10 Interview Questions You Should NEVER Ask a Candidate

Some interview questions can create legal and discrimination risk, and 1 in 5 recruiters have unknowingly asked one. This article lists 10 questions that can expose protected or sensitive information around national origin, disability, family plans, age, religion, and more, and explains what you can ask instead.

What you’ll learn:

• Asking about arrest history, nationality, age, marital status, children, religion, disability, or financial information can expose your organization to discrimination claims.

• You can ask if a candidate is legally authorized to work, available for required hours, or willing to relocate, but you cannot probe the personal reasons behind those answers.

• SocialTalent’s Interview Training helps recruiters and hiring managers build more structured, fair, and legally sound interview habits.

• Criminal history questions must distinguish between arrests and convictions. Asking “Have you ever been arrested?” is off-limits; asking about convictions may be permitted depending on the jurisdiction and role.

• Disability and medical history questions are restricted before a job offer. Post-offer questions should only be used to confirm whether the candidate can fulfill the role’s essential functions.

• If any question you ask could be used to discriminate against a candidate, it should not be asked at all.

Bias is a common challenge when it comes to interviewing, even for those who have been thoroughly trained in interviewing skills.

But it’s true to say that most bias stereotypes don’t come from a place of bad intent, but develop in our brains through years of different influences that we often had little control over.

As a recruiter, you could unknowingly be exercising bias through the types of questions that you are asking in interviews.

Why Certain Interview Questions Are Illegal

Now, you may read over the interview questions that we’ve listed below and think to yourself, “these are obvious“, but the cold hard facts surrounding these questions will actually shock you.

Understanding where the legal boundaries lie is essential before diving into specific examples. Another helpful approach is to consider the intent behind each question – if it could reveal personal information unrelated to job performance, it’s best to avoid it.

For U.S.-based hiring teams, the EEOC’s guidance on pre-employment medical questions and examinations is a useful reference for questions about disability, medical history, and what employers should avoid asking before a job offer.

For enterprise teams, this is also a governance issue, as SocialTalent’s security and compliance page explains how standardized interview processes, audit trails, and consistent training help reduce process risk.

When a Casual Chat Before the Interview Becomes a Legal Risk

You’re walking a candidate from reception to the interview room. The conversation flows naturally, and you ask where they’re originally from, or whether they have kids. It feels like small talk. But questions like these can touch legally protected or sensitive areas, and they can create discrimination risk even when no harm is intended.

Here’s what that moment can cost you:

• A question about marital status can signal that you’re probing future family plans

• Asking about graduation year is a roundabout way to determine age

• Inquiring about childcare arrangements, even after a candidate volunteers personal details, is off-limits

• Asking about sick days can expose medical history you’re not entitled to

You can ask about availability, work authorization, and relevant qualifications. Everything else needs to stay off the table, including the casual hallway conversation before the formal interview begins.

10 Questions Not to Ask in an Interview

Although you may not directly ask any of these questions to candidates, you could easily stumble into dodgy territory when you’re casually chatting as you lead them into the interview room, or likewise, when you are showing them out.

The last thing that you should want as a recruiter is to make a candidate feel uncomfortable, or potentially discriminated against, no matter how harmless your intentions may be.

So take note of these 10 questions not to ask in an interview and stick them on your ‘Do Not Ask‘ list immediately!

Question 1: “Have you ever been arrested?”

It may be a requirement for your organization to do background checks on candidates, especially if they are working in the education or healthcare sector, so the question ‘Have you ever been convicted of a crime‘ may appear on the application form.

You can also ask this question in an interview. However, asking ‘Have you ever been arrested?’ is completely off-limits.

Question 2: “Are you married?”

This question can’t be asked for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it could look as though you are digging for information on the candidate’s future family plans – for example, if your spouse were to get transferred to another city with their own job, would you leave the company in order to relocate with them?

It’s also an irrelevant question to ask, and has no bearing on a candidate’s ability to do a job. Personal details like marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity should never factor into your hiring decisions. Understanding the common types of recruiting bias can help you avoid letting these factors influence your process.

Question 3: “What country are you from?”

It’s a huge no. Never question a candidate’s national origin or citizenship status. If you notice that they have an accent, resist the urge to ask what it is, as it’s a roundabout way of questioning their country of origin.

