Asked woman if she was single during interview

[dabney]

I had an interview on Thursday with an airline. I was interviewed by someone and met someone in human resources. I thought she was nice so I asked if she was single. I didn't get the job. Is this good reason not to hire somebody?

 

[mightymoose]

You have no way of knowing what their reason was for not hiring you. They don't need a good reason to refuse you employment, they just can't do it because of your race, gender, religion, etc.
That certainly was not a smart thing to do though. If it was their reason it would be perfectly valid. Perhaps they saw you as a risk for sexual harassment claims.

 

[Betty3]

There is no way to know why you didn't get the job.

 

[cbg]

That was an inappropriate question to ask during a job interview and yes, as a matter of fact, that is a valid reason not to hire you.

 

[Betty3]

Agree that is a valid reason not to hire but there is no way for us to know for sure why you weren't hired.

 

[shrinkmaster]

That was a very unwise thing to say what were you thinking. If I was interviewer or told of this I would seriously suggest not hiring you!

 

[Betty3]

I believe this is the same OP who posted a thread asking if someone from work can be dated.

 

[cbg]

It is. Leading me to wonder how often this has happened.

While it is correct that we don't know why he was not hired, even if he had conclusive proof that the sole reason he was not hired is that he asked the interviewer if she was single, that would be a legitimate reason to refuse to hire. If he's asking inappropriate questions of the job interviewer, what makes them think he wouldn't be asking inappropriate questions after hire?

 

[Betty3]

Agree/concur with cbg.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

This is a man who clearly does not understand that it's not a good idea to make an incumbent feel awkward on the job and that a company has no obligation to make their employees feel awkward as the result of some very poor judgment. When I interviewed candidates, I had a right to hire the person I felt was best suited. If I thought that someone might be under the influence of cocaine or another drug during the interview (as did happen) or that they had some strange organizations listed on their resume that well adjusted candidates would probably not list and keep as a private interest (you wouldn't believe what some people want to publicize) then it was within my judgment to simply say "I've got a better candidate who could probably also cause much less unrest among the staff." It's just bad judgment where someone does something that advertises that they will probably create situations that we'd all prefer to avoid in the course of performing our work on the job.