Job Hunt Fun

[Rift]

I too have gotten the questions of...are you married and do you have kids? I told them the truth and said no to both questions. After the interview I thought to myself why in the world would they ask that?

I came to the following conclusions:

1. Being married and having kids may be a positive b/c they may think that you really really need the job b/c you have mouths to feed and that you will stay at the job longer and work harder.

2. Being single could be a positive b/c you don't have any other obligations to worry about. You can dedicate your time to the job and work a lot of overtime if needed. Also, you just will not have as many distractions as someone who is married with kids.

3. Or it could be for other reasons that I can't really think of currently.

So, really it could go either way. Not sure which it would be in most interview situations though.

All I know is that I did not like being asked these questions. I felt like I was being discriminated against or judged. Just an overall negative vibe from the places that ask these type of questions.

[mash potato]

Originally Posted by Rift

I too have gotten the questions of...are you married and do you have kids?

And if you say, "I'm sorry, but in case you didn't know, it's illegal to ask that", you probably won't get the job. It would be good to somehow deflect the question with something like, "if I did have a wife and kids, could they stop by for lunch?" What are they going to do, repeat the original question? If they do, another deflection is in order! Like "if I was married, would you consider hiring my spouse?"