Most of these questions are illegal in my country, thank fuck

Gender?

Present.

Sex at birth?

No, my first time was well over a decade later.

Are you trans?

Transtabular, from your position.

Are you gay? Bi?

I prefer professionalism to gaiety during interviews. This meeting isn't over yet.

Ever been depressed?

Not in the button sense, no.

Abuse alcohol? Drugs?

Neither physically nor emotionally. No, thank you, not now.

Ever been arrested?

Have you been?

Ever been in the military?

Even if I was, you're not getting veteran's benefits through me.

Well what about your spouse?

Even if they were, you're not getting veteran's benefits through them.

Ever work for the government?

Why, are you paying public service rates?

That degree you mentioned, we can’t ask your age but uh, when did you earn that bad boy, huh?

I think it was sometime around when I graduated from college.

Gender?

Sex at birth?

Are you trans?

Are you gay? Bi?

Ever been depressed?

Abuse alcohol? Drugs?

Ever been arrested?

Ever been in the military?

Well what about your spouse?

Ever work for the government?

That degree you mentioned, we can't ask your age but uh, when did you earn that bad boy, huh?

I'm just trying to get an egg loan! There's people in line behind me!

Where are you that has questions like these?

5 of those questions aren't asked in the US.

Right out of college, I went through an eight hour long hiring process complete with a proctored exam, three different interviews, a psychological screening, and a meeting with the CEO. All for an entry level position that paid $25k. By the end of the day, I was the only candidate left to be considered and they didn't give me an offer.

I got a call and a quick phone interview two days later from a small independent IT company that quoted me $30k on the spot. I said I was considering a second position and - over the phone - the guy raises it to $35k. Took the deal. Started a week later.

Two months after that, I got a postcard in the mail saying I was no longer being considered for the first job.

This was in 2006 and its only gotten worse since.

Ah fuck it, yes to everything! Yolo!

What is the "correct" answer for the ever worked in the government/military ones?

Almost none of that is asked on an application except the degree date. All of the above would be a fucking nightmare for HR. You really think employers are dumb enough to ask questions that could lead to discrimination lawsuits?!

After you are hired, the forms ask:

• Gender and race (you forgot race!): Employers need this for mandatory Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reporting.
• Alcohol and drugs: Only for a very few positions, government, security and the like. Perhaps you were filling out a Form 4473 to buy a gun and got confused?
• Arrested and convicted of a crime: Imagine an employee getting raped and the employer having to say, "We had no idea!" I've been arrested shitloads of times, no convictions, no problem. Also, I'm betting you can say "no" for misdemeanor convictions, no one gives a shit unless the job requires a security clearance. And if you think standard hiring invades your privacy, oh boy.
• Military: Various laws to protect vets require the employer to know this for benefits, accommodations, etc., same for spouse. Also an EEO thing.
• Government work: Never seen this, but I imagine it's like any employer, "Ever worked for us before?"

You made some of that up out of thin air and didn't understand the rest. And here ya got 61 upvotes from people taking all that at face value. Be better.

SOURCE: Worked IT for an employment firm with 200 employers. Designed and posted hiring forms, hiring data and onboarding at two places. Learned more about hiring than I ever wanted to know.

Sorry we’ve decided to move forward with other candidates (You’re not the VP’s son).

My last job had close to that range. There is a hiring range is typically 50-70% of the maximum. Below 50% is the developmental range for laddering underqualified internal hires. Over 70% is for very experienced, overqualified candidates. Generally employers won't go more than 85% of max because they need a couple years of cushion for salary increases. If they hire at max they know the candidate is going to be back on the market in a year.

(We will always offer you pay on the lower end of the scale)

High school diploma is barely an entry barrier, completely reasonable IMO for anything other than a factory button-pusher.

I know JavaScript, TypeScript, and ECMAScript.

I know word, excel, powerpoint

/s

(but then again macros are a thing)

I know JavaScript! JS! ECMAScript 5! ECMAScript 6!

We don't have any freedom with work unless we have the freedom not to work.

What are you talking about? We have the freedom to not work and die cold and hungry in the streets just like the founding fathers intended!

Capitalism is slavery with extra steps.

As funny as it is when presented that way, it does make sense. After all if a company is using AI wherever possible, and yet hiring a person, then presumably it's because they want that person to do things they don't want to be using AI for.

Hell even without that hiring is really really hard. Im the IT manager for my company and I'm looking to hire for some level 1 help desk type positions. They don't need to be super experienced, but they do need to know things like "what is group policy" or "how would you troubleshoot this hypothetical issue". Basically they should be able to pass the Comptia A+ test, even if they dont actually have it.

My God I got over 600 applications within a business week! The vast majority of those applicants were from people with no experience, lots of experience in a different field!

Like I was getting these applicants from people who have 15 years of plumbing or machining experience. Or people who clearly haven't been able to hold down a job (if you bounce from minimum wage job to minimum wage job every other month, that's a bad look). Or on the other end of the spectrum, I was getting people with decades of sysadmin experience applying too.

I had to start having HR filter the top and bottom out of the stack so I could actually see useful data.

LOL I hope you told them "Dude you ARE competing with those companies for my skills, so are you in or not?" It's really that simple.

At one interview I wasn't really sure about my answer to a question, so after giving it I asked how they would do it, and the guy who asked said, "Well, I'm not the one being interviewed." I kept my mouth shut because I really liked everybody else I had talked to, but I wanted to go all Jules on the guy like, "Oh yes you are, Brett, yes you are!" Some employers don't get that an applicant is also interviewing them (at least I always was).

LPT:

"What are you expecting to make?"

Correct answer: Your real target (based on your own market research for the position) +15%.

Why? Because they're going to target your acceptable range at -10%, and make the offer right around there.

Then, you can come back and say "I might be able to make that work, as long as X, Y and / or Z are part of the package" where XYZ is anything from remote work to reimbursement for commute mileage.

If they say no to the added XYZ and you're desperate, well go ahead and accept, because you've just earned yourself +5% of what you were targeting. If they say yes, well, even better.

Don't go higher than 15% - this could kill the offer entirely if you misjudge the interview. 15% seems to be the sweet spot in my experience, based on a 30 year career.