Handle Inappropriate Questions Tactfully

Chances are that somewhere in your job hunting someone is going to ask you an illegal, or at least inappropriate, question. Johanna Rothman has heard some doozies.

As satisfying as I’m sure it was for Johanna to put the guy in his place, I’d suggest a more low-key response should you ever be in a similar situation. Johanna later added, “Humor in person can work to defuse potential discriminatory situations. But, don’t use humor early in the interview before you’ve built rapport.”

Give the interviewer the benefit of the doubt, that it was an honest mistake, not an attempt to find out information to use against you. An interviewer idly saying “Krawczyk…is that Polish?” probably meant it as friendly small talk, especially if he’s doing his best to pronounce it correctly.

You want to handle the situation gracefully. There’s nothing to be gained by putting the interviewer on the defensive. You also don’t want to weaken your position by answering the inappropriate question. Since you’re going off the assumption that the interviewer made an honest mistake, there’s no need to be defensive.

Answer the question with another question:

Interviewer:

I’m glad to meet you, Amanda. My daughter’s name is Amanda, too. Got any kids yourself?

You, without venom or sarcasm:

With so much to talk about this afternoon, I’d rather talk about the job and my qualifications. I did notice what looked like some workers stringing cable. Are you expanding bandwidth for the building?

Do not use a sarcastic tone. You don’t want to be aggressive or make the interviewer feel stupid. If he realizes his error, he’ll be embarrassed enough as it is. Note how by side-stepping to another topic, you’ve left the interviewer a way to move forward and leave his gaffe behind. You’ve also turned it to your positive by showing that you’re paying attention. Little details like this are a great way to move conversations forward and show your interest in the company.