Job Interview Questions

When I finished school and started to find work, I remember getting very excited when called up for interviews. The excitement wasn’t much for the prospect of getting hired – I wasn’t at all worried about landing a job – but for the chance to talk to, see, and evaluate the interviewers themselves. The interviewers may think that the pressure during an interview is upon the interviewee, which I guess is true 99% of the time, but I thought that it was very interesting to observe the interviewers, as though they may not realize it, they reflect the organizations they work for. I am sorry to say that I was not at all impressed by some of the people who interviewed me. Thank God I’m back in school, so to speak.

Susan Thornberry wrote in TechRepublic the following list of interview questions that are illegal in the United States. I never thought that it is ever illegal to ask about one’s age! Many of the questions I think are commonly asked in Malaysia; and some are even seen in the IIUM job application form:

1. Where were you born?
   
2. What is your native language?
   
3. Are you married?
   
4. Do you have children?
   
5. Do you plan to get pregnant?
   
6. How old are you?
   
7. Do you observe Yom Kippur?
   
8. Are you in the National Guard?
   
9. Do you smoke or use alcohol?

They all can be used to discriminate against a job applicant. As ‘honorary’ practical training supervisor at the department, I see a lot of résumés and curriculum vitas of students. My idea of a résumé for a fresh graduate joining the job market for the first time should not be more than two pages long, but typically they are four to five pages long with way too much information than necessary.

I suppose we have little awareness about privacy rights and discrimination, or in this country they just don’t matter.