Interviewing a potential employee well means running a structured, job-related conversation, staying clear of the questions federal law prohibits, and finishing the paperwork the government requires before day one. The steps below walk through the process from the moment you open a resume to the moment your new hire signs their I-9.
Prepare Before the Candidate Arrives
Most of the outcome is decided before anyone sits down. You need three things ready: a clear job description, a set of standardized questions, and a scorecard. The job description is the anchor. Every question you plan to ask should trace back to a specific skill, responsibility, or qualification listed in it. If a question doesn’t connect to the job description, it probably doesn’t belong in the interview.
Read each candidate’s resume and application in advance and flag what needs clarifying: employment gaps, vague descriptions of responsibilities, credentials worth verifying. Those notes become personalized follow-ups layered onto the standard set.
Build a scorecard that rates each core competency on a one-to-five scale, and define what each number actually means. A “3” shouldn’t just mean “average.” It should describe a specific level of demonstrated skill. Leave room for written observations next to every score. A week later, when you’re comparing finalists, the notes will matter more than the numbers.
Accommodations for Candidates With Disabilities
If a candidate has a disability, you’re required to provide reasonable accommodations so they can participate on equal footing. That might mean a sign language interpreter, help completing written forms, detailed instructions for an assessment task, or a different format for a written test. The core obligation is to explain the interview process to candidates ahead of time so they have the opportunity to request what they need.1U.S. Department of Labor. Focus on Ability: Interviewing Applicants with Disabilities If your standard interview includes a skills demonstration or a timed exercise, tell candidates in advance. It isn’t a courtesy; it’s what gives them the chance to request an accommodation.
Ask Questions That Actually Predict Performance
Structured interviews, where every candidate faces the same questions in the same order, predict job performance far better than open-ended conversations. Unstructured interviews feel more natural, but they introduce bias and make it nearly impossible to compare candidates fairly.
The strongest questions are behavioral. They ask candidates to describe specific situations they’ve actually handled. Instead of “Are you good at managing conflict?” ask “Tell me about a time you had to resolve a disagreement between team members. What was the situation, what did you do, and what happened?” That format forces concrete answers instead of rehearsed generalities. You learn how someone performs under pressure, not how they imagine they would.
For skills a candidate hasn’t had a chance to demonstrate yet, use situational questions: “If a client called furious about a missed deadline, how would you handle it?” These are useful for entry-level candidates with limited work history. Round out the set with a few technical or role-specific questions that verify the hard skills listed on the resume.
Questions Federal Law Prohibits
Several federal statutes draw hard lines around what you can ask. Crossing them, even unintentionally, creates legal exposure no good hire is worth. The core principle is simple: every question must relate to the candidate’s ability to perform the job. Anything that probes a protected characteristic is off limits.
Race, Religion, Sex, and National Origin
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In practice, you cannot ask where someone is “really from,” what church they attend, what language they speak at home, or whether they plan to have children. Pregnancy-related questions are also prohibited; pregnancy must be treated the same as any other temporary medical condition.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions and Answers
Disability and Medical History
The Americans with Disabilities Act bars disability-related questions before you extend a conditional job offer. You cannot ask whether someone has a disability, what medications they take, how many sick days they used at their last job, or whether they’ve ever filed a workers’ compensation claim. You also cannot ask whether someone will need reasonable accommodation to do the job, because that question itself is likely to reveal a disability.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations What you can do is describe the essential functions of the role and ask whether the candidate can perform them, with or without accommodation.
Age, Genetic Information, and Military Service
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects applicants 40 and older from age-related questioning. Don’t ask when someone graduated, and don’t ask their age unless a minimum age is a legal requirement for the position.4U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What Shouldn’t I Ask When Hiring? The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act goes further and prohibits questions about family medical history. Asking “Does cancer run in your family?” violates federal law even though it isn’t about the candidate’s own health.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions and Answers
Military service is protected under USERRA, which prohibits discrimination in hiring based on past, current, or future military obligations.5U.S. Department of Labor. USERRA Pocket Guide Asking about the type of discharge a veteran received is particularly risky, as it can screen out candidates based on their service history in ways USERRA was designed to prevent.
Salary History and Marital Status
More than 20 states and a growing number of cities prohibit asking candidates about their salary history. Even in jurisdictions without a formal ban, the safest practice is to ask for the candidate’s salary expectations rather than their history. Marital status is also off limits in most contexts, since it can serve as a proxy for questions about pregnancy, caregiving obligations, or sexual orientation.
What Prohibited Questions Cost
The EEOC enforces these federal anti-discrimination laws, and the financial consequences are real. Federal law caps combined compensatory and punitive damages on a sliding scale based on employer size: $50,000 for employers with 15 to 100 employees, $100,000 for 101 to 200 employees, $200,000 for 201 to 500, and $300,000 for employers with more than 500 employees.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1981a – Damages in Cases of Intentional Discrimination in Employment Those caps don’t include back pay, attorneys’ fees, or the cost of litigation itself.
