Interviewer asking where I live

[Arielandflounder]

AIBU - I had an interview today. During the interview I was asked where I live. I didn’t want to tell them my exact location in an interview setting so I said I live in Buckinghamshire. The interviewer then said where do you live in Buckinghamshire. I then replied
I’m living in X village. It’s not the one I live in it’s the next village 5 minutes away.

Then they said about giving my CV to their client. This involves using my CV details on their corporate paper and then sending it out to their client. In all honesty i just sat there and thought you have no right to give out my information when you have not even made a job offer or asked if it’s even okay to do that. They even asked me to detail information which I told them I am prohibited from disclosing due the nature of the work I have done in the past.

As I went through an agency they do not have my home address but it’s the fact they thought they could just give out my details that got my back up. AIBU

It sounds like you are interviewing with something similar to a consulting firm. It’s normal to run new hires past clients if you will be working on their accounts.

If some of your work is subject to an NDA, you just state that and move on. It’s perfectly normal. They aren’t doing anything wrong by asking for details about past work. One thing you can do is say, well I can’t go into detail on that project, but I can tell you that it left me with strong skills on x and y. Another alternative is to offer to discuss another project.

So the company you'd potentially be doing a lot of work with wants to see you experience and background before the other company agree to take you on? Maybe they have a better idea of the requirement and of the skills the successful candidate should possess. Sounds like the main company must think you're ok if they want the other one to see your CV. Surely this is a good thing.

Just leave your address and contact details blank.

And if your experience is something like GCHQ or Mi5 then there must be a generic way you can list the role without being explicit about the name or the specific projects. This is pretty standard stuff isn't it, sounds like you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Even if you were in witness protection or fleeing an abusive ex I don't see why there'd be any identifying information on your CV.

ffs, The role is 3’days office 2’days at home. of course they have asked a perfectly reasonable question. What is your problem in answering it? TBH if you do NDA work and have this kind of strange attitude, I wouldn't trust you with a thing, your logic is strangely skewed/nonsensical.

I work for a consultancy firm & we often will say to clients that we have X number of people living within Y miles of their office/project to support.

When we are so busy or need specific skills so are recruiting for that role, I will often tell the client that “we’ve got two people in Stevenage & one in Reading at second round for immediate start” for example. For the very niche roles where the industry is very small, the client will often ask for a CV or profile.

It sounds very similar so I would say YABU mainly because without the client, the role wouldn’t exist.

And a lot of the time, our clients will be central government, the Royal Family, embassies or nuclear power stations, so we would ask all interviewing candidates to sign NDAs.

If you don't want their client to see your CV, then you shouldn't have applied for the job.

@MajesticWhine I recruit in the public sector a lot, just last week I asked someone where they live, as something they said made me think it wasn't local. It wasn't, so we then had a discussion about the location of the vacancy (they are happy to relocate have no family ties to the area they are currently in and only moved there for work), they were offered the job. We are also subject to the official secrets act. You are absolutely allowed to ask those questions in the public sector, what an odd thing to say.

Address question seems normal, probably in regard to commuting or availability.

The other - is there the possibility that this client is part of the decision making process?

Of course an agency needs to know where you live, whether you drive etc... how else do you expect them to find you a job. I worked in recruitment for 20 years, no point in putting people forward to jobs they can’t physically get to. They will also spec out an anonymous CV or market a profile to relevant prospective employers to create a vacancy for you. Honestly OP you are being utterly ridiculous 🤦‍♀️

This is one of the weirdest threads I've seen on here, of course your location is relevant. Unless you are in witness protection I'm not sure what the issue is. I'm sure OP will come along with the world's biggest drip feed in a minute.

You sound a bit batshit paranoid to be honest. One of those interviews where they probably both said wtf when you had left the room!

I’ve been asked where I live in interviews many times - sometimes small talk, sometimes checking that my commute would be ok/reliable. I’d find it quite odd if somebody answered that question just with the name of the county tbh, and I’d find it very odd if I subsequently found out (eg when I hired them) that they’d lied about the village. It’s not really confidential information for most people.