You are allowed to ask if the candidate is legally authorized to work in the country, or if they hold a valid work permit, but that’s it. Nationality should never play a part in the decision-making process. The same applies to religion – asking about a candidate’s religious affiliation or religious holidays is equally off-limits.

Question 4: “Do you have any kids/plan on having kids?”

Following on from questions about marital status, under no circumstances should you ask the candidate if they have children, or if they plan on having children in the future.

Questions like this not only put the candidate in an awkward position, but also make them feel that they could be overlooked if they do have children because the employer might assume that they will want to work fewer hours.

Similarly, if you ask about future plans for having kids, it could make the candidate feel as though you may not want to invest in them as an employee because they’ll eventually go on parental leave.

Question 5: “What is your childcare arrangement?”

Even if the candidate volunteers information that signals to you that they do have children, DO NOT under any circumstances ask them about their childcare arrangements.

You can ask the candidate about their availability to work, whether or not they are in a position to be able to travel for the job, and if they can work overtime on occasion, but childcare questions are strictly forbidden.

Question 6: “How old are you?”

Asking a candidate about their age is completely illegal. By right, a date of birth shouldn’t even be listed on a resume, let alone brought up for discussion in an interview scenario.

You can ask the candidate if they are over 18 if it’s the legal requirement for the job, but that’s about it. Age discrimination is a very real issue in the world of recruitment, and should have no bearing whatsoever on whether or not a candidate is capable of doing the job you are hiring for.

Question 7: “How far is your commute?”

This is a surprising one. You would think that it would be perfectly acceptable to ask a candidate where they are currently living, but in actual fact, it could get you into serious trouble.

You can ask if they are able to get to work by 8am every day, or if they’ve mentioned in passing that they are living in another city at the moment, it’s okay to ask if they are willing to relocate should they be offered the job.

However, if you specifically probe about commuting time, the candidate could leave the interview feeling that this could have a bearing on his or her application, or that the person who lives closest to the office has the best chance of getting the position.

Question 8: “How often did you take sick days in your last position?”

You can ask a candidate how many days they missed in the past year if you feel it absolutely necessary, but try to steer clear of this question altogether. If there is a time gap on the candidate’s resume, you can enquire about this.

Illness could be a reason for the lapse in employment, but it’s very important that you do not pry when it comes to their health in an interview. 

Questions about a candidate’s disability or medical history are off-limits at the interview stage. SocialTalent’s guide to inclusive interview techniques gives hiring managers practical ways to keep interviews structured, consistent, and accessible.

You may enquire about pre-existing medical conditions when the candidate has been offered the job, but only as a way to ensure that there are no obstacles for that person to fulfil their role in the organization.

Question 9: “When did you graduate from school/college?”

This is another question that you may think is completely respectable to venture in an interview, but again, it opens up problems. Asking when a candidate graduated from school or college could be perceived as a sneaky way for you to try to figure out their age.

Granted, this could very well be listed on the candidate’s resume, but it shouldn’t play any part in the decision-making process. Therefore, it’s best not to bring it up at all. What you’re looking for from the candidate is information about the qualification itself, as well as the person’s relevant work experience. What year they finished college or school really shouldn’t come into play.

Question 10: “Do you socially drink or smoke?”

There is no reason why an interview should be venturing into questions like this. Your organization may have a vibrant company culture that includes plenty of work nights out, company dinners, or parties.

However, whether a candidate drinks socially or not really isn’t your concern. Similarly, even if your organization enforces a strict no-smoking policy, asking a candidate if they smoke is completely out of line.

Other Off-Limits Topics Worth Knowing

The ten questions above are the most commonly cited, but interviewers should also be careful with questions about a candidate’s financial situation.

Home ownership, credit history, bankruptcy, or wage garnishment rarely belong in an interview because they can reveal personal circumstances that are not relevant to the person’s ability to do the job.

Unless a financial background check is a documented, legally justified requirement of the role, keep these topics out of the conversation entirely.

The Bottom Line on Fair and Legal Interviewing

So what’s the bottom line? If any question you ask could be used to discriminate, don’t even think about asking it!

SocialTalent’s Interview Training solution will give your recruiters and hiring managers all the insights they need to conduct fair, effective, and successful interviews.