I really wasn’t using this story as a reason to post a album cover from one of my favorite bands, really! It is an interesting story, a position that many HR professionals have found themselves in during their career. What do I ask? How do I ask it? How do I NOT get sued for asking it wrong….
“Dr. Young” was a candidate for a senior administrative position at an institution that was a very good match for his interests. The chair of the search committee asked him to meet for a long lunch in a nice restaurant in a city a couple of hours away (an attempt at a bit of privacy). The lunch went incredibly well. Their conversations were completely relaxed and laughter punctuated much of their time together.
As the committee chair outlined details of the challenges and opportunities of the position, Dr. Young found himself even more interested than he had been prior to the meeting.
As their time together dwindled, the chair leaned in and said, in a half-whisper, “Before we leave, I have to ask you one last question. Please understand that I feel awkward asking this, but this is the best setting to ask since it’s just the two of us. Do you have any skeletons in your closet?”
Dr. Young was caught off guard by the question. What exactly did this mean? He thought immediately of an old job-interview joke he had once heard: Interviewer: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” Interviewee, in a relieved tone of voice: “Convicted? Whew! No.”
How far back did he need to go in his answer? College indiscretions? High-school hijinks? What kind of skeletons? Financial issues? Romantic complications?
The chair clarified slightly: “We will do a complete background check, including a credit check, on finalists for this position, so I figure it’s better to ask in person and let the candidate withdraw in advance if something might be found. It’s better for everyone to ask this early.”
Dr. Young later asked a friend who was an employment lawyer about the question, and the lawyer said, “He was trying to get you to self-disclose information that they might or might not discover on their own. It’s sort of a trick question, a little like ‘When will you stop beating your spouse?’”
What advice might you offer a candidate who fields such a question?
