Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Guidelines for Recruitment and Selection of Administrative, Professional, or Supervisory Staff

Interviewing

The Interview Process

• The hiring authority should provide interviewers with a list of clearly defined
  questions designed to determine whether candidates are qualified and can perform
  the essential functions of the job. These questions should be asked uniformly of all candidates.
• All questions directed to applicants should be related to the position for which they
  have applied. No questions may be asked of one group of applicants that are not also directed to all other applicants. Questions concerning race, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, or disability may not be asked during the interview process.8
• After each interview, the interviewers’ evaluations should be put in writing and must
  be retained for a period of two years in the department files with all other documents
  related to the search (see Record Maintenance).
• Final candidates should generally be interviewed by more than one person.
  

Whenever feasible, interviewers should include women and members of minority
groups employed at a comparable level.

Interviewing Qualified Individuals with Disabilities

An applicant is qualified for a position if he or she meets the skills, experience,
education, and other requirements of an employment position that he or she holds or seeks. The person must also be able to perform the essential functions of the position either with or without reasonable accommodation. Job requirements that screen out or tend to screen out people with disabilities are legitimate only if they are job-related and consistent with business necessity.

• Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, an applicant is disabled if he or she has a physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement which is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness including epilepsy and other seizure disorders, and which shall include, but not be limited to, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical coordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment or physical reliance on a service or guide dog, wheelchair, or other remedial appliance or device, or any mental psychological or developmental disability resulting from anatomical, psychological, physiological or neurological conditions that prevents the normal exercise of any bodily or mental functions or is demonstrable, medically or psychologically, by accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques. Disability shall also mean AIDS or HIV infection.
• Under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such impairment.

Whether or not an applicant self-identifies as disabled, questions such as the
following may not be asked:

• Are you currently mentally or physically ill or disabled or do you have a history of such illness or disability?
• Do you have a history of absences due to illness or disability?
• Are you currently receiving treatment for drug or alcohol addiction or have you
  ever received such treatment?
• Have you ever been injured on the job, applied for Workers’ Compensation, or
  received Workers’ Compensation benefits?

During the hiring process and before a conditional offer is made, an employer generally may not ask an applicant whether she or he needs a reasonable accommodation for the job, except when the employer knows that an applicant has a disability – either because it is obvious or the applicant has voluntarily disclosed the information – and could reasonably believe that the applicant will need a reasonable accommodation to perform specific job functions. If the applicant replies that she or he needs a reasonable accommodation, the employer may inquire as to what type.

After a conditional offer of employment is extended, an employer may inquire whether applicants will need reasonable accommodations related to anything connected with the job (i.e., job performance or access to benefits/privileges of the job) as long as all entering employees in the same job category are asked this question. Alternatively, an employer may ask a specific applicant if she or he needs a reasonable accommodation if the employer knows that this applicant has a disability – either because it is obvious or the applicant has voluntarily disclosed the information – and could reasonably believe that the applicant will need a reasonable accommodation. If the applicant replies that she or he needs a reasonable accommodation, the employer may inquire as to what type.

 

Additional Sections

• Introduction
• Ensuring a Broad Applicant Pool
• Recruitment Requirements
• Positon Description
• Internal/External Candidates
• Applicant Tracking System
• Recruiting for Positions with a Health Hazard
• Search Committees
• Selection
• Accommodations
• Record Maintenance
• The Disabled and Covered Veterans
• Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9)
• EEO/AA Guidelines to Staffing Externally Funded Projects
  • Recruitment
  • Transfer
  • Handling Special Situations
• Attachments
  • Major Laws and Orders Governing Nondiscrimination in Employment
  • NJ Division of Civil Rights Guide on Pre-Employment Inquiries

 

Resources To Help You
Office of Employment Equity - Contacts	732-932-3020, ext. 4030
Office of Employment Equity - Services
EEO/AA Laws and Regulations
Hiring Managers
Hiring Toolkit
Job Applicants and the ADA
Search Firm Guidelines

8 See NJ Division on Civil Rights Guide to Pre-employment Inquiries for exceptions

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Last Updated: 07/13/2007