Question asked during interview

[footballmouse]

So my son interviewed for a job today. He came home and said she asked him a question and he kind of didn't know what it meant. She wanted to know if he was ever fired and labeled unhireable (something like that). I told him he should have said no since he's never been fired. Luckily that's what he said. It just got me thinking, I thought a potential employer could ask a former employer ONLY your hire date and last date. I'm guess that's why she asked him the 2nd part of the question, because she can't ask the employer that. Anyone have any insight on this?

 

[Schneewittchen37]

That's a bit weird. I'm a boss. I do a lot of interviews and hire many people every year. That's not a question I would ever ask a candidate. It's really just putting someone on the spot, and worst case scenario you would catch someone in a lie.

I have asked a candidate's reference if someone was eligible to be rehired by their former employer. And when I have been a reference I've been asked that question as well.

 

[JenBush]

Different states have different rules about what can and cannot be asked during during job interviews, but I know from personal experience some companies don’t follow those rules. I don’t imagine many people would admit to being fired and probably wouldn’t list a job they’ve been fired from on a resume so that question is probably not very helpful to the hiring manager.

 

[martikus]

That is not normal. What a strange questions. If they want to know put it on job app or call former supervisor and ask if they would rehire
Person.

 

[footballmouse]

That's what I was thinking. I'm thinking an employer can only give the dates the person worked, so the interviewer was just seeing if the person would answer the question since HR can't ask the employer.

 

[sam_gordon]

So my son interviewed for a job today. He came home and said she asked him a question and he kind of didn't know what it meant. She wanted to know if he was ever fired and labeled unhireable (something like that). I told him he should have said no since he's never been fired. Luckily that's what he said. It just got me thinking, I thought a potential employer could ask a former employer ONLY your hire date and last date. I'm guess that's why she asked him the 2nd part of the question, because she can't ask the employer that. Anyone have any insight on this?

Well first, the interviewer asked the APPLICANT that, not the former employer.
Second, my understanding is the potential employer can ASK anything of the previous employer. That doesn't mean the previous employer has to answer the question. Many (mine included) say we are only allowed to confirm whether the person worked there and can answer whether the person is eligible to rehire. That's it. Not whether or not we would rehire them, but only if they're eligible. I'm told that's not because of a law (directly), but if something bad is said about a former employee, that employee doesn't get the job they're applying to, and find out you gave a bad reference, you (former employer) can get sued. I'm not sure how many cases have gone to court, much less been won, but many companies probably don't even want to chance it and simply say "our policy is to say x, y, and z".

ETA: These links seems to back up my knowledge:
https://work.chron.com/can-past-employer-legally-disclose-contacted-20976.htmlhttps://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-can-employers-say-about-former-employees-2059608https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...oyer-ask-former-employer-why-left/1257889002/

 

[disneychrista]

Most job applications (that I have seen) have wording that gives authorization to investigate the applicant and contact former employers. A former employer can say anything that know or believe to be true. That can not speculate about former employee.

Factually statement - Employee X called out sick on Mondays frequently. OKAY.

Speculative statement - Employee X call out sick frequently on Mondays, I suspect he had a drinking problem. NOT OKAY.

 

[ashley0139]

So my son interviewed for a job today. He came home and said she asked him a question and he kind of didn't know what it meant. She wanted to know if he was ever fired and labeled unhireable (something like that). I told him he should have said no since he's never been fired. Luckily that's what he said. It just got me thinking, I thought a potential employer could ask a former employer ONLY your hire date and last date. I'm guess that's why she asked him the 2nd part of the question, because she can't ask the employer that. Anyone have any insight on this?

I've never been asked that, but it doesn't seem too terribly crazy to me. I would just say no.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

So my son interviewed for a job today. He came home and said she asked him a question and he kind of didn't know what it meant. She wanted to know if he was ever fired and labeled unhireable (something like that). I told him he should have said no since he's never been fired. Luckily that's what he said. It just got me thinking, I thought a potential employer could ask a former employer ONLY your hire date and last date. I'm guess that's why she asked him the 2nd part of the question, because she can't ask the employer that. Anyone have any insight on this?

And sometimes, they get people to 'trip themselves up' by asking. If you say you were fired from your last job for..idk...sleeping while you were clocked in....you probably aren't getting the overnight shift at the hotel.....just sayin'.....

