Interview hack: Be ready to handle inappropriate questions

Common inappropriate questions include those relating to age, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, tribe, country of origin, health status and other topics that are irrelevant to your qualifications to perform the duties of the job.

Responding to inappropriate questions can be tricky, also remember that sometimes these questions are asked innocently — the interviewer might just be trying to start a conversation and hasn’t been properly trained regarding what questions to avoid. If this is the case, going straight to “I’d prefer not to answer that” can lead to unnecessary awkwardness.

Do your best to diplomatically dodge the question first. The best way to handle such questions is to gracefully avoid the question and steer the conversation elsewhere, keep your answers short, broad and general or subtly and politely redirect a question to your interviewer.