What are the illegal questions HR asks in interviews?

It’s always better to know and understand the categories of those illegal questions as opposed to knowing a laundry list of specific questions that are not permitted.

The way to always know whether or not a question is legal or not is to determine if it falls into any of the following categories - if it does, then it’s likely not an appropriate or legal question to ask in the United States in a job interview.

Religion

National origin, country of origin

Race

Marital status

Child status ( do you have any, do you plan to have any)

Gender

Gender identification

Sexual preference/sexual orientation

Age

Asking “what year did you graduate from college or undergrad program?” is not necessarily an illegal question as someone else (who is not a professional recruiter stated) as I personally graduated from my undergrad in 1997 at the age of 27. It does not necessarily indicate age AND some companies will want verify academic background (well within their right to do so) especially if the job requires specific educational degree(s) - such as a geneticist, MD, veterinarian, attorney, registered nurse, etc. Interestingly enough the person who wrote that asking the year in which you graduated, That doesn’t tell me anything about his age either.

It’s always better to know and understand the categories of those illegal questions as opposed to knowing a laundry list of specific questions that are not permitted. In an interview, you can be asked the same questions in many different ways. If the illegal/inappropriate question is phrased to you in a way you don’t recognize from this list that someone else provided, you may answer unknowingly. Always better to understand the concepts AND the specifics as opposed to just the specific indicators.