What would be the one thing that put you off hiring someone?

[greyrabbits]

Of all the things that would put you off giving someone a job, what’s the one thing that’s a definite no thanks.

I agree. Like I said, I'd only mention it if they brought it up because I'm an open person but I do understand that it's probably considered inappropriate to bring it up in normal work conversations.

Who on earth would ask such questions of a work colleague?

This has got absolutely nothing to do with how a person 'identifies' and everything to do with having professional relationship and boundaries in the workplace.

You wasted your time and his time to get him to interview so you could tell him off?

In answer to the question, when the person clearly hasn't taken the time to understand the basics of what the organisation is about. At the very least, go to the company's website and do some basic research.

Bitching and troublemaking

Yes this gets to the heart of it. If you're clearly going to make your identity a big thing, to the detriment of doing your job and getting along with other employees, then of course that's going to put employers off.

You said:
"But my tattoos, hair colour and sexual orientation/pronouns are part of who I am. They are part of my identity, for a multitude of reasons. They're specifically saying they wouldn't hire me if I stated those things - isn't not hiring someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination?"

You didn't specify which things, you gave a list and we were discussing tattoos and hair colour - no idea why gender and sexual orientation came into it. Apologies for the misunderstanding

We have rejected someone based on their obsession with their sexual orientation. They talked about it for at least 50% of the interview and it had nothing whatsoever to do with their job or the questions asked. But everything came back to it - we don't need a crusader, we need an employee focused on getting the work done and people need to be allowed to work in peace without being harassed by someone who's on a crusade. I'm left wing and I'm gender critical had someone talked about being left wing or being gender critical for 50% of their interview I'd have rejected them too or talked about football or any other obsession.
It's a work-place - we recruit people on the basis of their technical ability and their ability to get on with people constructively. If you have a drum to bang, do it on your own time!

Trouble is that this then discriminates against people who are frequently on the receiving end of employers who don't show the same loyalty or commitment towards staff - particularly those who have disabilities, are women with children or are financially vulnerable in some way (with or without a zero hour contract) - or where businesses simply do not last that long.

I agree that people shouldn't talk about it during their interview, especially for over half of it. It should be "what is your sexual orientation and gender identity?" (More specifically if they offer badges that say your gender identity, if you're in a customer-facing role, and you're comfortable wearing said badge), then the candidate should answer, and that should be the end of it. I would never dream of talking about my personal life unless specifically prompted to, and even then, I'd keep it to a minimum because it isn't relevant to the job.

Like I said, however, it is relevant if someone specifically chooses not to hire someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. That's discrimination. I'm not sure on the legality of the next part, but I don't believe it's discrimination to not hire someone because they're talking about things irrelevant to the job.

Again, I apologise if I'm not writing clearly - I don't relay things very well over text.

Also, in case it isn't obvious (due to the above reason I've just stated), I'm not slating you or saying you're incorrect. I am genuinely enjoying this discussion. I like to hear other people's viewpoints.

what is your sexual orientation and gender identity?

Do people actually ask this in an interview?? I mean it’s been a while since I’ve interviewed people but I wouldn’t have asked his. Mostly because I do not care, it’s not relevant

It might not be commonplace but I have been asked this in an interview before 😅

interviewers aren’t always experienced and don’t always know what is and isn’t appropriate. When ds was applying for jobs after he graduated I was genuinely shocked at the quality of interviews. He was asked if he owned his house. He was asked what job his parents did! Another employer told him he’d have to grow a thick skin as the sales team often tried to bully their managers!
An interview goes both ways - don’t work for companies who interview badly!

Well it depends on the strength. But I find it far worse than moderate BO personally. There's something about it which seems to get right inside my throat and windpipe and it's very unpleasant physically. I think a lot of people feel the same, from reading threads on here about it.

Plus discriminates those who are just unlucky with getting redundant or just getting 12 month contracts

I had 4 job changes in 3 years. Three weren’t my fault

Judging by my DC's job hunting experience, it would seem being autistic makes someone unemployable.

If they drop an absolute clanger in the interview!

I work in sexual health and interviewed someone who was consistently hitting every single point in the interview criteria and we thought he would be excellent, and then during his answer to our last question, he enthusiastically suggested that all of our service users were ‘mentally unstable’ 😬 he did not get the job. Thank goodness we asked that question, or we would have found out the hard way!

It’s also astounding how many people don’t mention any specific interest in sexual health when they apply/interview.

Seems a pity to lose potential good staff when 'this is a perfume/aftershave free office' on the job spec would be an easy solution.

I've interviewed lots of people over the years.
Outside of the obvious (not qualified, zero interest in role, lying about ability, etc.)
Lack of personality is one for me. I've had candidates who are perfect in paper, give rehearsed answers, but come across as robotic and give no impression of who they are.
I also have a 2 question strategy as well. My job is highly technical and specialised. I always ask them to explain how they would fix 2 issues. The first is something they should all be able to do and had a set process. The second is a highly complex issue where I wouldn't expect anyone to know the answer of the top of their head. If at no point do they say they will Google the error/situation and try to bullshit an answer it's an immediate no. I need colleagues who know they don't know everything and are able to research solutions!

Unexplained gaps in career on CV
Application form not well completed (shouts lazy)
Being late to interview without a reason given
No personality at interview

Bad mouthing their current/previous work place - just don't, I may well know people who work there and it makes me wonder what you might say about us if you choose to move on.

Being arrogant- there's a difference between talking about your skills/experience and being arrogant. I interviewed someone last year who could have done the job but came across as very arrogant in interview- completely put me off and we didn't appoint him.

Hear hear. If some people on this thread are actually in charge of hiring, they deserve to get done for discrimination. Such bigotry and prejudice being displayed by certain pps.

I didn't think that was still an attitude in the 21st century. Do you realise how many doctors have tattoos just in the right places so that you can't see them with scrubs on? (Just been helping DP to decide where to get his next one done) If I see police etc with tattoos I find them more relatable.

I’m really surprised you think tattoos are still not frowned upon - it’s part of their appeal isn’t it? Anyway non visible tattoos are not what we’re talking about because you wouldn’t know about them at interview.

I havent got tattoos to be frowned upon. What a weird thing to say

And also, my arms can be covered at interviews yes, but they will 100% be on show on day one. What then?

I'm genuinely surprised, but might just be because of the people I know. I'm also autistic, so trying to figure out how other people might think is tricky sometimes too. I think the same is said about clothing, as jeans and dressed-down clothing have become accepted in the workplace. I had my tattoo on display when I was a councillor, it didn't seem to be an issue for anyone.