Ten Interview Questions You Should Never Ask

Asking someone to potentially bad mouth their current employer is seen as unprofessional and can be a touchy subject, leaving the candidate in a tough spot. This question is also a little vague – are you looking to uncover why they’re leaving or if they’ll face a similar issue should you hire them?

Firstly, it’s discriminatory to use someone’s religious beliefs as a reason for or against their fit for a role. If, in small talk, you happen to find out you live around the corner from your interviewee, don’t use it as leverage to uncover personal details – especially when you’re touching on potentially illegal interview topics.

Some interviewers like to spice things up by asking seemingly extremely random questions to lighten the mood. These questions can throw off a candidate’s flow and won’t provide any relevant details about their fit. If you’re using questions like this as an attempt to understand their inner thoughts, think again. Unless you’re a skilled psychologist, you’ll probably be unable to correctly interpret their answer.

This question is asked pretty commonly and it provides a good summary of why they’re qualified, but it’s a very broad question and it can put a candidate on the spot – particularly if they’re inexperienced in interviewing.

There are two faux pas here, so we’ll discuss them separately. Firstly, asking whether the interviewee has children, or is planning on having children, isn’t a topic up for discussion. Even if you’re asking from a totally innocent standpoint, if they don’t get the job, they could look back on that question as discriminatory. Secondly, if you’re conducting a video interview, do not comment on what you can see in the interviewee’s background (unless it’s a cameo appearance from their fluffy friend). It looks incredibly nosey, and besides, their surroundings are irrelevant to their skill set.

Similarly to the talking dog question, this question really doesn’t give you any insight into the candidate’s fit for the role. Besides, a candidate will very likely give a safe, canned response, based on the fact it’s often used in ice breaker exercises.

This is very tough for a candidate to answer, as they may have no idea how they’d be described by somebody else – particularly if they didn’t have a close relationship. Chances are the candidate will have to make something up, so save this for the "reference check".

You may have asked this question before but, nine out of ten times, it simply won’t give you an insightful response. Asking about long-term professional plans can have a tendency to make candidates lie, as they’ll automatically want to express their loyalty to the company for whatever duration you give to help their chances.

This question is pretty limiting, plus there are about 20 buzzwords candidates will use and they’ll be based on what they think you’ll want to hear. By the end of the interview, you should have enough insight to determine if a candidate is “driven”, “passionate” or “helpful”.

It’s no secret that businesses check potential employees’ social media accounts, but it’s quite creepy to admit you’ve been scrolling through their personal profiles, even if they are public accounts. If you do look at social media to learn more about candidates, keep it to yourself. Secondly, remember that social media doesn’t give you a full story and you shouldn’t rely on your findings to determine their relevant skillset.