Interviews are one of the best ways for an employer to assess if a candidate has the ability to do the job and is likely to fit the company’s culture. Any interviewer should be aware that there are some questions that are off-limits, as they could be used to discriminate against the candidate. However, recent research from CV-Library has found that nearly three-quarters of professionals have been asked illegal or inappropriate questions.
When making conversation and establishing a rapport in an interview, it can be easy to stray into grey areas that seem harmless but are actually discriminatory and could leave the company open to litigation. So which questions are definitely illegal, which should you avoid to be on the safe side and what can you ask instead to get the information you need?
The Equality Act 2010 makes it illegal to discriminate against someone because of:
These are called protected characteristics and any interview questions that ask about or speculate on any of these areas are definitely illegal.
The only exception would be if the job justifiably requires a person to have a particular protected characteristic in order to perform the role, referred to as a genuine occupational qualification (GOQ). For example, a women’s refuge for victims of male abuse may want to employ only women as counsellors.
In many cases, simply by phrasing questions differently, you can find out the information you need to know (whether they are suitable for a role) without asking an interviewee to give you details you don’t need or want to know (information on their personal life).
It is only ever acceptable to ask a candidate about their age if you need to establish that they are over a minimum age required for the role.
You should not ask:
Instead, you could ask:
Unlike the other protected characteristics, disability is the only one you can use to positively discriminate, eg when a disabled person and a non-disabled person both meet the job requirements, you can treat the disabled person more favourably.
If a candidate has brought up their disability, you can ask questions around ‘reasonable adjustments’ that could be made to accommodate them.
Interviewers also need to be careful when asking questions related to illness. Asking a candidate to explain a gap in their CV, which may be due to long term sick leave, is acceptable, but you cannot ask directly about health conditions.
You should not ask:
But you can ask:
Asking about someone’s children is a common way to make conversation, but best avoided in an interview setting (unless they bring up the topic themselves). You cannot ask a candidate directly about their marital status, plans for a family, if they are pregnant or childcare arrangements.
You should not ask:
Instead, you can ask:
The only point in the recruitment process where you should ask about race is for anonymous equal opportunities monitoring. Otherwise, it should simply never come up at interview.
It can be easy to stray into dangerous areas, for example by asking about a candidate’s unusual surname, so interviewers do need to be careful.
You should not ask:
Instead, consider asking:
You may want to ask about religious belief in order to establish if there are likely to be any future scheduling conflicts around religious holidays, weekends or prayer time, but it is not acceptable to question a candidate about their religion.
Instead, you should explain the requirements of the job and the normal work pattern. If the candidate then brings up their religion to explain why they might be unable to meet those requirements, you may then go on to discuss any reasonable adjustments that you could make to accommodate them.
NB – the Equality Act specifies ‘lack of belief’ as equally protected
You should not ask:
But you could ask:
We tend to think of this area or discrimination as applying to women or gay or trans people, but you should be aware that male applicants can also experience discrimination. There should never be an assumption that a candidate’s gender or sexual preference could affect their ability to do the role.
Don’t ask:
Instead, you can ask:
You should not ask a candidate about previous criminal convictions. If the sentence has been spent, they are not required to disclose it. Any criminal records checks required for certain roles, eg working with children, should be covered by a DBS check and not at interview.
It is very common to ask about commuting times or where people live at interview, as a candidate with a very long commute might be reluctant to stay long-term. However, it’s best to avoid making assumptions about how far people are willing to commute, as this varies wildly. Plus, if a candidate lives in an area typically associated with a certain ethnic group or social class, it could lead to discrimination issues.
You cannot ask a candidate about their consumption of alcohol, whether they smoke or use recreational drugs, or about similar lifestyle choices. Your company can obviously set rules for the use of substances or for professional conduct at work, but what an employee does outside of work is not the company’s business.
You should not ask about political affiliations or memberships of unions or other organisations, unless they are directly relevant to the role in question. This includes membership of the Territorial Army, Special Constabulary, St John’s Ambulance or other volunteer organisations. These should only come up if they impact on a candidate’s ability to commit time to the role.
Questions about a candidate’s weight or height are not actually illegal but definitely best avoided unless there are minimum or maximum requirements for the job.
If you’d like some tailored advice on the best way to interview candidates for property jobs, Collins Property Recruitment can help. Contact us on 020 7435 0309 or info@cpr.jobs.
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