I have attended some hundreds of interviews of different types over the years. I have attended many hundreds of work interviews per phone, over questionnaires and in person, after all I have held summer jobs and extra jobs since I was a teenager. Over the years the interviews are a lot. I have also done thousands of interviews over the years, but not in the same area. I have also constructed many questionnaires over the years in other areas. Needless to say I know how to ask questions and how not to ask questions.
I still find myself answering questions on auto pilot in interview situations. But the last interview I just felt that I really did not want to give away my answers after I had written down replies to each question. I just walked out from the group interview. I went home. I thought of the questions really not relevant for any employer to even ask. I wouldn’t mind replaying, since I have no such problems they tried to find out. But it was the nature of those questions.
If they would have asked the interview questions in person and not me having to put them down paper, perhaps I would have answered the questions on auto-pilot. But I am starting to think I shouldn’t anymore. I need a good reply for NOT replaying. “Why is that relevant?”. I want to get such answers into my autopilot when I feel that the questions are integrity violations.
Really I want Swedish employers to be forbidden to ask questions. In the latest interview they asked, do you have any neurological diagnosis? I am thinking that is none of their businesses. I do not have any of the ADD, ADHD, DAMP and so on, but I am thinking of those that do. And in Neurological many other diseases or disorders also go in. Perhaps many, non relevant health, issues go into this area. Why should an employer even get that information?
Then they asked if the person had a criminal record, if the person had taken drugs. I have no problem answering any of the questions, but I do not think employers should. However I have given this information earlier in employments, but that is when I have been offered the job. They have then made tests before writing the contracts. But in this latest interview you weren’t offered a job, and in those cases why should they even have this information?
It was like they where not going to give jobs to those that most likely had or has issues like they wanted to target. I can understand they want a reliable person, who doesn’t? But there are different ways to do it. They can give the information like:
We will not employ anyone with a criminal record. We will not employ a person that has taken drugs at any time. They can then also write that the person offered the job would have to write a testimony before employment that they say that they have been “good” according to the list. The list can be made long.
However, then it would only be the worker that is really offered the job that has to agree on such information. But in this case the questionnaire was written as a contract, since in the end you needed to sign it. The contract included penalties. I think it is bad to sign a contract before you have even been offered anything or even had salary talk, talk about when and how you would work.
So with all this and some other things I just left the interview, even if it otherwise felt fine. But I have some integrity left inside. I am still human, even though I found myself replaying to each question. But I never handed in the paper work. I just left the place.
I also think that a contract were you have to pay penalties and agree upon those without the reasons specified for breach of contract is overall bad.
