Asking Personal Que in interview

[neema francis]

Hi All,

Recently I attended an interview in a financial Company in US. I answered all their techinical questions. I was interviewed by four people for half an hour individully. All of them have one question to ask. How many kids you have? How old are they? When I said I have one 11 month baby and another toddler, their face changed suddenly. This is not the first time I am facing these kind of personel questions.

No one ask these questions to men. But why they ask these questions I feel like they are saying to me indirectly" Hey you know what you are young and you have chances to get pregnant and so we dont need you and this field is for men'?

I would like to know anyone else faced these personel questions/

[Mark Herschberg]

I think those questions are illegal. It is definately illegal to ask about martial status, so I would imagine asking about kids is probably also covered. You may wish to report them to the Department of Labor.

--Mark

[Bo Yyempeti]

In UK, these questions would definitely be enough to drag the potential employers to the employment tribunal for discrimination.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Bhoooooo Yyempeti,

You have been around JavaRanch long enough to know that we have a policy on screen names, and you have been asked before to change yours. Basically, it must consist of a first name, a space, and a last name, and not be obviously fictitious. Since yours does not conform with it, please take a moment to change it now, which you can do right here.

[NJ Joshi]

Well in any Indian HR /interview you can expect such idiotic questions.
When i was looking job in India from US ,much asked question why you want to return back ?
first time i gave politely some answer ,after few min. same question came back .I asked India is my Home , and Do you need any reason to go home ?
He said whaaat whaaaat ... i hanged up .
no worries keep trying ..

[Abhijit Kumar]

I guess if somebody faces these kind of questions, keep the answers as short as possible and do not show any signs of unease. Also one can state that in no way the situation is going to affect the candidate's efficiency or will have impact on work.

AK

[Kj Reddy]

Originally posted by NJ Joshi:
Well in any Indian HR /interview you can expect such idiotic questions.
When i was looking job in India from US ,much asked question why you want to return back ?
first time i gave politely some answer ,after few min. same question came back .I asked India is my Home , and Do you need any reason to go home ?
He said whaaat whaaaat ... i hanged up .
no worries keep trying ..

If every one starts giving such strong answers then HR people(some times Technical Interviewers too) will stop asking such unrelated questions.

[Maureen Augustus]

Hi Neema!

That question is most certainly illegal, regardless of whether it is being asked of a man or a woman. Here's a site that may give you more information.

About.com Illegal Interview Questions

Best of luck with your job search!

[David O'Meara]

Agreed, this does not sound correct, particulary in the US (or here in Oz), but rather than taking word from strangers on the net, please query a free or government agency. It may not do anything for you but will prevent others being placed in the same position.

[Sandeep Awasthi]

One more link http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/CareerBytes/Hints1199.htm?cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=0b21a597b9fb4cd5b8d268dcd076dbfc-209802736-wt-2