you know you failed the interview when

[scorps]

confronted with a comment from the Director stating that " my only concern is that you mentioned partner, are you not married? because what would happen if i employed you then you split up, would you move back down south!"

my response "well on that basis you shouldnt employ me in case i get run over by a bus tomorrow but out of interest have any of your employees here ever divorced?"


it did cross my mind that maybe he thought i was a lesbian because i have short hair and ride a motorcycle, i was also asked if i would ride my motorcycle to work at all!!!!!!!
____________________
Do not presume that I am male.

[.....]

When I was 16 I went for a Saturday job in WH Smiths. When asked about my bad points I stared blankly out of the window for a minute or so before replying with the much too honest gem "I don't like old people".

Coat.

[Itchy]

Bah just lie through your teeth,

in response to that , oh no I'm buying a house, this is a magic word,

buying a house ,

since employers LOVE indentured employees , when you have £1000 coming out the bank every month these employees will put up with tons of crap, I've seen it plenty of times , colleagues get talked at like they are children,

usually they pay off the mortgage they are off.....

This is the flip side of renting, you may not get the capital value of the house afterwards but you are alot more flexible then before and don't have such threats hanging over your head. (Sure you have to pay rent but I have a habit of living in utter dives where rent is often less than £300 PCM or share a house which is even less).
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[scorps]

i was thinking along the lines that he had no right whatsoever to ask me that question, a less laid back person could get him in hot water for that
____________________
Do not presume that I am male.

[Major_Grooves]

He's not allowed to ask you that. If you don't get offered the job, you could probably challenge him legally.
____________________
About me|@Major_Grooves|My company|Digg|Flickr

[scorps]

that the fact i used to be a recruitment consultant which is clearly stated on my CV meant that he may have at some point realised i knew exactly what he could and couldnt ask me, i can laugh about it now but im almost hoping i get offered the job so i can tell them i do not wish to work for such blinkered and narrow minded people.
____________________
Do not presume that I am male.

[Phoenix]

[craigie b]

To be honest, I feel its a perfectly legit question, depending on the role and how hard it would be to replace you once you have been trained in your role. This is especially true in roles that offer large salaries as the persons role may be vital to the co's progression and the bosses just want to make sure they have someone who is going to be reliable under many different circumstances.

The sensible answer would have been 'Well I am well settled here in XXXX and all my friends etc live here so that scenario would be off no concern to you as I consider this to be home'. That would have probably satisfied him and what he was wanting to hear.

If it was a job at Maccie D's fliping burgers then the correct response would be "go fuck yourself ya fucking tosser".

Just my opinion.

[DEN MONKEY]

Yeah not 100% sure he can't ask the question but you're definitely well within your rights to not answer it if you choose not to.
____________________
meh

[Dragonfly]

[Annabella]

[map]

There was a piece on Radio 5 the other morning that employers are reluctant to take on women because they might have kids and the current / future laws on this are a minefield and cost the company money.

It went on to say that if you are turned down for a job because of this (or suspect you have been) then you can take it to a tribunal. It did say that these are deliberately biased towards the (potential) employee as they don't have as much money as any company to spend on these hearings.

Also if you don't get offered the job employers must give you the reason(s) why.

So, depending on if you get offered the job or not there's something you can do.

An old article on sex discrimination is here.


HTH
____________________
...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[scorps]

to be fair, in response to craig, there are definate lines of questioning that prospective employees are not allowed to ask, this was one of them. also asking a woman if she plans on having children falls into that bracket.

There were other questions i was asked like do you have a family, while i understand the logical reasoning behind asking these questions, its still a no go area and is now a legal form of discrimination.
like i stated earlier, I was more angry that he was implying that living together was more risky than being married, he could see from my CV that my work history is good and the jobs ive been in have lasted years rather than months, this is a good position which i would expect to pay well, however he was interviewing me on the basis that i was capable of doing the job and was looking for a permanant position.
I wouldnt dream of going down a legal route because quite frankly it then becomes silly and it was only an interview, my impression on ending the interview was that possibly they would not offer the kind of environment i would like to work in.
I dont agree with a lot of the new rules which tend to have the employers hands tied behind their back because they are scared to get lumbered with an irate person who is weilding the discrimination sword. I was just taken aback at the time, he didnt give me a response to my query on the number of divorced people they employ either
____________________
Do not presume that I am male.

[pa_broon74]

I'd agree, not an appropriate question to ask.

They obviously have to ask questions about your ability and suitability to do the job, the line is crossed if they infer that there is something about you naturally that means you might not be suitable.

