Interview questions on Age that employers, including employers of sales professionals,
are not allowed to ask under UK and European legislation. Protect yourself by knowing
the interview questions that you can and can’t ask at a sales interview. Know the
illegal questions before you begin to recruit sales staff
With recent age legislation coming into the workplace you have to be careful about
discrimination towards applicants nearing retirement or those more youthful candidates.
It seems quite innocent to ask ‘what year were you born’ but technically this is
now an illegal question as it could be argued that you’ve made a recruitment decision
based upon age. Whilst a grey issue it is also technically illegal to ask for a
candidates date of birth on an application form though we are unaware of any precedents
that have been set on this subject. Other questions to bear in mind are:
Illegal: "How old are you?"
Whilst this seems like a simple question, it is in fact loaded by discrimination
troubles. However to be safe, do ensure that the candidate is legally old enough
to work for your organisation. Conversely you can ask "Are you over the age of 18?"
Especially if they look like a particularly young candidate.
Illegal: "How much longer do you plan to work before you retire?"
You may not want to hire an older worker who will retire in a few years but you cannot
dismiss an applicant for this reason. Instead, find out what the candidates plans
are for the future as they may plan to work for a number of years. You can ask this
alternative question instead: "what are your long-term career goals?"
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Questions sales employers are not allowed to ask - Age
