Questions to Avoid (Leading, Hypothetical, Future, Personal).

Introduction: The Impact of a Bad Question

Just as important as knowing what to ask is knowing what not to ask. The goal of behavioral interviewing is to gather objective evidence of past behavior to predict future performance.

Certain types of questions, while seemingly intuitive, actually sabotage this goal.

They generate biased, theoretical or irrelevant answers, wasting valuable interview time and, in the worst case, introducing significant bias or even legal risk into the selection process.

Leading Questions

A leading (or leading) question is one in which the interviewer, consciously or unconsciously, "filters" his or her own opinion or the answer he or she wants to hear into the wording of the question.

Examples: "In this company we value teamwork very highly, what do you think of collaborative work?" or "I guess you handled that conflict well, didn't you?".

The Problem: These questions do not evaluate the candidate; they simply invite the candidate to agree with the interviewer.

The candidate, wanting to please and get the job, will give the "right" answer rather than his or her genuine opinion or experience.

The interviewer ends up, in effect, "interviewing in a mirror," without getting real information about the applicant's competencies.

When to use them: Although they should be avoided in 99% of cases, they could be used with extreme caution at the beginning of the interview with a very nervous candidate, asking leading questions on topics not relevant to the position, just to build confidence.

Hypothetical and Future Behavioral Questions

This is one of the most common mistakes in unstructured interviews. These questions place the candidate in an imaginary or future scenario.

Examples: "What would you do if a client gets angry...?" or "How will you handle a project with tight deadlines?".

The Problem: The Star methodology is based on past behavior being the best predictor of future behavior.

Hypothetical questions do the opposite: they invite the candidate to give a theoretical, "textbook" answer.

The candidate does not describe what he/she did, but what he/she thinks the interviewer wants to hear, or what should ideally be done. This offers no real evidence of their competence.

Personal and Irrelevant Questions

This category includes any questions that are not directly related to the candidate's ability to perform the duties of the job.

Irrelevant: Questions such as "What is your favorite movie?" or "What do you do in your spare time?" (unless directly related to a job competency) are a waste of time.

Worse, they can introduce a strong "similarity" bias (if the interviewer likes the same movie, he or she rates the candidate higher).

Personal: These are the most dangerous. Questions about family plans, marital status, religion, age, sexual orientation or disability are completely inappropriate.

Not only do they cause discomfort, but in most legislation they are illegal, as they can be the basis for a discrimination claim.

Summary

Knowing what not to ask is crucial. Certain types of questions sabotage the collection of objective evidence, generating biased or irrelevant answers.

Leading questions suggest the desired answer, inviting the candidate to agree with the interviewer, who ends up "interviewing in a mirror". Hypothetical questions (e.g., "What would you do if...?") invite theoretical, "textbook" answers, not real evidence.

Personal questions about marital status, religion, or family plans are the most dangerous. They are inappropriate and, in most legislations, illegal, opening up risks of discrimination claims.