where are they now: update #5 – the boss with inappropriate interview questions

by Alison Green on December 22, 2010

Remember the reader whose boss asked job candidates about their marital status, children, and church? Here’s her update.

I waited until well after the interview, when I was later asked to participate in another panel interview. Before the interview, I asked the VP for the list of questions, and the VP asked if I had any suggestions. I sent a follow-up email to him suggesting questions, but I also said in the email that it was difficult to come up with the wording for my questions because I didn’t want to ask about sensitive topics for fear that it would make us biased in the selection process. I made it sound like it was more of an issue on my end, and he said, “Huh. I didn’t know you couldn’t ask stuff like that.” The interviews went smoothly.

By the way, can you recommend resources for a non-HR person to learn about HR (without necessarily going back to school)? Thanks!

I’ve never worked in HR (management is different), but I’m sure someone here can help. Tell us in the comments what area of HR you’re specifically interested in, and I bet someone will suggest something for you.

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  1. Jamie*

    For a crash course in brilliant HR topics I recommend Suzanne Lucas' blog The Evil HR Lady. She's a daily must-read for me at BNet and, like Ask a Manager, it's great advice with great delivery.

    I'd recommend culling through the archives on both this blog (AAM) and EHRL – it's fun reading and you'll learn a lot. Although I do have a bias for smart and (sometimes) snarky with a sense of humor.

    Even though Allison stated she wasn't in HR, you can learn a lot about good HR practices from AAM as well – common sense management of people and issues in many cases can be applied to HR.

    SHRM.com is a good website for HR resources which is a little more formal (legal stuff, best practices, etc.) I don't know what the membership fee is, though.

    Wow – I have way to many opinions about HR resources for someone in IT.

  2. CJ*

    As an HR nerd and information junkie, I have TONS of resources you can casually delve into.

    Ask.com's HR is a bit dry, but will touch on basic topics and might lead you to do further research if something interests you.

    I second the recommendation for Evil HR Lady. Both she and AAM are on my list of daily blog checks.

    HRmagazine.co.uk is good generally (although policy details may not transfer to the US.) I also read Women of HR, Fistful of Talent, and Corporate Daycare on a regular basis, as well as about ten other blogs in the HR world.

    For humor, check out onefte.com, and don't forget to make friends with HR nerds – we're fun!

  3. Another HR Person*

    My local chapter of SHRM has HR workshops (lasting anywhere from half a day to a couple of days) for non-HR people. I'm not a huge fan of SHRM, but I've found that my local chapter has pretty good classes. Perhaps you can see if your local chapter offers such a class?

  4. Amy*

    Jamie, you took the words right out of my mouth – I was also going to recommend EHRL!

    There's also a good employment law blog that isn't too dry through Manpower (staffing agency) – the guy's name is Mark Toth.

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