CHICAGO — The world of interviewing has changed, Lauraine Bifulco, president of Vantaggio HR, told attendees at her session during the 2024 Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference — and employers need to be more careful.

Something seemingly as common as cultural fit can be problematic, Bifulco said. Zoom and remote interviews also change the nature of this work, she added, but a good hiring decision can eliminate many legal risks, reduce costs, increase productivity and improve morale.

In other words, making a good hire keeps real money on the table, Bifulco noted; “At the end of the day, all these things translate into more dollars for your organization.”

But employers tend not to train hiring managers on how to interview. “If you have one takeaway from today,” Bifulco said, “I hope you go back to your company and say we have to do a better job in training our folks on the interviewing process.”

Questions about protected characteristics

HR should train hiring managers to avoid questions about protected characteristics. For employers that need a refresher, those can include factors such as: race or color; religion or creed; age; disability; sex, including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related conditions; gender; sexual orientation; genetic information and nationality.

That list is far from exhaustive. California has protections for workers that associate with certain protected categories or are perceived as such. Height and weight have also emerged in Michigan and a few localities as protected categories.

“You cannot ask questions either directly or indirectly that touch upon someone’s protected status,” Bifulco said. This applies to everyone in an interviewing process, including supervisors, managers and recruiters.

Bona fide occupational qualifications, or BFOQs, do exist, which can allow employers to make a decision based on a protected category, though this is a narrow exemption, Bifulco noted. Security clearance may require U.S. citizenship for certain jobs, for example. But employers need to be very careful with BFOQs, she said, and employers should always seek legal counsel in such matters.

Some examples of questions employers absolutely should not ask, no matter how well-meaning, include:

• “Are you pregnant? Do you plan on having children soon?”
• “I love your accent. Where are you from?”
• “Are you married/single?”

These questions can feel perfectly human or normal to ask — but not in a work interview, Bifulco said. “We have to really be careful.”

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