Hello,
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.
In the US there are set of questions which the interviewers are not supposed to ask the candiates. These include nationality, age, personal credit ratings etc.
Do a recruiter in India have any questions which they are not supposed to ask the candidate ? No there are no pieces of legislations which prohibits an interviewer seeking to ask the questions.
It is considered a good practice not to probe too much into the personal lives of the employees. The article given below takes a different perspective where HR is moving away and asking quetions which are considered 'private'.
Share your thoughts on this topical issues.
Have a Great Week ahead !
Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
www.hrinindia.in
Indias Biggest HR Network
raghav@hrinindia.in
9880080321
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Do you plan to get married? Do you play the guitar? A job interview is no longer about your educational qualifications or experience. It’s your personal details that the HR department of a company is most interested in. Aastha Atray Banan reports
In the cult Bollywood movie Golmal, Amol Palekar’s character is hired only because his boss likes simpletons who dress up in kurta-pyjamas; in Philadelphia, Tom Hanks is asked to leave his job when his employers discover he is suffering from AIDS and in The Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway’s character is admonished for her incompetence at wearing a decent pair of heels. Be it the movies or real life, job interviews are unpredictable — the most unpredictable of the lot being the interview with the HR (human resources) department. This is an interview that could throw up a lot of surprises your way, especially if you are applying for a entry-level or a mid-level job, and how you handle it, could determine your fate.
A fact that Anita Sharma realised the hard way. The 25-year-old was shocked when she was bluntly told that if she planned to get married in a year or two from joining the company, she could leave that instant. “I didn’t expect such behaviour from a media company. They also asked me various questions about my siblings and their qualifications. How does that figure?” she says. Unable to recover from the shock, she faltered while answering the questions. Little surprise then that she didn’t get the job.
But the questions posed to her aren’t uncommon during the modern interview process, even in the media industry, where till a while back HR didn’t play a big role in the recruitment process. Head of talent acquisition at a leading media company is of the opinion that these questions are only asked to make the interviewee feel at ease. “We primarily look at technical abilities and behaviorial skills, unless it’s for broadcast, then obviously how one carries oneself matters.” While hiring staff for the internet department at a newspaper, it’s usually about technical skills. “We don’t want people responsible for updating the net with news to be overtly ambitious. We need stable people.” Recently, an extraordinary survey by HR information provider Cromer found that eight in 10 human resources managers would “think twice” before hiring a newly-married woman in her 20s. They had fewer reservations about hiring mothers with older children, they said, as they would be “less likely to take maternity leave”.
But HR executives have a completely different way of looking at the interview process. Their logic is simple —they are looking for people who are capable of handling high-tension situations. Kisholoy Gupta, vice-president, Global Consultants Inc, says, “I don’t want to hire somebody who can’t handle the pressure and maintain a good work-life balance. We have so many people who break down because of the pressure. Hence, the trend is to have these excruciatingly tough and personal interviews, where we pressurise the interviewee, just to see how he behaves. That’s why we ask questions like ‘when does one plan to get married?’ You just have to remain clam.”
And though he denies a bias towards women who are married and have children, he does admit to having a bias against people who hop jobs frequently. “That is frowned upon. We want people with knowledge of the technology and the role they will play in the company, and of course, we need people who can handle stress.”
But many people admit of being victims of HR biases — older people and women with children are prime examples. Housekeeping executive Uma Bhardwaj, 50, has had many tough interviews. Despite her experience, she has had trouble finding a job at a five-star hotel. “They make it quite clear that they want to hire younger women. It really doesn’t matter how much experience you have,” she sighs.
But Sanjay Jog, HR head, Pantaloons India, says that that could be a one-off case. “All these questions about marital status and age are irrelevant. We can always work around these issues.” For Jog, the people who matter most are people who are well-rounded. “I like people who have engaged themselves in extracurricular activities. So if you have learnt music or dance, that’s great,” he says. “Just tackle all the questions asked in an honest and genuine way. Because if you are being dishonest just to get the job, you will be found out six months down the line.” The only bias he practices while hiring is that he prefers hiring people who don’t mind moving base.
The bottomline is this: An HR interview could unnerve you with some unusual questions. And thought the website www.interviewghost.com, which offers tips on how to ace that HR interview, says, “Sell yourself as an employee. Don’t describe your record collection, your favourite movies or you pets’ names. Do, for example, describe what motivates your career and drives your passions”, the key to acing that interview could be to bare your soul. So if you are the shy type, it’s time to shed your inhibitions and don a confident outlook. Because there is absolutely no getting past the the personal HR.
Source : dnaindia.com
