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Posted: 2000-03-08 06:28
I have a question about consistency in interviewing questions. According
to the EEOC, we should be giving each candidate the same interview. However,
are we at risk for suit if, rather than diagramming each question an
interviewer should ask, I supply a list of questions broken into different
topic areas and allow the interviewer to ask one question from each area? It is more of a "menu" approach that allows for personal style, but does it put the company on shaky ground with regard to consistency in interviewing?
Any info you can provide would be helpful!
nork1
Joined: Sep 13, 2001 Posts: 1734
Posted: 2000-03-08 12:31
I've never heard of an EEOC dictate that we have to ask each candidate the same questions! Given that no two candidates have the same background, this seems totally unworkable.
It sounds like something the EEOC would love to mandate. But I'd also put it in the same category as OSHA regulating employees working in the home! Is Big Brother here, 16 years late?
Tell me it ain't so!
As for diagramming questions and listing those that can be asked, I would offer that you would be better off if you simply listed what can't be asked.
lmanderson
Joined: Sep 13, 2001 Posts: 45
Posted: 2000-03-09 07:12
Leah, due to the very reason you gave and to eliminate as much possibility for hiring discrimination as we can, I always develop a set of questions to be used throughout the interview process, based on the particular job. You can then probe for more info. about the answers given or about an interviewee's
particular work background. Of course, the more open-ended questions you ask to get the applicant to share information, the more information you get to ask further about. I would not suggest a "menu" of questions myself; that makes equal and fair comparison more difficult.
We (interviewers) take notes during each interview, but never make notes on answers with personal information shared involving family, religion, national origin, etc.--you know, all the things applicants like to tell you, but you don't want to know for your own protection.
EpsteinBecker&Green,P.C.
Joined: Sep 13, 2001 Posts: 8461
Posted: 2000-03-09 11:22
I also am not aware of any EEO rule requiring the same questions to be asked at an interview. I could see a problem if the while male candidates were all asked questions about "how would you like to work here," and all other candidates were asked hard, muliple choice, technical questions. Other than screening questions (questions that, if answered "wrong," disqualify the candidate per se), I have never seen a case where an employer was sued based on the questions asked (without regard about whom was hired).
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Posted: 2000-03-08 06:28 