 

[tvguy]

Well first, the interviewer asked the APPLICANT that, not the former employer.
Second, my understanding is the potential employer can ASK anything of the previous employer. That doesn't mean the previous employer has to answer the question. Many (mine included) say we are only allowed to confirm whether the person worked there and can answer whether the person is eligible to rehire. That's it. Not whether or not we would rehire them, but only if they're eligible. I'm told that's not because of a law (directly), but if something bad is said about a former employee, that employee doesn't get the job they're applying to, and find out you gave a bad reference, you (former employer) can get sued. I'm not sure how many cases have gone to court, much less been won, but many companies probably don't even want to chance it and simply say "our policy is to say x, y, and z".

My last two employers wouldn't answer any questions about former employees and warned current employees to just hang up if they get that kind of call. My last employer did finally decide to hire a third party company to handle those calls. That company was given your last salary, hire date, and date you left. They would only answer yes or no to questions about former employees. They would not tell you what John Doe made f you asked. But if they asked "did John Doe made $50,000" they would answer yes or no. Same with information about hire and departure dates, the applicant had to provide that information to the prospective employers and that prospective employer had to ask specific questions.

 

[Deb]

On a reference check you can ask most anything. Most former employers will not answer much more than dates, salary and perhaps the "eligible for rehire" question. Because of that, you are generally not asked more, they know they won't be getting an answer.
As far as asking the applicant themselves, that question seems unusual, but allowable.

 

[ronandannette]

So my son interviewed for a job today. He came home and said she asked him a question and he kind of didn't know what it meant. She wanted to know if he was ever fired and labeled unhireable (something like that). I told him he should have said no since he's never been fired. Luckily that's what he said. It just got me thinking, I thought a potential employer could ask a former employer ONLY your hire date and last date. I'm guess that's why she asked him the 2nd part of the question, because she can't ask the employer that. Anyone have any insight on this?

The nature of the question aside, why did he have trouble answering? If the answer was no because he'd never been fired, what else would he have answered?

Well first, the interviewer asked the APPLICANT that, not the former employer.
Second, my understanding is the potential employer can ASK anything of the previous employer. That doesn't mean the previous employer has to answer the question. Many (mine included) say we are only allowed to confirm whether the person worked there and can answer whether the person is eligible to rehire. That's it. Not whether or not we would rehire them, but only if they're eligible. I'm told that's not because of a law (directly), but if something bad is said about a former employee, that employee doesn't get the job they're applying to, and find out you gave a bad reference, you (former employer) can get sued. I'm not sure how many cases have gone to court, much less been won, but many companies probably don't even want to chance it and simply say "our policy is to say x, y, and z".

ETA: These links seems to back up my knowledge:
https://work.chron.com/can-past-employer-legally-disclose-contacted-20976.htmlhttps://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-can-employers-say-about-former-employees-2059608https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...oyer-ask-former-employer-why-left/1257889002/

This, exactly. We're limited to confirming previous employment dates, salary and whether or not we would re-hire. This is solely an HR policy; there's no law. And I hate it. It often feels so dishonest to hang up the phone knowing the potential employer on the other end is considering hiring a truly troublesome employee. And on the hiring side, in my company corporate HR screens applicants so I don't know what kind of calls they make for references. It's a "small world" kind of industry locally and either myself or my boss will have an off-the-record chat with candidates' former employers if we personally know and respect them, to get a more accurate read on the person's potential.

 

[_19disnA]

Not clear why the OP's son would find that question troubling if he hadn't ever been fired from a job. The interviewer sounds like they lack experience to ask someone if they would be considered 'unhireable'.........no one with any experience doing interviews would ask that sort of thing.

I'm told that's not because of a law (directly), but if something bad is said about a former employee, that employee doesn't get the job they're applying to, and find out you gave a bad reference, you (former employer) can get sued.

That is my understanding as well. Our company's HR people will only confirm if the person was an employee (dates of employment, for example) and what level job they had. If they had an entry level job vs. being the VP of a department is something of a factual nature they could confirm. They never get into subjective questions about their performance or if they would consider rehiring them. Occasionally, an outside company will call the last boss a person had (I assume the candidate listed it as a reference on their job application) and try to get them to comment on such topics. One company called me one time and even after telling him our policy, he tried to trick me into answering if I would be 'happy' or 'sad' if that person tried to get another job at our company. I told him he needs to talk to our HR people if he wants more information and declined to reply.

