Before You Ask That Question, Ask Yourself This One
Someone told me recently that they had already decided not to look at a resume. Not because of the experience on it. Not because of the qualifications. Because of how long the career history was and what that implied about the candidate's age.
The resume never got read.
I have been thinking about that conversation ever since, because it is such a clear example of something that happens faster than we realize, in hiring, in interviews, in the quiet moments of a debrief where someone says something that goes unchallenged. We make assumptions. We act on them. And the person on the other side of that decision never knows why they did not get the call.
This post is about slowing that down.
The Gut Check That Changes Everything
Before you ask a question in an interview, run it through this filter: would I ask this to every single candidate sitting in this chair, regardless of their gender, age, background, or family situation?
If the answer is no, do not ask it.
It sounds simple, and it is. But I have sat in enough interview panels and debriefs to know that it does not always happen naturally. I have watched interviewers ask women about their family plans and not raise the same topic with male candidates. I have seen age assumptions drive hiring decisions before a single conversation took place. I have heard questions that felt conversational and harmless in the moment but would never have been asked of a different candidate.
The gut check does not require a law degree. It just requires a pause.
What You Cannot Ask, and Why It Matters
Under BC's Human Rights Code, there are protected grounds that cannot be the basis for hiring decisions. These include race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and age.
You cannot ask questions that are designed to uncover information about any of these areas, and you cannot use that information, even if it comes up voluntarily, as a factor in your decision.
In practice, this means questions like these are off the table:
Do you have children, or are you planning to?
How old are you?
Where are you originally from?
What religion do you practice?
Are you married?
None of these have anything to do with whether someone can do the job. And yet they come up, sometimes with genuine curiosity and no ill intent, which is exactly why it is worth being deliberate about what you ask and why.
The Generational Bias Conversation Nobody Wants to Have
Let's talk about age for a moment, because it is one of the most common and least examined biases in hiring.
Younger candidates get written off as lacking commitment or wanting too much too fast. Older candidates get quietly passed over because of assumptions about adaptability, technology comfort, or how many years they might stay. Neither of these is a fair or accurate assessment of any individual, and both happen constantly.
The assumptions move quickly. Someone sees a graduation year or a long career history and a story starts forming before they have read a single bullet point. That story has nothing to do with the person. It has everything to do with a generalization about a demographic, and generalizations are not a hiring strategy.
Here is the reframe: instead of asking yourself what you assume about a candidate based on their age, ask yourself what you actually need from this role. Then build your questions around that. If you need someone who can learn new systems quickly, ask every candidate how they have approached learning something new in a professional context. If you need someone who can commit to a multi-year project, ask every candidate about their career goals and what longevity looks like for them.
Ask the question that gets you the answer you actually need. Ask it consistently. Evaluate the answers, not the assumptions.
Values as Your North Star
Here is what does not change regardless of who is sitting across from you: your organization's values.
The most defensible and genuinely effective hiring processes are built around values alignment and role-specific qualifications. What does this person need to be able to do? What do they need to believe in to thrive here? How do they approach the things that matter most in this role?
Those questions can be asked of every candidate, evaluated consistently, and used to make decisions you can stand behind. They also tend to surface the right people in a way that a gut feeling about someone's age or family situation never will.
Hire toward your values. Screen for your qualifications. That is a process you can stand behind.
A Brief Note on Bona Fide Occupational Requirements
There are circumstances where a specific requirement that might otherwise seem discriminatory is legitimately necessary for a role. These are called bona fide occupational requirements, and they do exist. A physical capability requirement for a role that genuinely demands it, for example, can be defensible.
But two things are worth knowing. First, the bar for what qualifies is higher than most employers assume, and the requirement needs to genuinely pass a test of necessity. Second, what was considered a legitimate requirement years ago may not hold up today. As technology evolves and workplaces adapt, requirements that once seemed fixed may no longer be truly necessary.
If you think a bona fide occupational requirement applies to a role you are hiring for, that is a conversation to have with an employment lawyer, not a call to make on your own.
The Bottom Line
Hiring well is not just about finding the right person. It is about running a process that is fair, consistent, and defensible, one where every candidate is evaluated on what actually matters.
The gut check is free. The pause before you ask a question costs nothing. And the habit of building your interviews around what you genuinely need from the role, rather than assumptions about the person in front of you, is one of the most straightforward ways to hire better and build the kind of team you actually want.
Before you ask that question, ask yourself if you would ask it to everyone. That one question will take you a long way.
A note from Jody: I am not an employment lawyer, and nothing in this post should be taken as legal advice. The information above is written with a Canadian (specifically BC) lens. If you are outside Canada or navigating a specific situation, please consult a qualified employment lawyer in your jurisdiction.
Jody Bomhof is the Founder of Momentum Talent Solutions Inc., a boutique Canadian contract talent placement firm specializing in strategic placements for HR, Marketing, and AI professionals. When she is not writing about the hiring practices that keep organizations out of hot water, she is out on the golf course or hanging out with her daugheter.
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