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08th Apr 2017

New York City has banned this question from job interviews

Carl Kinsella

There are a lot of questions we wish would never come up in a job interview…

Nobody wants to talk about what their biggest weakness is, for example, or how much they made at their previous job.

In a policy that plenty of people will surely hope that Ireland will adopt, New York City Council has voted to prohibit prospective employers from trying to find out what kind of salary their interviewees made at their last job.

The measure has been introduced in order to prevent discrimination against women and minority employees, who typically earn less than white men for the same jobs and roles. The ban will come into place six months from now, and it does not break any rules if a prospective employee willingly volunteers the information.

In the meantime, we hope Ireland is taking a long, hard look at its own rules around job interviews. For example, we believe that we should all get a lollipop once the stressful ordeal comes to an end. Or, better yet, a pint.

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Jobs