Welcome to Kansas *sigh*

I'm applying for a part-time job at my university. This is their statement about being an "Equal Opportunity Employer":

That means they can discriminate on the basis of religion and sexual orientation. And it's PERFECTLY LEGAL. Fantastic. :wall: :wall: :wall:

Guess I won't be getting that job. Shame, I was so pleasantly surprised with the university up until this point. Maybe they'll surprise me again, though I doubt it.

I really don't have an issue with religious institutions wanting the ability to hire those that share their faith (or lack there of). I would imagine that The American Atheist Magazine doesn't hire a whole lot of devout Baptists or Orthodox Jews.....

Thing is, it's not JUST religious institutions. It's EVERYTHING in Kansas now. In Kansas, it is now legal to discriminate on the basis of religion. Not just in jobs even, in EVERYTHING. Religious institution or not.

I can't find the stupid link now because my internet's screwing up, but I'll post it when I have a better connection.

If that's the case then no, I do not agree with that at all. Religious (or atheist) institutions are one thing, but I don't agree that secular organizations should be able to discriminate. I would think there will be court challenges...

FWIW, your school might not actually be practicing that. They may have to put that in there to protect themselves legally.

Is there a space on the application for "religion" and "sexuality"? Else, how would they know what you practice? It's never come up in a single job interview I've ever had...

^^^This.

I'm straight, and a Christian, but I would NEVER put that on a job application, unless it was terribly relevant to the job (like if I was applying to a Christian organization). IMO, a company that asks that is probably not a place I'd want to work at anyway.

Well, social networking sites come to mind. Not only are many companies searching prospective employees' social networking pages more and more but some are now requiring access to them for someone to be considered for a job.

I suppose there are ways to hide your sexual orientation and religion on a social networking site, but that is one way that a company could find out.

Seriously. Any place that asked me for ANY sort of password . . . Nope. We would NOT get along at all. Totally unsuited for each other, lol. I'd likely have to ask them if they wanted to install a webcam in my bedroom as well.

This crap is getting entirely out of hand.

There was just an article the other day about how many questions on applications and asked during interviews are actually illegal. Like have you ever been asked in an interview "what do you do in your space time?" None of your employers business and it's illegal for them to ask.
BUT if you decline to answer that, good luck getting the job... =P

I agree that it makes sense for a religious institution to hire according to religion (or lack thereof) but for just any place..? Yeah, weird.

Exactly.

I didn't know that was illegal. I've always hated getting that question. I mean really, what's the best way to answer that?

First of all, most of my spare time is spent doing activities with my dogs. So if I'm applying to a dog training job, you'd think that'd be a good thing; but it could also mean that I'm not very interesting if I literally spend ALL my time - at work and at home - with dogs stuff. And if I'm applying for a non-dog job, maybe the employer doesn't like dogs, or thinks I'll start asking to bring my dog to work or something annoying like that.

Really, the only thing to do is to grasp for hobbies that make you seem well-rounded. Like, I made a quilt (with my mom's help!) about 2 years ago and haven't really sewn since; but if you ask me my hobbies, I love quilting!

But yeah, it'd be a lot nicer if they just didn't ask that at all.

Yup... they are only allowed to ask you about your qualifications to do the job you are interviewing for. They also can't ask if you have kids, though the argument is if you have kids you might be "distracted" while at work or having problems with the hours and blah blah blah... LOTS of questions they can't ask but are routine to ask.

I was in an interview once and the girl asked me that, so I told her I had two dogs (I had Pepper at the time) and that I did agility with them, so I spent a lot of time training them. And that I was a runner, so I also spent a lot of time training myself. I think I said I was an artist so I did some illustration and design stuff when I had time.
She then said "What else?"
I stared at her blankly. What else?? Um... I don't really have time for anything else beyond that... work, sleep, train dogs, train me... uh... what else...?
To this day I can't figure out what she was looking for, what she expected me to say. "Well when it's warm outside I spend a lot of time washing my car..." I think I'm going to add that next time LOL.

^^^YES. I've gotten that before too! It makes you feel very inadequate and totally makes you second-guess yourself through the rest of the interview. VERY annoying!

got a link?

Virginia must be weird, because I have NEVER been asked what I do in my spare time on a job interview. Every time I've been on an interview the questions have been about the job my my qualifications for it.

One time I had a prospective employer ask if I had a boyfriend, because boyfriends distract girls from doing the job and make them want to call out sick etc. according to him. I think that was the only illegal question I've ever been asked.