I'm also wondering what your concern is. Someone seeing your CV details stalking you, or identity theft? Talking to your current employer without your permission?

Aaaaaaaaaaaand they’ve gone.

I’ve only worked for the public sector and they don’t pass this information on at interview unless you volunteer it. If it makes you uncomfortable then maybe this isn’t the right person for you to be working with?

All public sector isn’t the same, I’m in the public sector and I get details of candidates location/address at interview, why would you not be allowed to see that.

@TitsInAbsentia

I didn't think it was ok to ask where someone lived (and make your own judgement on their commute) however acceptable to ask if they were able to commute to x location x days a week.

Nobody is going to attend an interview and then turn round and say no I can't commute to X, it will rule them out straight away. People will also not realise how much of a strain a long commute is regularly. I had the "perfect" job, I loved it. The commute was an 1.5hrs I ended up resenting it, lost a large part of my free time so decided to leave and would do again. Employers know this retention of staff is massively important to a successful business.

YABU. It is perfectly acceptable to ask the place where someone lives. You don't have to say X Road, just 'I live in Milton Keynes' or similar.

It is not unusual for people to apply for roles far-away from where they live then start to make noises about the commute or they can't make the start time.

Ok I stand corrected. Maybe I have it wrong. But I recruit quite a lot. My approach is we need to be really careful about giving everyone an equal opportunity based on the interview questions only. Not on things like where people live. It seems to me to be prejudicial and wrong to choose someone based on their address. But maybe I am being over cautious.

@MajesticWhine

Ok I stand corrected. Maybe I have it wrong. But I recruit quite a lot. My approach is we need to be really careful about giving everyone an equal opportunity based on the interview questions only. Not on things like where people live. It seems to me to be prejudicial and wrong to choose someone based on their address. But maybe I am being over cautious.

I think you are talking about something completely different here. Of course a hiring manager needs to know where someone lives, not down to street and house number but location! It's not a question of prejudice and equal opportunities but practicality, flexibility and suitability. Unless it is a home based job, or one that requires a lot of travel, location does matter. Job adverts even list it as a criteria. Not a lot of hiring managers would be comfortable someone commuting from over an hours drive daily as it's impractical and leaves a lot of room for lateness and non-flexibility. IMO

@MajesticWhine

Ok I stand corrected. Maybe I have it wrong. But I recruit quite a lot. My approach is we need to be really careful about giving everyone an equal opportunity based on the interview questions only. Not on things like where people live. It seems to me to be prejudicial and wrong to choose someone based on their address. But maybe I am being over cautious.

This isn't about protected characteristics. You need to know the person you are recruiting can get to your workplace without issue 99% of the time. Some are desperate to work and will not be realistic so then, after a few months, start to resent the commute they committed to.

I've never been to an interview where this wan't asked. I don't see the issue. Sorry.

@MajesticWhine

Ok I stand corrected. Maybe I have it wrong. But I recruit quite a lot. My approach is we need to be really careful about giving everyone an equal opportunity based on the interview questions only. Not on things like where people live. It seems to me to be prejudicial and wrong to choose someone based on their address. But maybe I am being over cautious.

But this isn't about prejudice, it's about practicalities.

I run a business and for practical reasons I would want candidates to live within 20-25 minutes drive. Not because people outside of that radius would be incapable of doing the job, but because the roads here are awful in winter (ice, snow, flooding, fallen trees, closed mountain passes) and there's too much risk of them not being able to get to work.

That's just being sensible.

Guys, you know that vague, nondescript woman we interviewed about an hour ago?

WE HAVE HER ADDRESS

Sending your CV to 3rd party clients is not that unusual, I've know this happen before. Especially if the person who will fill the role will work with this client. You would sometimes ask for feedback. I wouldn't put anything on a CV I wasn't happy for anyone to read. These documents are passed around hundreds of people once you submit it to an agency.