Conducting fair and inclusive interviews
Interview questions must relate directly to the requirements of the role. Avoid asking questions about personal circumstances or protected characteristics that are not relevant to the candidate’s ability to carry out the job.
This includes inappropriate questions about:
- Age or retirement plans
- Disability or health conditions, except where permitted and relevant to reasonable adjustments or essential job requirements
- Marital or civil partnership status
- Pregnancy, maternity or plans to have children
- Parental or caring responsibilities
- Race, nationality, religion or belief
- Sex, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.
Actively promote equality of opportunity by:
- Using clear and inclusive language
- Applying the same assessment criteria to every candidate
- Making reasonable adjustments where required
- Focusing on evidence rather than personal impressions
- Being aware of unconscious bias, assumptions and individual preferences
- Avoiding decisions based on whether a candidate is perceived as a good “fit” with the existing team
- Recording objective evidence to support scores and decisions
Safer recruitment questions
For roles that involve working with children, interview questions should include safeguarding elements that assess candidates’ knowledge of safeguarding requirements, their ability to respond appropriately to concerns, and their suitability to work with children in line with safer recruitment principles.
Asking these questions helps the interview panel explore:
- The candidate’s attitudes, values and motivations for working with children
- Their understanding of appropriate professional boundaries
- How they respond to concerns about a child or colleague
- Any gaps, inconsistencies or unusual patterns in their employment history
- Reasons for leaving previous roles
- Their ability to reflect on previous experiences and feedback
- Their understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and reporting procedures
Where a response raises a concern, the panel should explore it professionally and record the candidate’s explanation. Any discrepancies between the application form, employment history, references and interview responses should be followed up before an appointment is confirmed.