How should one answer this interview question?

Question

Have you experienced discrimination before? And if so, how did you deal with the situation? I'm assuming that you're meant to answer yes, and then elaborate, quoting equal opportunities/equal access?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you have never been discriminated against then the answer must be No.

There is no fault in answering this way, as you cannot fake how it would have affected you, However be prepared that they may ask hypothetically how you would deal with the situation. There are may web sites devoted to this topic, and it would be of benefit to you to research this yourself as to the personal effects on people and also legislation.

quoting someone Else's opinion without an understanding yourself I think would only leave you open to being tripped up.

Good Luck

Answer 2

say no then you don't have to elaborate

Answer 3

I agree with the other guy. and if you have been; tell them why. but not if it's because of something like "they discriminated me cos I was a member of the h**l's Angel's" something like that just wouldn't go over well. I once went to an interview in 1989 where they asked me if I had the HIV virus and would I be willing to be tested. I said no, I don't have the virus and this is not right to ask and I stormed out. I really felt strongly about that as well. I couldn't believe it!!!This job, by the way, was  NOT in the health field.

Answer 4

I encountered it once, but answered truthfully that I hadn't. Being asked if you have doesn;t necessarily mean they want you to make something up if you haven't. If you haven't encountered it then you must have been in a discrimination-free environment of which you were a part.

Answer 5

My guess would be that they're trying to weed out complainers (*see below for a second guess).  For instance, someone above says "Everyone has been discriminated against" and that is true, but the thing is that not everyone has FELT discriminated against.  It is certainly quite possible that I have been a "victim" of discrimination because I am a woman, or a single mom, or over 25, or overweight.  But I can't think of a specific example of any discrimination - it's never registered deeply enough with me for me to notice it.  

On the other hand, I have an acquaintance who sees discrimination in every tiniest thing that every person does.  

Example: We went to a small, family run restaurant where I loooooooove the food, but the waitress is someone's Aunt Ethel, who's been constipated and sexless since 1923, by the way she acts.  She is a hateful, mean, rude woman, and I can't believe they don't get another waitress.  But, the food is good enough that I overlook "Aunt Ethel" and go anyway.  

I warned my friend before we went that the waitress is a *****, and to just ignore her as much as possible.  Alas, sure enough, when we left, my friend was incensed that the waitress had "discriminated against her" because of her (my friend's) physical appearance.  I'm sure that my friend HAS experienced discrimination because of her appearance, but *in this particular case* the waitress was just a *****, plain and simple.  

People like that, who have trouble distinguishing between "She's treating me poorly because I'm black/female/ugly/in a wheelchair/Jewish/whatever" and "Wow, she's a *****," can be the cause of numerous expensive and demoralizing - and often baseless - discrimination claims in the workplace.  If you can't tell the difference between "the copy-machine guy is a lazy jerk" and "the copy-machine guy hates me, personally, because of my appearance/beliefs/sexual orientation/whatever," you are going to be a liability to the company.  

So: Answer honestly. If you've never felt discriminated against, say so.  Answering something like, "Yes, I was discriminated against at my first job 10 years ago because I have freckles, but I was strong and soldiered through it" is only going to give the impression that you are hypersensitive and hold a grudge.  

If you HAVE felt discriminated against, again, say so honestly.  Something like, "Yes, at my former workplace my supervisor behaved in a discriminatory fashion*.  I remained as professional as possible, but when the discrimination began to affect my job performance I spoke confidentially to the personnel department."  

*Avoid mentioning what exactly you felt discriminated against about - this question might be a sneaky way of asking the un-askable questions: Are you g*y? Are you a single mom? Are you Jewish or Muslim or 'other' and have different holy days than Christians? Do you suffer from depression or other mental illness?  In the US, any of those questions are off-limits during most interviews, but a biased employer might be looking for a way to ask them anyway.  This "discrimination" question might be doing that, tricking applicants into saying, "Yes, my former boss hated the fact that I was g*y" - oops, that application just accidentally fell right into the trash can, all by itself, oh dear.  

See what I mean?

So, again, answer honestly but don't provide too much information.

Answer 6

They are just testing you. Say that you haven't, but that if you were you would either talk to the human resources manager or  a senior member of management (depending on how the company is structured. Do some research for this, as not every company has a human resources manager). You would also tell the person to stop whatever they were doing if possible. If you received a result that was not satisfactory, you would take it further to the anti-discrimination board.

Answer 7

I would have said "everyone has". Age, religion, s*x orientation, ethnic background, appearance, size, etc, and the list goes on. Discrimination happens to all of us. Some, more than others, but it happens to all of us.