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> It surprised me that people define theirselves via their CV: “Who are you?” -> “Here is what I have done in my professional life!”. Anything weird about that?
by ajuc 11y ago
> It surprised me that people define theirselves via their CV: “Who are you?” -> “Here is what I have done in my professional life!”. Anything weird about that?
I wouldn't expect my potential employer to be interested in my family, hobbies or beliefs. So I would respond with job-related stuff as well.
- pjc50 11y agoWell, indeed. Traditionally those have been used to discriminate against people. To the point that any competent HR department will ban you from asking women interviewees about children.
- mizaru 11y agoIn some countries (e.g. Germany), asking such questions violates labor law.
- TheCoelacanth 11y agoIn the US, the questions are not per se a violation of the law, but you are treading on very thin ice because using the answers to such questions in a way that has a disparate impact on anyone because of their gender, age, family status, religion, etc is a violation of the law, even if you did not intend to discriminate against people on that basis.
- pc86 11y agoJust out of curiosity, does it matter what the questions are actually about? Even in the US if you ask a woman if she plans on getting pregnant you're going to have issues. But I would imagine if a woman was answering a general "tell me about yourself" type question and mentioned her kids, the interviewer might ask a follow up, particularly if they have a similar interest or something (obviously staying away from "so are you going to have more?" or whatever). I'm a guy so I've never been asked about kids until after being hired, and even then just conversationally at lunch.
- tgb 11y agoAgree. If the question is answered 'wrong' by most candidates, then maybe the question isn't so good after all?
- halviti 11y agoThis is largely a regional/cultural thing.. In Europe people tend to care more about these things because they're interested in creating a good healthy workplace. If you only wrote about your professional achievements, it would be a sign that your lack of a personality could cause problems within the workplace. Everyone is different and there is no one-size-fits-all thing here that works for every country / job opportunity.
- kyllo 11y agoAnd it's also much harder in Europe to fire a problem employee.
- ajuc 11y agoI'm from Europe :) Poland to be exact. And I care about healthy workspcae, but I don't think anything said on interview can be an accurate indicator. It's inherently misleading situation, like a first date almost. I was only asked similar question once on an interview for a foreign (Lithuanian FWIW) company ("do you have wife, children?"). It was jarring to me, I assumed they wanted to know if I'll be OK with crunch time. Maybe it's the way they asked (like another thing from a checklist).