Run the Interview Itself
Start by introducing yourself and anyone else on the panel, then briefly outline how the interview will flow: how long it will take, the types of questions coming, and the fact that the candidate will have time for their own questions at the end. Two minutes of setup puts nervous candidates at ease and signals a professional process.
Work through your standardized questions in a consistent sequence. This isn’t about being rigid. Natural follow-ups are fine when a response is interesting or vague, but the core questions stay the same for every candidate. Take notes as you go. Write down specific examples and phrases the candidate uses, not your impressions of them. “Described leading a team of 8 through a product launch with a 3-week delay” is useful. “Seemed confident” is not.
Keep the session within a predetermined window. Forty-five to 60 minutes is standard. Allocate the last 10 minutes or so for the candidate’s questions. What they ask tells you a lot: candidates who ask about team structure, goals, and challenges are usually more engaged than those who jump straight to vacation policy. Close by explaining the next steps clearly, including when the candidate can expect to hear from you. Vague sign-offs damage your reputation with candidates who may have other offers to weigh.
Evaluate Candidates and Keep Your Records
Finalize your scorecard immediately after each interview. Don’t wait until you’ve seen everyone, because the details blur. Combine the numerical ratings with your written notes to build a complete picture. When you’re comparing finalists, the notes are what break ties.
Contact professional references to verify work history and performance. Ask specific, job-related questions. “Can you describe a project this person led?” gets you more than “Would you hire them again?” Verify educational credentials and employment dates too.
Once the process is complete, keep everything. Private employers must retain all hiring-related records (applications, resumes, interview notes, scorecards, and screening results) for at least one year from the date the record was created or the hiring decision was made, whichever is later. If a discrimination charge is filed, you must keep all related records until the matter is fully resolved.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Summary of Selected Recordkeeping Obligations in 29 CFR Part 1602 Destroying interview notes after making a hire eliminates the evidence you’d need to defend a discrimination claim from a candidate you didn’t select.
Background Checks Under the FCRA
If you plan to run a background check through a third-party screening company, the Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes specific requirements. Before ordering the report, give the candidate a standalone written disclosure stating that you intend to obtain a background report, and get their written authorization. Those two can go on the same document, but that document cannot contain anything else: no liability waivers, no application accuracy certifications, no overly broad authorizations.8Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks on Prospective Employees: Keep Required Disclosures Simple Burying the disclosure in a multi-page application packet violates the law.
The Adverse Action Process
If something in the background report leads you to reject a candidate, follow a two-step notification process. First, before finalizing the decision, send a pre-adverse action notice that includes a copy of the report and a summary of the candidate’s rights under the FCRA. That gives them a chance to review the report and dispute any errors. Second, after the final decision, send a formal adverse action notice that identifies the screening company (name, address, and phone number), states that the company did not make the hiring decision, and informs the candidate of their right to dispute inaccuracies and request an additional free copy of the report within 60 days.9Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know Skipping either step is a FCRA violation that exposes you to statutory damages.
When You Can Ask About Criminal History
Federal contractors face an added restriction under the Fair Chance to Compete Act: you cannot ask about criminal history until after making a conditional offer of employment.10U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Fair Chance to Compete Act Many state and local “ban the box” laws impose similar restrictions on private employers, so check your jurisdiction’s rules before including criminal history questions on applications or in early-stage interviews.
Extend the Offer and Finish the Paperwork
Once you’ve chosen a candidate, send a formal offer letter with salary, benefits, start date, and reporting structure. In most of the country, employment is presumed to be at-will, meaning either party can end the relationship at any time for any lawful reason. A clear at-will statement in the offer letter prevents the document from being interpreted as a binding employment contract with guaranteed terms. Avoid verbal promises during the interview about job security or guaranteed duration; those statements can undermine the at-will relationship even if the offer letter says otherwise.
Candidates you don’t select should get a prompt, professional notification. A brief email is fine. Leaving people in limbo damages your reputation with candidates who may be a fit for future roles.
Required Federal Forms
Before or on the new hire’s first day, several federal forms must be completed:
- Form I-9. The employee completes Section 1 no later than their first day of work. You as the employer complete Section 2, which involves reviewing the employee’s identity and employment authorization documents, within three business days of the start date. Acceptable documents fall into three categories: List A documents establish both identity and work authorization (such as a U.S. passport), while List B and List C documents must be presented together to separately prove identity and authorization. You cannot specify which documents the employee must present; that’s considered document discrimination.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
- Form W-4. Every new employee submits a withholding certificate so you can calculate the correct amount of federal income tax to withhold. Have them complete it before the first paycheck.13Internal Revenue Service. Hiring Employees
- New hire reporting. Federal law requires you to report every new employee to your state’s Directory of New Hires within 20 days of their start date. The requirement supports child support enforcement and applies regardless of employer size.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 653a – State Directory of New Hires
I-9 violations carry real penalties. Fines for paperwork errors alone can run into the hundreds per form, and penalties for knowingly hiring unauthorized workers are dramatically higher. Treat these forms as legal obligations with deadlines, not as administrative work you’ll get to eventually.