Job Interviews from the Dark Side, Pt. 6

Continuing with my series on nightmarish job-interview experiences, many of which appear to violate applicable employment law, this time I'm recounting an experience that didn't happen to me. Such experiences are depressingly common, especially for female job applicants.

When I told a friend--I'll call her Dr. Jean--about some of my nightmarish job interviews, she related one of her own. It's the worst I've ever heard. Back when she was a pre-med student, looking for a summer job to help put her through school, she interviewed with a panel of men, ranging from late middle age to elderly, who made it clear they were looking for a secretary who'd be willing to perform "special services."

She got the distinct impression she knew what kind of "special services" they meant. "I didn't know what to do," she said. She was hoping to get the job so she could earn some money for medical school, but she didn't like the situation she was potentially getting into.

She waffled for a while, made excuses and little white lies and put off her decision, until she finally gathered the courage to call the guys back and tell them she didn't want the job after all.

Dr. Jean never made any formal complaint about the interview. Any complaint would probably only have amounted to, "she said, they said," with no corroborating evidence for her story. Today's generation may think, "record the interview with your phone," but that could risk getting you in trouble concerning recording a conversation without the other party's consent.

I recall how Lin Farley's book Sexual Shakedown related a similar situation in which the job applicant and her mother complained to the local police. At first, the police took the situation seriously and considered it to perhaps be a case of soliciting for prostitution. They arranged for a young woman to pose as a job applicant and wear a wire. The case, however, resulted in a plea bargain of nothing more serious than disturbing the peace.

Authorities, whether at the local or state or federal level, may not be so inclined to take such a "story" seriously. Illegal job questions don't always fit neatly with such criminal statutes as sexual assault or solicitation. Adequate enforcement of applicable law is what's needed.