application questions???

[matthewsq2xl]

What is the name of your state? Washington
I applied for a chief of police position in a small town.
Can the application form ask me:
1. have you been bonded or refused a bond?
2. name of your mortgage company?
3. name of your auto insurance?
4. full addresses dates of birth and ages for my references.
5. financial information, amount of a loan, when a loan was occured, my monthly payments, who is it financed through, how much is still left on the loan?
6. credit card information, who through, how much owed, monthly payments.

I thought some of these questions were over the line and not job related. Your thoughts and advice are appreciated.
Thank you

 

[cbg]

The question about bonding is valid; your "bondability" is job related!

And if you think about it, a police chief that is deeply in debt could be a detriment to a small town. While I'm not for a moment suggesting that your honesty is in question, it's not impossible that someone whose honesty is less than stellar and who had a lot of outstanding debts, could be tempted by any offers of cash to "look the other way" when something is going down.

If you want to be technical about it, no question, with the exception of questions regarding medical disability, is actually illegal. What is illegal is the use to which the information can be put. For example, it's not illegal to ask what religion or race you are; it's illegal to use the answer to the question in making the hiring decision. As a result, a wise employer doesn't ask the question because if he doesn't ask the question, he can't be accused of using the information in making the decision. But that doesn't make asking the question illegal - just unwise.

I would ignore the question about the references. I can honestly say that I don't KNOW the exact ages, dates of birth, and full addresses of most of my references.

To be perfectly honest, it sounds as if they're using a template for their applications and no one bothered to go through it and eliminate the unnecessary questions.