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Do LGBTQ questions come up in job interviews?

posted 10 months ago by arcticdragon (592)
99 replies | jump to latest

I'm going to have a job interview soon, and the recruiter asked me in an email some questions to answer before the interview. Simple questions about me like my name, city where I live, and my... PRONOUNS.

I never had to give my pronouns before, and never even put them in my profiles. Nevertheless, I gave my pronouns just for the sake of answering all the questions.

I should also add that the recruiter who emailed me puts his pronouns (he/they) in his signature, and in the email, their company logo is sporting the famous rainbow flag. It doesn't usually have the flag by default, but it does in the email. Companies do that sometimes to show how "safe and inclusive" they are.

So my question right now is simple. Do recruiters sometimes ask the applicants LGBTQ questions? Do applicants sometimes get tested for things like tolerance, respecting others' pronouns, or things like that?

[–] Information-Police (4896) 10 months ago

It sounds to me like they are trying to be inclusive and want to respect what your identify.

Some people see something sinister in that for some reason.

Depending on what City, county state you are interviewing in there may be protections for sexual orientation and gender identification. If there is, they cannot ask you about those things or about your religion or a lot of other things. If they have a policy of inclusion of LGBT coworkers they may give you a policy statement asking with other HR things.

On other places, they can come out and ask if you are gay and if you say yes they can say they aren't going to hire you because if that and it's perfectly legal. But who wants to work with haters like that!

[–] aliensalmon (5855) 10 months ago

Who cares if they ask pronoun questions? That should be an easy question for you to answer with a minimal use of brain cells...just answer them and go about your day!

[–] WandererFromYs (2406) 10 months ago

They might ask pronouns because of how much some people care about them, but they don’t really want to know anything about that. If they ask you if you are gay, and you say yes, and then dont get the job. You could try and flip that in to a lawsuit.

[–] AngryViking (779) 10 months ago

Tell them you identify as Viking. Works for me. 🪓

[–] Kowalski (79051) 10 months ago

LOL

[–] arcticdragon (592) 10 months ago

I just had my interview. Good news. The topic was never brought up in our conversation.

Nevertheless, I'm still curious with my original question. Do recruiters sometimes question the applicants over stuff like that in an interview? For example, if a company already has plenty of gay/trans/nonbinary employees, would they test you to see if you would tolerate and respect those employees, or else they won't hire you?

[–] moviechatterer (16326) 10 months ago

I would think they assume that you're not going to be one of the dozens of bigoted loudmouths we have on this thread and will treat any LBGT employees they have with the appropriate respect.
... and then fire you if you dont which is fair enough.

The questions the recruiter asked you were purely to find out if you required YOUR possibly different pronouns respecting.
Exactly the same as them asking you if you need disabled access to the interview
or vegetarian option on the interview lunch break .

[–] arcticdragon (592) 10 months ago

Okay, that makes sense. I know that they ask in the application, and then it's the applicant's choice to answer or not. But I didn't expect the recruiter would ask in a direct EMAIL, which felt like they expected and insisted on getting an answer this time.

[–] moviechatterer (16326) 10 months ago

would they test you to see if you would tolerate and respect those employees

no they are not testing you - the tolerance and respect is expected and goes with out saying.
If its a problem for you you are not suitable for employment anywhere.

[–] arcticdragon (592) 10 months ago

Thanks for your answer. You answered the question DID they test me. But the question they asked was WOULD they test me?

It doesn't have to be ME or the company I interviewed with. I want to know would ANY COMPANY do that with ANY applicant? Does it happen?

[–] moviechatterer (16326) 10 months ago

How would they test you ?
like, with questions?
"what would you do if our trannie asked that you call them "they" instead of "he" ?

like I said its assumed in the workplace that you'll do that
It would be as out of place as asking "Your not going to beat the shit out of mohammed because he's Palestinian and you're a jew are you?

maybe I'm being nieve or have worked in too civilsed environments
I guess maybe on building site , or drilling platform they have to warn recruits to not be transphobic beforehand

[–] arcticdragon (592) 10 months ago

How would they test you ?
like, with questions?
"what would you do if our trannie asked that you call them "they" instead of "he" ?

Exactly. Questions like that.

like I said its assumed in the workplace that you'll do that
It would be as out of place as asking "Your not going to beat the shit out of mohammed because he's Palestinian and you're a jew are you?

I see. So, they would NOT actually ask you such questions, but they just assume and expect that we will do that. Okay, thanks. That's the answer I asked for.

maybe I'm being nieve or have worked in too civilsed environments
I guess maybe on building site , or drilling platform they have to warn recruits to not be transphobic beforehand

I wouldn't call you naïve. But you have to keep in mind, "civilized" and "transphobic" mean different things to different people. Calling them their pronouns seems pretty easy, but agreeing that "trans women are real women", and then acting it (sharing changing rooms), are things people should NOT have to do to be civil, or prove they are not transphobic.