The Threatening Interview Candidate

You are the manager of a health information management (medical records) group, and you are interviewing to fill an open position for an Accredited Record Technician (ART). Human resources have referred four candidates to you, all of whom have been determined to possess the required qualifications for the job. The first two you interview seem satisfactory to you, and you feel that either could do a reasonable job. As you proceed with your third interview, you quickly decide that this candidate, although seemingly friendly and personable, is the weakest of the three so far in knowledge and experience. Toward the end of the interview, you ask the candidate if she has any questions. She indicates she has no questions but then states, “I’m five months pregnant.”

You respond, “Why should that concern me?”

She smiles and says, “Because if you don’t hire me I’m going to charge discrimination based on my condition.” With that, she thanks you for your time, and leaves your office.

On the same day, you conduct the fourth interview. In your opinion, the candidate who threatened you was probably the third or last choice out of four.

You are to outline the approach you recommend for proceeding with hiring for the open ART position, stating why you offer the courses of action you propose.

Complete and submit your responses to the outline request at the end of the case study.