Aussie woman fuming over cooked job application question

“I can't believe you have that in writing!!!” said one commenter on social media. Would you answer this?

When filling out a job application, there are a few questions you’d expect to answer.

They’ll want to know about your past experience, for sure. Perhaps your salary expectations. Maybe even your strengths and weaknesses. But, you’d definitely be surprised to see a question about your relationship status.

One Aussie has gone viral on social media after hitting back at an employer over a question like this one. The response isn’t at all what she expected.

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Image: TikTok / @sashandlady.

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“Run for the hills!”

Aussie job seeker Sasha shared her confusing application to TikTok this week, after being asked a unique question.

“I had a CEO recently ask me to fill out a survey for a role, and I was like, ‘Okay, cool, whatever, that’s not unusual’,” she said.

“As I’m going through the survey, it is weird. Some of the questions are strange. But then I get to the mother of all red flags.”

Sasha then moves to reveal a multiple choice question, asking the respondent about their relationship status today, with the answers being married, single, long term relationship, married with children, in a new relationship, and ‘I don’t know what I’m in, I’m confused’.

Needless to say, she was fuming.

“Obviously, straight away, I know that this is highly inappropriate, and I’m absolutely not answering that,” she said.

“It’s got nothing to do with the role and my ability to complete the role.”

She then did what she thought was best - alerted the CEO about the issue. But, his response couldn’t have been more confusing.

“This man doubles down, this is what he writes back,” she said, reading from his response.

“‘I still ask it anyway because from our culture perspective it’s important for me to know what kind of mental stability someone is in when they are planning to look after our team and in that knowing their ability to manage relationship shows a lot for myself. I’ll consider this kind of connection of knowledge a deal breaker for you?’

“Ah, f*ck yeah my guy. That is a dealbreaker.”

Yikes!

Sasha finished with a word of advice for fellow job seekers.

“If anybody ever asks you a question that is inappropriate and has nothing to do with the role, run for the hills,” she said.

“This kind of individual clearly has no boundaries. If they’ve got no boundaries when it comes to your personal professional life, they’re going to continue to push those boundaries within a workplace. I am shooketh that managers like this exist!”

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“I don’t even know what kind of answer he wants??”

Commenters on the post were shocked at the unprofessionalism in the interaction.

“I can't believe you have that in writing!!!” said one commenter.

“I'm equally concerned by his nonsensical response,” another added.

“Your mental stability has nothing to do with your relationship type. It’s irrelevant to the job,” another agreed.

“I don’t even know what kind of answer he wants?? Anything except the last one??” asked one commenter.

Some even suggested other reasons why a question like this might be asked.

“This is just a sneaky way of working out if you’re likely to be going on maternity leave,” said one commenter.

“Either: ‘I want to know if these chicks are single’ or ‘I want to know if you’re about have kids and leave for a few months’,” said another.

@sashandlady

Im good though 🚩🚩🚩#interviewquestions #interview

♬ original sound - sashandlady

“I agree with the question!”

However, some said the question was understandable.

“Absolutely not true 😂 if you have a partner then your life would be completely different hahah your needs as an employee would also be different. A company has to take into account your lifestyle,” said one commenter.

“I agree with the question to a degree, not his reason for them. Single/partnered, children/no children should be the only responses. These can affect your role if there are remote work aspects,” added another.

“I fail to see how disclosing your marital status for a job interview can be a deal breaker. Do you not complete the next of kin details either then?” a third agreed.

“Please report the company!”

Others, though, clarified that not only is a question like this inappropriate, it’s also completely illegal, encouraging the poster to report the employer.

“Definitely refer that to Fair Work... It's so wrong,” said one commenter.

“Please report the company. It’s illegal to ask that,” said another.

“It’s illegal to ask about relationship status in interviews/ inductions in Australia! Not to mention I don’t see the correlation between mental stability and relationship status,” a third agreed.

Originally published as Aussie woman fuming over cooked job application question