Tracie-
I don't think anyone is talking about penalizing a candidate for talking
about their family--the issue is whether or not it is appropriate for an
employer to ask questions about someone's family IN AN INTERVIEW SITUATION
(i.e., for purposes of evaluation of the candidate).

It is absolutely not discrimination for an employer to "penalize" someone
they are interviewing for mentioning their family.  It completely depends
on how "mentioning" your family fits into the conversation at hand.  Of
course there are times when people will choose their family over a
job--this is not the point of this thread.



                      Tracie Kay Evans
                      <[log in to unmask]>          To:      [log in to unmask]
                      Sent by: Museum             cc:
                      discussion list             Subject: Re: More on hiring, in general
                      <[log in to unmask]
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                      02/08/2002 10:45 AM
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Audra-
Am I correct in understanding that you penalize candidates who mention
things about thier families? Excuse Me?  This is worse then asking in the
first place. This is still discrimination! My family is important to me and
does play a factor in my decisions and can sometimes be illustrative of my
abilities and skills.

 I ususally bring up something about my family during my interview.  I want
to see how the employer feels about families because whether we want to
believe it or not, they impact who we are and what we do.  There will be
times when you must choose your family over work and I want to know how the
employer will reaction to this.  I will not choose between family and work,
because to be honest my family is more important than any JOB! (Yes, I mean
that, JOB.  Stop kidding ourselves, you can quibble all you want but any
kind of employment is still a job.)

That does not mean however that I advocate taking advantage of an employer
because of your family, but I have been in situations that once hired I was
told that if I left work for family reasons I would be written up. We had
to make ALL arrangements for unexpected illnesses and injuries ahead of
time. (Like its possible too) So now, I want to know, how they feel about
my family and unexpected events.  I know what your are thinking, that's
illegal, and it might well be but employers can make your life very
difficult if they want to regarding your family and thier demands on your
time.  I also want to see how flexible an employer is regarding school
activities, doctors appointments, and other similar kinds of situations, do
you have the ability to change your schedule if something you didn't know
about comes up.


Tracie






Audra Oliver wrote:
      "As an employer I think it reasonable to ask how an applicant's
      spouse and/or family might react to moving long distance. "

      That would hold true if you were the employer and transferring the
      employee, perhaps.  But as a prospective employer, I question the
      appropriateness of knowing the applicant's marital/family status.
      When I interviewed people, I did not ask about family. I did not look
      favorably upon candidates that volunteered this information that I
      considered inappropriate.  When asked as a candidate, I would say
      that everyone was excited about the possibility, and sometimes I
      would say that the "everyone" consisted of a mix of four-legged
      species.

      Isn't equal opportunity about hiring the candidate and not their
      spouse/kids/mother?


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