you.

This is another question that aims to uncover some of your weaknesses. Where will you shift the blame? Once again, the best way to approach this is honestly, but positively. (See a pattern here?) Tell your interviewer about an unfair circumstance (without dwelling). Shift the conversation toward the proactive steps you took to rectify the situation, like speaking up and confronting someone, reporting it to HR, or forgiving, letting go and moving on for something minor