Illegal Interview Questions

Federal and State laws state that employers can only ask you questions related to the job which you are applying. But in many situations the interviews may not aware the laws. With small companies their HR staff may be untrained on these issues. Therefore there is chance you will be asked to answer illegal questions.

How should you respond? Obviously it is no good to say, “I can’t answer this, it’s illegal!”, “I believe you just asked me an illegal question.” You have nothing to gain by letting interviewers lose face during interview. If you want, you can file complaints later of course.

So the best strategy is to answer the questions with positive attitude and without hurting yourself. In IT interview most of illegal questions are immigration related:

Do you have green card?
“Yes, I have.” (Show them.)
“I have labor certificate that allows me work in USA legally.” (Don’t say no but provide the facts that you have the legal right to work.)

Are you an U.S. citizen?
“Yes, proud to be an American!”
“I am currently a permanent resident and will obtain my citizenship soon.”

Why do you want to stay and work in U.S. after graduation?
“That’s my American dream!”