Interview Question Challenge
Time: 10–15 minutes
Group size: 3–5 students
Goal: Learn which interview questions are appropriate and which questions can be unfair, discriminatory, or illegal.
The Challenge
Imagine you are hiring an Account Manager for Bird Food Express.
Your job is to decide:
Is this a fair question to ask during a job interview?
Remember:
A good interview question helps you figure out whether someone can do the job.
A question about someone’s personal life, protected characteristics, or medical condition usually doesn’t belong in a job interview.
Step 1 — Sort the Questions
As a group, sort the questions into three categories:
🟢 FAIR GAME
A reasonable question that helps determine whether someone can do the job.
🟡 TRICKY
The question might have a legitimate reason behind it, but it should be asked differently.
🔴 NOT OKAY
The question is inappropriate and may violate employment discrimination laws.
Don’t worry about getting every answer right. The discussion is the important part!
Step 2 — Discuss the Tricky Ones
Choose two questions that your group thought were tricky.
Discuss:
Why might someone want to ask this question?
Then ask:
Can we rewrite it so that it focuses on the job instead of the person’s personal life?
For example:
❌ “Do you have children?”
A better question:
✅ “Are you able to work the schedule required for this position?”
The second question gets the information the employer actually needs without asking about someone’s family.
Step 3 — The Interviewer Challenge
Pick one person in your group to be the interviewer.
Give them this situation:
You really like a candidate, but you’re worried they might not be able to handle an important part of the job.
The interviewer must create a fair interview question that finds out whether the candidate can handle the job.
Example
Job requirement:
The Account Manager needs to communicate with customers by phone and email.
Fair question:
“Tell me about your experience communicating with customers or helping people solve problems.”
Quick Answer Key
🟢 FAIR GAME
1. Customer problem-solving
3. Work schedule
5. Customer service/problem-solving
7. Ability to perform job duties
11. Teamwork
13. Ability to perform a specific job requirement
15. Interest in the job
🔴 NOT OKAY
2. Marital status
4. Children/family responsibilities
6. Religion
8. Medical conditions
10. Place of birth/national origin
12. Age
14. Disability
🟡 TRICKY
9. “What languages do you speak?”
This could be relevant if speaking a particular language is genuinely required for the job. But asking where someone learned a language or what language they speak at home could raise concerns about national origin.
A better version for Bird Food Express might be:
“This job sometimes requires communicating with customers who speak Spanish. Are you able to communicate with those customers in Spanish?”
The Big Idea
When interviewing someone, focus on the job — not the person’s personal life.
Ask:
“Can you do the job?”
Not:
“Are you the kind of person I personally prefer?”
Fair interviews give candidates a chance to show what they can do, rather than judging them on things that aren’t relevant to the job.