‘RUN’: Read the bizarre list of ‘pre-interview’ questions a Sydney workplace asked potential employees – with some bordering on discrimination
- Potentially illegal questions sent to job hopeful
- Questionnaire could be deemed discriminatory
- Questions related to unrelated personal information
An aspiring employee has blasted their potential new workplace after seeing the set of pre-interview questions they were required to fill out before going for the job.
The Sydney worker posted a screenshot of the questionnaire to Reddit on Tuesday, calling out the company for its odd questions which included asking if they were married, how many children they had and if they ‘needed to discuss the career move’ with a partner or family member.
The worker did not name the company but said it was a ‘well known recycling/waste management business’.
‘I am running [away] so far and so fast,’ the potential employee wrote.
According to the Human Rights Commission, the questions could land the company in hot water as asking for personal information that is not pertinent to a job’s listing can be seen as discrimination.
Pre-interview questions sent to a job hopeful (pictured) have come under fire as potentially illegal as they ask for unrelated personal information that could be deemed discriminatory
The questions start off as innocuous, asking for ‘specialisations from your working history’ and their computer literacy level.
However, their bizarre nature increased when the 18th question asked what the person’s ‘marital status’ was.
Questioning if a worker has other offers from companies can also be grounds for discrimination.
The company also asked, ‘Do you need to discuss your career move with your partner / family member / other before making a final decision?’.
The final question asked, ‘Number of children + ages?’
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, the questions could breach discrimination laws as the employer is seeking information that is potentially not important to the completion of their role.
‘It could be discrimination if employers do [ask these questions] and then rely on this information in deciding not to offer a candidate a job,’ the Australian Human Rights Commission website states.
‘Questions about irrelevant personal attributes are not [legal], for example, “Do you suffer from any mental health issues?”,’ principal of Jewell Hancock Employment Lawyers, Trent Hancock, told Seek.
‘It all comes back to what information they’re seeking and why.
‘The distinction lies in the motive behind the question being asked and the relevance of the information the interviewer is trying to obtain.’
The Australian Human Rights Commission states that employers asking questions not pertinent to the job’s completion, such as marital status, could be discriminatory (stock image)
Hundreds of commenters swarmed the post to have their say.
‘It’s awesome when a potential employer waves the red flags before the interview,’ one wrote.
‘Yea – you don’t have to answer those, but, dodgy as!’ another wrote.
The original poster confirmed they would be ‘reporting them, and will post updates if I get anything back’.
‘I might even sass back at them because the whole email made me feel slimy.’