Interviewer asks, "Are you married?" (employees, job interview, teenager)

[bluebelt1234]

I seem to have interviewers ask me this question. It seems like they always want to know if I am married and if I have children. What the heck does that have to do with my ability to do the job effectively? Is this even an appropriate question? This has happened to me twice now, since I moved back to Indiana. I do live in a town where it is popular for girls to start having kids at 16 or 17 and most of the people my age in this town already have teenagers and quite a few have teens who are driving.
I am only 30.

[LadyR1990]

I always thought this was an illegal question.

However, (I am assuming you are female, if not I am sorry sir) they ask it because people with children tend to need more days off for the child, picking them up from school if they are sick, leaving early for a play/science fair, ect ect.

Married, I guess if they are relocating you it would cost more? Not sure.

[SloRoller]

I don't know what city you're in, but I recommend checking State Law. In California questions like that are illegal.

[Alaskan Mutt]

I can think of several reasons why an interviewer might ask if you are married or have children. Employers know that people with family commitments are less likely to work overtime. Perhaps the job requires working rotating shifts and weekends. When interviewing for a position, at times people tend to offer more info than they should. How you answer what appears to be a very simple question may raise several red flags.

[nimchimpsky]

That's always an awkward question, particularly if it's not a straightforward "yes" or "no", for example, if you're in a relationship but not married, gay, divorced, etc.

If they want to know if you have outside commitments, why don't they just ask? You could be single but have an ill parent you have to care for or you could be married but your spouse travels 300 days out of the year. They should just get directly to the bottom of the matter.

[JobZombie]

It could be their roundabout way of determining based on your marital status whether you are “settled down and stable”, a more desirable worker, versus a single “footloose and fancy free” perhaps less desirable, possibly flighty worker with no ties. It could also be an indirect way of asking if you are gay. The question though is inappropriate. I was asked if I was married once during an interview a long time ago by an elderly manager and by the way he asked the question it was obvious that they wanted someone who was married and “settled down”.

[nimchimpsky]

But there are single people who are settled down (i.e. people who are attached to a place but not into the marriage thing) and married people who are always on the move (i.e. military couples or children of military people who get that itch to move every few years). It's a sloppy question if you ask me. Why not just ask something like "Do you plan on living here longterm?"

[JobZombie]

As a side story to this at companies I’ve worked there’s been a pattern of letting married employees have plenty of time to leave early to pick a kid up from school, take him to a doctor appointment, etc. The single employees were the first ones tapped, and expected because they “didn’t have a family”, to stay and work late on projects and the like. I’ve seen this pattern with layoffs where the single people are cut before a married person who has a “family to feed”. Same thing with promotions. These are just some of my experiences in the workforce and perhaps one of the myriad of reasons an interviewer might be asking a candidate their marital status.

[henry1]

it not really a technically illegal question to be asked about your martial status dureing the job interview and when most companys do asked this line of questioningin the job interview it is more about beening able to travel for company on a short notice for business or able to take out of town projects that come with the work and in our company we do travel for extended time frame for our work in the casino business ..so that means i can get a phone to be pack up and moved out as quick as i can to a new place if iam need ..



to the one person who said it was illegal in Ca .. yes it a grey area in the state and since i work in Modosto Ca area and yes we do ask the question dureing the job interview with us for we want to be able to count on you in a time of need when we need to travel to other states for work if your need to cover a prostion

[henry1]

Originally Posted by JobZombie

As a side story to this at companies I’ve worked there’s been a pattern of letting married employees have plenty of time to leave early to pick a kid up from school, take him to a doctor appointment, etc. The single employees were the first ones tapped, and expected because they “didn’t have a family”, to stay and work late on projects and the like. I’ve seen this pattern with layoffs where the single people are cut before a married person who has a “family to feed”. Same thing with promotions. These are just some of my experiences in the workforce and perhaps one of the myriad of reasons an interviewer might be asking a candidate their marital status.

like you i do not feel that is fair to someone who is single and who can stay late or travel at a moment notice for the company and then they are the one to get the layed off slip because of the company feels that the married person who has a family should be able to go as they need to pick up the childerns or stay at home with the kid because of them beening stick and i have been told this more than once by a married person it only fair that a single person should stay over and cover there work because i do not have childern or a socalled social life outside of work or not to have to work a weekend shift or evening or night shift work because of beening single ..