In this case, you're a female, a condition with which you were born. Now, if you had applied for a job as a high paid radio anouncer or the new voice of Big Brother (yee gads) but you said that in your spare time you were a sword swallower; it would be fair to ask if you were going to pursue that as a hobby.

I hate it when they ask: "What are your ambitions in life?" I have in the past been tempted to say; "Nothing that involves you or this organisation." I was asked this in an interview for a temporary charity shop manager, bit of a stupid question really for a temp job.

That is all.
____________________
Didn't catch anything.

[craigie b]

I still don't think its a bad question. I'm Scottish and been asked questions along that type of lines, whilst living in England.

People split up all the time, and if your not from that area, quite often the relationship is the only hold you have in that area. More over, believe it or not, the idea of marriage still rings ideas of stability in some peoples minds.

For all you know the guys last employee might have left for that exact reason.

Obviously you didn't feel it was an issue but instead of saying that you took offence and acted confrontational. I would imagine the later would have made him think twice about employment.

And I fail to see how its is a sexist question.

[craigie b]

Cue the flaming.

[scorps]

i can see your point but without going into what was discussed during the interview prior to that comment , i cant give the whole picture, I didnt say he was being sexist either, he may ask men the same kind of question as far as i know, and whether he feels marriage is more real than livng in sin is his business, i dont think i was confrontational, either i just responded to a question but it still stands that he shouldnt have asked , in the same way you shouldnt be asked personal questions wherever you are living,

maybe when i go for me next interview I should start with no im not married, no i dont have any children, no i dont want any children no i do not intend moving away from the area etc well at least it will get the questions they want to ask me but cant querys out the way
____________________
Do not presume that I am male.

[Skudd]

When I worked for one company we were to open a new store. We did over a thousand interviews and a few stuck out in my mind. One was a lady who had only one lung. She had had teminal cancer but had been able to overcome all the odds. she did a very good interview and at the end I asked her in what ways did the missing lung affect her. She looked a bit awkwardly at me but then I realsied that she may have taken the question in the wrong way, so i explained that it was so that we could help her more in the roles that we had and also out of genuin interest as we had not come across such a thing. She was very honest with her replies and it did give me some insight to her needs as well as the things she was able to do. She was sucessful as it was for a checkout operaters role. She later asked me why I'd asked her the question and my answere was that we thought her so good for thye job we were willing to bend over backwards to get her to work for us.

We had another candidate who was a male about 21 years of age who was so bniggoted against women ( I had a fellow manager with me while doing the interview who was female) that i was ready to smack him as he thought women should not be employed in high role jobs because of PMT. all the time he was being interviewd he looked at my coleagues breasts and legs to the point he slid down his chair trying to look up her skirt. he also thought theft from his work place was ok as long as he thought it was for a good cause.

Another guy was just honest enough to say at the begining of his interview that he just wanted a job. Didn't matter what he did as long as it paid him a wage. He was one of the hardest grafters I have ever met.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[scorps]

funniest interview i ever held was a young man with 3 kids, came in for an interview for a labouring position as it had been requested through the job centre who were trying to find positions for long term benefit claimants.
he sprawled in his chair gazing around the place and when i asked him if he was prepared to work shifts he looked me straight in the eye and said" look lady im only ere cos ive gorra be innit, dole will stop me money if i aint looking for work, all you need to do is tell em i come in for the bleedin interview and they will keep on paying me yeah"
needless to say when i was contacted by the department, i said yes he came for an interview but has no intention of working whatsoever, i can only presume he was able to keep on claiming after that becasue of the children but it made my blood boil.
____________________
Do not presume that I am male.

[D O G]

Scorps - you should have given him the job and made his life hell!

Back to the thread...IMO employers should be allowed to ask anything they want, it is their cash they are laying on the line when they employ anyone. All this bullshit about discrimination is just that - bullshit. It is a selective process - inherently discriminatory. If I interview someone who is a fucking idiot, I don't give them a job - effectively discriminating based on intelligence. If I, for example have two candidates who are pretty evenly matched, but one is a single guy, and the other is a newly married woman, I would go for the bloke - much more of a safe deal. I should be entitled to ask that woman if she plans on having kids. She at least would then get the chance to tell me that there are no plans in the near future, which may sway the decision in her favour. Of course, should she fall pregnant soon after I employed her then I would be well within my rights to sue her bulging ass.

[Shay HTFC]

[Skudd]

[AJI]

[Itchy]

[Itchy]