Interview Notes–Tip of the Week

It’s common for those interviewing a job candidate to take notes during the interview.  They are made on the employment application, the resume, or some other document kept in connection with the interview.

Make sure the notes are job related.  They deal with the candidate’s experience.   They deal with his/her skills for the job in question.  The relate to answers given to your questions about the job.

Don’t make notes that have anything to do with a protected class in which the applicant may be.  Under federal law, the principal protected classes are:  race, color, sex or gender, national origin, religion, age, and disability.  There may be other protected classes under your state and local laws.

So, you would never write “black,” “AA” (even if your explanation is that this stands for Alcoholics Anonymous instead of African-American, remember that alcoholism is a disability), “Asian,” “Hispanic,” “crippled,” etc.  You’ll never be able to satisfactorily explain why you made those notes.  If the applicant has a name that is used by men and women, don’t write “female,” because if you don’t hire her, you’ll be accused of giving yourself a reminder that this applicant was female.  If the applicant is female, don’t write “appears to be pregnant” (pregnancy discrimination is a form of sex discrimination).  If the applicant is obviously in his/her 60′s, don’t write “too old for job.”

You don’t make any of these notes because it’s illegal to take an applicant’s protected class into consideration when making a hiring decision or any other employment decision.  And I didn’t make up any of the above comments.  All of them have been used against employers in discrimination cases based on a hiring decision.

Feel free to make notes, but make them job-related.