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Discriminatory or not?

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  • 25-08-2014 7:44pm
    #1
    donutheadhomer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,658 ✭✭✭


    I recently applied for 2 internal promotions - both separate/different roles in different departments.

    Had a HR interview and Hiring manager interview for the first job - didn't get the job and got fair feedback - fair enough

    The second job called me for interview with the Hiring Manager - pretty much the first question was had I applied for internal promotion before/why I didn't get the job and what kind of feedback I got. I felt very awkward answering these questions but answered nonetheless - I'm now told I did not get the second job.

    Is it discriminatory to pursue this line of questioning in an interview? I know its not a court case and I don't really have a right not to "incriminate myself" but surely this line of questing leads to the interviewer having a poor opinion of me right from the very start.

    Please help.....


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    #2
    Stheno
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,688 Mod ✭✭✭✭Stheno


    donutheadhomer wrote: »

    Is it discriminatory to pursue this line of questioning in an interview? I know its not a court case and I don't really have a right not to "incriminate myself" but surely this line of questing leads to the interviewer having a poor opinion of me right from the very start.

    It's not.

    Sometimes this type of questioning can be used to see if you have identified areas of improvement for you to work on/learned anything useful by going through the interview process and the feedback you got.


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    #3
    Design78
    Registered Users Posts: 73 ✭✭Design78


    I would think the HR manager was expecting you to detail the feedback given and how you addressed the issues raised and improved your preformance.


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    #4
    donutheadhomer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,658 ✭✭✭donutheadhomer


    Design78 wrote: »
    I would think the HR manager was expecting you to detail the feedback given and how you addressed the issues raised and improved your preformance.

    The interview for the 2nd job was not with HR but rather with the Hiring Manager - is it acceptable for him to question me about how I got on in previous interviews and why I did 't get the job. To me it felt like he was unwilling to offer me the job because I had failed in the interview for a different job. BTW different hiring managers too.


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    #5
    Stheno
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,688 Mod ✭✭✭✭Stheno


    donutheadhomer wrote: »
    The interview for the 2nd job was not with HR but rather with the Hiring Manager - is it acceptable for him to question me about how I got on in previous interviews and why I did 't get the job. To me it felt like he was unwilling to offer me the job because I had failed in the interview for a different job. BTW different hiring managers too.

    Yes, regardless of their being HR or the Hiring manager, they are fully entitled to ask you those questions


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    #6
    donutheadhomer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,658 ✭✭✭donutheadhomer


    Stheno wrote: »
    Yes, regardless of their being HR or the Hiring manager, they are fully entitled to ask you those questions

    thanks for the help


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    #7
    blindsider
    Registered Users Posts: 2,022 ✭✭✭blindsider


    OP - it's an interesting line of questioning. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable (as a HR exec) using that line of questioning - I'd keep it more general and ask how you dealt with professional disappointments etc. Was a HR person present when these q's were asked?

    Also, if you were asked these questions, then every other internal candidate should be asked the same questions - and external candidates should be asked similar questions.

    If you wanted to, you could ask HR for 'more in-depth' feedback, especially as you were a 'little surprised at some of the questions'.

    If you really wanted to, you could ask for written confirmation of the questions asked of each candidate. However, you'd be stirring up a hornet's nest, and it might be a Pyrrhic victory.

    Perhaps the learning point from this is to be able to 'de-personalise' such questions, and answer as per "...how you dealt with professional disappointments etc?" Or, "So, tell me about a situation where things didn't go well for you in work, and how you dealt with it..."


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