Reasonable adjustments for job interview

[Shefliesonherownwings]

Just looking for some advice particularly from HR/recruitment people about whether my request for an adjustment for a forthcoming job interview is reasonable.

A couple of years ago I suffered a traumatic bereavement and since then I’ve been left with PTSD. It’s affected my cognitive abilities so I find it hard to process and digest information at speed and respond quickly, particularly in time pressured situations. I had a couple of job interviews last year and found I was really hampered by this issue in the first interview so for the second one I asked for more time during the interview and for the interviewers to read the question slowly enough for me to write it out. I thought this would help me process. Unfortunately it made little difference and in fact the interviewers then told me to speed up which put me off.

I now have another interview in a couple of weeks and am thinking of requesting the interview assessment and questions in advance to give me time to read and digest them. I’m not talking days in advance, maybe just a couple of hours. Does this sound reasonable? I don’t want to take the mickey but I can’t think of another way to get round my cognitive issues.

I recently did interviewing for my workplace and I would have allowed this as an adjustment, but it depends what the job is. If it’s a job that requires you to be able to think quickly, on your feet, respond quickly to a developing situation etc I can see why it may be declined as if you wouldn’t be able to answer questions then you simply wouldn’t be able to do the job.

The other thing to consider is that when I am interviewing I don’t decide all questions in advance, I have a template but it is just an outline, often questions are guided by your responses so I couldn’t possibly give all questions in advance as I wouldn’t know myself.

I'm Occ Health not HR.
Yes requesting the questions in advance is an acceptable adjustment for someone with a disability.
The only time it may refused is if part of the selection process is to see how you cope with being given information and having to find answers under time pressure eg a telephone customer service job

Good luck with the interview

There was a thread about having interview questions in advance the other day as part of reasonable adjustments. I'll see if I can find it.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/work/5027966-hiring-managers-of-mumsnet-give-it-to-me-straight?page=2&reply=133752992

As if they can give you the questions on a printed card as well as verbally.

Thanks all, much appreciated and thanks @ASighMadeOfStone for the link to the earlier thread, all really helpful.

I appreciate the point that some interviewers will ask questions on the fly and follow up questions depending on the answers which I can do my best to manage. I think the best thing is just to ask and see what they say. As a few people on the other thread said, the response will give me an insight into the type of company they are. I’ll send the request off today. Thanks again everyone.

It's actually becoming a lot more common to give questions in advance and also to give a printed set of questions during the interview.
So very reasonable and not all that difficult for them.
I think the request will also, moving forward, be a good test of whether a job/company is right for you.
The one that told you to "speed up" in the interview in spite of being aware of your difficulties was probably not a great fit for you!

I understand reasonable adjustments etc, but how is this fair for those not being given this accommodation?

I was asked an Excel question in an interview the other day and I stumbled because most things on Excel for me are almost muscle memory. I couldn't even tell you what tab the function is on, even if I do it every day. Yes someone in OP's position could rehearse this question a thousand times, walk through it like they're teaching a child and nail it.

I think this accommodation should be made for OP or course, but this just opens up the ChatGTP option to everyone prior to the interview and sort of defeats the object of the interview. I mean, I could nail a nuclear physics position (not my field) if I could look up the questions beforehand...

It doesn’t defeat the object of the interview at all, as someone who did recently conduct interviews for my workplace, we can see right through this. For one section of our interviews we give all questions in advance as we expect responses of roughly 5 minutes per question and in that section the content/understanding is more important than being able to “perform” on the spot. There were quite obviously people who had gone onto ChatGPT and the likes for that section and it becomes very obvious very quickly because we (and most interviewers) always ask follow up questions, want to delve deeper, want to see how you can link it to other things… you could memorise your answer to the nuclear physics question, the one you got in advance, and sound brilliant. But you’re going to look very stupid very quickly when I ask a follow up question which you DIDN’T get in advance, probably a really simple one related to the first question, and you don’t have a clue what the answer is.

@Mrsttcno1
Isn't the follow-up question then not accommodating that person then? It sort of defeats the object...

Where I work we always send the interview questions over 48 hours before, so I don't think it's unreasonable.

Although I get surprised every time I interview, people obviously don't read the questions beforehand. And some clearly Google the answers and read it word for word.

@C1N1C I see your point but in my opinion I am at a disadvantage because of my cognitive issues so making an adjustment like this puts me on a level playing field with others. I’m not trying to get one over on other candidates, I’m trying to give myself the best possible chance.

The point about looking up technical answers is for me irrelevant because it’s a civil service interview which is all competency based and I need to give examples based on my own work experience, not something I can google beforehand.

What matters is, are you capable of the actual job? There are some jobs they can’t make this adjustment as you need to process things as they come at you.
Can you do this job?
If you can, then speak to them about the interview issue. If you can’t then there isn’t much point.

That’s why I said in my initial reply to OP it’s simply not possible to ever provide EVERY question for interview. Every interviewer ends up asking follow up questions, guided by how the interview is going, often this is to help the interviewee for example if I’ve already asked a question and you provide a good answer but it hits 5 out of 6 points, if you’re a good candidate I’m always going to ask a follow up question to try and help you hit that 6th point. It doesn’t defeat the object, as OP has said, they accept questions do come up in the course of the interview but surely you can see it makes a big difference to have the “framework” of the interview (the core questions basically) in advance for someone in OP’s situation.

@Itslegitimatesalvage im already doing the job elsewhere so yes i can. I wouldn’t have applied if I couldn’t do it.

I sent the request and they have declined which is a bit disappointing and makes me a little hesitant about the organisation now. They’ve offered more time for the interview and assessment and I’m going to go back and ask if the interview questions (the main ones, not necessarily follow up ones), be put on the screen in writing, maybe in the teams/zoom text box.

That’s not fair. If you’re able to do the job then refusing to allow a fair adjustment at the interview seems like they’re stacking the deck to avoid hiring people who may require a reasonable adjustment.

I hope they can offer you to at least put them on screen.

Not necessarily, they are allowing other adjustments e.g. more time which gets around the “under time pressure” issue of needing/wanting questions in advance.

For lots of jobs, being able to think on your feet or under pressure in a fast pace environment is a crucial part of the job role and so it is as simple as needing questions in advance would really mean you’re unable to do the job.

I think competency based interviews are a bit of a nightmare in general and definitely easier if you have the questions beforehand - it is really tricky to dredge up appropriate examples on the hoof, but with a bit of time you could probably come up with the perfect example from your work experience.

Putting the questions on the screen/allowing more time seems a reasonable adjustment. If they were to circulate the questions in advance, it should be to all the candidates, which would be fair and meet the OPs needs.