Unethical Or Unprofessional Interview Question- I Am Shocked

Dear Rose,
This is ethical question. Because she will select you then give more training and implement the same from your work. If you join / take training after you will take leve it's no use your training / company has spent huge amount your tainng.
This is correct question and checking long term working without long leave.
regards,
shan

Dear All,
It is not wrong for the recruiter to know the future plans of their applicants and find out their interest or weightage for the work .The question seems to be unethecal.She must have asked in a different manner.if we highlight such kind of issues it would be better for the applicants

Wow. I am surprised that so many here feel that the question was unethical. Why do we chose to forget at our own convenience that a company's business model is primarily to make money! when they hire a resource who would be taking a maternity leave before she can "billed" for an organisation puts them in a spot, why should they (organisation) invest on someone who hasnt been productive and wont be for a while. Its absolutely correct to ask this question, get a grip.

typically, this entire rise in HUMAN RESOURCES is heavily complimented by the Onsite Offshore concept, primarily OUTSOURCING. Where is the humanity then, hipocrisy is convenient no doubt, i hope you get the drift.

I think she was wrong in the manner she asked the question.
We usually ask this just to confirm if the employee would require some long leave after joining. I feel asking this in a proper manner is not unethical.
Thanks
Jasmine

and btw, can all of you who said it should have been put forth in a more politically correct fashion, give us some examples. In a sentence, without getting verbose :D

Dear Rose,
I dont c anything unethical in dat question, infact its quite professional to understand the candidate better before hiring her. Its just about knowing / understanding the seriousness of the candidate regarding career. There r ladies who take up a convenient job sometimes, at organizations which r linient about these issues...just as a stop gap arrangement, to keep themselves occupied. I dont want to be gender biassed, but looking from organization perspective, the job does suffer when someone goes on long leave.
Only thing is dat she should have worded her question more appropriately and in a polite way.
Kavita

I agree with your reply Rose on this question.

The question should have been asked in a different way. There is nothing such as ethical or unethical in asking this question.

It is also important for an organization to understand the commitment of the candidate being recruited for a crucial position.

~ Nikita

Dear Rose,

The question asked is out of concern, but the way the interviewer asked the question is not right.

You may look at it this way...when you interview a person...you do ask, what is his/her salary expectation and why he / she feels he deserves the said amount, If you ask the same question in this fashion, it is ok...but if you ask the candidate...why the hell do you think the company should pay you the said amount...the question becomes offensive.

I believe, the interviewer might have had tough times with employees in the HR department taking maternity leaves / long leaves and work getting affected. And she might have asked you this question with the issues in back of her mind.

Its just that the way she asked the question which is incorrect. As an interviewer, you ask questions like plans for higher studies, plans for marriage etc, as they may affect the organization. Don't feel offended by the way she has asked the question. She might have wanted to be on the safer side in recruiting new employees.

Regards,

Arun.

Hi all,
I would also like to share my experience in the same regards.
before some days i also had an interview in one company and the hr person asked me the same question. She told me the reason behind was that she did not wanted there new joinees to take up a long leave atleast for two years.
This type of experience is very common now for those who seek a job change and its really very difficult to decide whether its ethical or unethical.
Regards
Rachana