 

[EACarlson]

When I was a restaurant manager in MN the only questions we were allowed to answer were dates of employment and eligibility for re-hire. If the previous employee put me down by name as a reference I could answer anything asked. When verifying previous employment we were required to ask dates of employment, rate of pay and eligibility for re-hire. If the applicant told us they were eligible for rehire but the previous employer said they weren't, the applicant was immediately removed from consideration.

 

[barkley]

i worked in civil service-all calls were referred to h/r who only verified dates of employment, final salary and if the person was eligible for rehire. eligible for rehire was a joke b/c it took an act of god even with the most horrific of situations to be coded as 'ineligible'-

-i had one co-worker who engineered a large embezzling scheme, he went to jail for it but upon release was able to be hired into another department of the same government agency,

-a couple of decades before i hired into civil service a neighboring county to where i worked had a horrific situation wherein an employee in retaliation for being fired shot his supervisor to death. when he was released from prison he immediately applied for reemployment. there was big lawsuit but the killer was successful in asserting his reemployment rights b/c there was nothing in the agency's h/r rules that designated his actions or the actions for which he had been terminated as prohibiting being rehired.

 

[bcla]

I’ve been through several employers over the years, and sometimes there was an exit interview on the last day regardless of how I left. There is no hard and fast rule - only company policy. A lot of large companies have policies where no current employee can answer a question (except internally) about a former employee except HR, and then only limited to dates of employment and job title.

During a job interview I have been asked if I’d ever been fired before, but only once. I definitely haven’t been asked if I were eligible for re-hire. I’ve provided references before when looking for a job, and I one time I actually got a copy of what was asked and the response. The question was asked if I could be rehired and the response answered that I was.

I’ve also seen the “fired” question asked in a job application, but it’s rare.

As for rehiring eligibility, that’s a really loaded question, especially where a company can’t otherwise disclose the reason. Some companies have limits on the number of times an employee can come back after layoffs or even voluntary resignation. I’ve heard of a large company that will give buyouts to reduce the number of laid off employees, and part of the requirement is that the employee agrees to no rehire terms. Some top performers choose to do this.

 

[ronandannette]

i worked in civil service-all calls were referred to h/r who only verified dates of employment, final salary and if the person was eligible for rehire. eligible for rehire was a joke b/c it took an act of god even with the most horrific of situations to be coded as 'ineligible'-

-i had one co-worker who engineered a large embezzling scheme, he went to jail for it but upon release was able to be hired into another department of the same government agency,

-a couple of decades before i hired into civil service a neighboring county to where i worked had a horrific situation wherein an employee in retaliation for being fired shot his supervisor to death. when he was released from prison he immediately applied for reemployment. there was big lawsuit but the killer was successful in asserting his reemployment rights b/c there was nothing in the agency's h/r rules that designated his actions or the actions for which he had been terminated as prohibiting being rehired.

Good Lord - in what crazy system are private employers compelled to hire anybody? Just because an individual applies (be he embezzler or murder or just plain not suitable for the job) doesn't mean they are automatically entitled to the job, does it? If every applicant had the "right" to be hired how would that possibly work?

 

[EACarlson]

Good Lord - in what crazy system are private employers compelled to hire anybody? Just because an individual applies (be he embezzler or murder or just plain not suitable for the job) doesn't mean they are automatically entitled to the job, does it? If every applicant had the "right" to be hired how would that possibly work?

Not private employer. Civil service means government job.

 

[LuvOrlando]

The eligibility for rehire question is odd because I know of a few giant organizations who declare a person isn't eligible to rehire if they take severance so this question is meaningless.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

At one point I was on unemployment and looking hard for another job. But you can't really turn down a job on unemployment so I would just respond to questions weirdly if I didn't like the role.
One interview asked me "Where do you see yourself tomorrow?"
It was one of those jobs that looked horrible and luckily I was doing something the next day so I responded, "Tomorrow I'm going to the horse race track."
So he asked again "No, where do you see yourself 'Tomorrow'". he emphasized with hand quotes.
So I responded with handquotes, "Tomorrow I see myself at the 'racetrack'".
He then said, "We don't have a sense of humor around here."
I didn't get the job.