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Mumbai job seeker claims ‘intrusive’ interviewer asked about family income, marriage plans
A Mumbai job seeker revealed uncomfortable interview questions regarding family income and marital plans, sparking outrage.
In a shocking post, a job seeker shared an uncomfortable experience during an interview at a Mumbai-based company. The post sparked a debate on recruiters asking intrusive questions. Taking to r/IndianWorkplace, the user claimed they were asked many personal questions, including how many earning members were in their family and whether they were planning to get married.
“In today’s episode of Recruiters reaching a new low: Got asked about the 'earning members in the family” Yep. Pretty much same as the title. Got asked this question bang in the middle of interview by the director of a marketing/ad agency (amongst other personal/intrusive questions) Mumbai based agency," they wrote in the post.
When another user pointed out that the director asked the question, not a recruiting HR, the candidate explained that the HR asked their age and immediately inquired if they were planning to get married.
Post sparks outrage
The post quickly drew a flood of comments from users sharing similar stories after the direct inquiry about family income struck a nerve with many.
“I was asked my father's occupation, yearly income, number of siblings, mother's occupation, pin code of my address, and how I’m going to travel to the office—before even scheduling an interview,” one user wrote.
“It’s usually common to ask about a person’s family background,” another commenter noted. “But this? First time hearing someone specifically asking about earning members.”
Many others pointed out that the questions are strategically asked to assess a candidate’s financial stress and thus, their level of “job desperation.”
"Some directly ask what EMIs you have. They want to gauge how desperate you are for the job and whether you’ll stick around," one of them said.
"Maybe he was looking for vulnerability. If you would have said that you're the only earning person he might've offered you the job," another wrote.
