Interview advice: Know what interviewers can't ask - Military Careers, Second Careers - Navy Times

Interview advice: Know what interviewers can't ask

Alex Coates said it happened all the time.

During numerous civilian job interviews, Coates, a former Marine, would first field questions about his skills and abilities. Then the questions would turn morbid.

"They wanted to know if I killed anybody," said Coates, who eventually landed a job as a financial adviser. "They asked me if any of my friends died [in Iraq]. They asked how that made me feel.

"Sometimes they'd act like they were trying to be pals or something and take the questions out of the context of an interview."

Coates was injured by a grenade while serving in Iraq and was medically separated from the Marine Corps in April 2005. An infantryman and corporal when he left the service, he said he always tried to avoid answering the questions by politely asking if those subjects really mattered. At the time, he felt such questions were inappropriate. But he didn't know they were probably illegal for the job recruiter to ask.

"Questions have to be pertinent to the job," said Mathew Tully, an attorney in Albany, N.Y., and a major in the New York National Guard. His law firm represents, among other clients, military reservists in employment disputes.

"Employers, especially those that are not yet educated about the law, will sometimes ask questions in an effort to find out if your military service is a reason not to hire you," Tully said. "They may see that you were on active duty and so they'll ask if you're still in the Guard or reserve. But their reasoning is to find out if they're going to have to give you a few weeks off for training every summer or if there's a possibility that you could be called up again or deployed.

"If that's the case, they may be inclined not to hire you."

Employers also may be fishing for other information that could cause separating service members not to be hired. They may be trying to find out if a job candidate has been emotionally affected by combat or is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes, employers deliberately ask tough personal questions because they're trying to add to the pressure of the interview to see how an individual reacts.

"There is a school of thought out there, a technique designed to keep a person off balance in an interview just to see how they'll respond," said Air Force Maj. Rob Palmer, chief of structural communications for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The Defense Department created the organization in 1972 to educate civilian employers about employment and re-employment rights of reservists and promote greater understanding and support of service members employed in and returning to civilian jobs. Palmer knows firsthand what it's like to be interviewed by hiring managers ignorant of the law.

"I had returned from Bosnia and in 2001, I got an interview with a trade association," he said. "They asked me if I thought I was going to be called up again. I answered it as truthfully as I could. I said I didn't anticipate another deployment but that I didn't know what the future would bring."

Palmer was not offered the job and has no way of knowing if the possibility of deployment factored into the association's decision. But he does know it shouldn't have.

What the law says

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act protects service members from job discrimination. The law is broad and singles out a variety of employment areas. First on the list is the issue of hiring practices. The law specifically prohibits employers from deciding against hiring people based on their connection to the military -- whether past, present or future.

It's not so much that a specific set of words is illegal to string together in a sentence. It's that certain questions lay the groundwork for discrimination in hiring.

"I'm still not sure that you can point me to a specific code or statute that says the words of this or that exact question are illegal," Palmer said. "But it is a violation of the law to ask a question that opens the door for potential discrimination and could lead to a decision not to hire you."

While ESGR works to educate civilian employers on the rights of troops, service members also would benefit from learning to identify inappropriate job interview questions and how to respond to them.

According to Tully, discriminatory questions most often come from those who don't know the law and those that would be most adversely affected by an employee's absence due to military service.

"Very often, small firms find it difficult to accommodate employees who have to be away for duty," he said. "But members of the military need to understand that there is still a small population out there that just doesn't like people who served in the military."

How you should respond

A job candidate doesn't have to point out that a question is illegal or inappropriate, something that's "probably going to make the interviewer uncomfortable," Palmer said.

"You can be honest and say that you'd rather not talk about combat but would rather talk about the skills you acquired while serving or about a particular experience over there, one that makes you a more qualified job candidate," Palmer said.

If you're caught off guard, Tully advises honesty. You could tell the interviewer that the question isn't lawful, or instead focus the conversation back on your talent.

"You can also explain that your skill sets are a result of serving in the military or that your continued service helps you to stay sharp," Tully said. "If you are asked questions about your military service that have nothing to do with your skills or the particular job and later you aren't hired, you may have grounds for a lawsuit."

Tully suggests contacting an employment attorney to assist you in filing a claim, should you feel you have been discriminated against. USERRA places the burden of proof on employers, who must then prove that the decision not to hire you was based on reasons other than your military service.

For more about employment rights, see www.esgr.org.