Interviewing is difficult enough while making sure not to cross over legal boundaries. Unfortunately, there are a number of questions that pose enormous risk to your business because of real or perceived discrimination. Interview questions need to focus on skills, experience, strengths and weaknesses, motivation and passion. Avoid everything about someone's identity and personal life. Here's a great list of things you should avoid at all cost:
As a company, protect yourself against candidate claims of, “I didn’t get the job because...” in which they disclosed something about themselves from one of these protected categories. Withholding an offer must be based on lack of relevant skills or experience, absence of passion for the type of activities included in the role, or a communication and work style that doesn't align with the existing team a.k.a. poor culture fit.
Great interview questions typically blend skill based questions (right or wrong answers) with situational and behavioral questions that can only be answered in narrative form and have levels of complexity. For example:
Last but not least, have fun! This is an exciting time for the team to grow and you will be speaking with incredible candidates within the ecosystem. Have ice breakers, get to know them outside of work--this could be someone who you work with for years to come and could become your “family!”