Under Swiss data protection guidance, employers cannot freely request private information. Questions should generally be relevant to assessing suitability for the specific job. The further they move away from that purpose, the more problematic they become.
What can normally be asked?
Education, professional history and career plans can generally be discussed. Other information may only be appropriate where there is a specific connection to the job.
Health
Questions about existing illness are only appropriate where particular job-related reasons justify them. Recovered illnesses, old operations or hospital stays with no relevance to the new role generally do not need to be disclosed.
Pregnancy
The Swiss data protection authority also states that a question about pregnancy is generally only appropriate where specific reasons linked to the job exist. General questions about family planning or whether someone wants children are normally unrelated to professional suitability.
You do not need to add private information to your CV in case someone might ask about it later.
Income and debt
Questions about debt or personal finances also require particular job-related justification. This is different from asking about your salary expectation for the new role, which is a normal recruitment topic.
Religion, political beliefs and memberships
Questions about religion, philosophical or political beliefs, origin or certain memberships are only appropriate in very specific situations where they are genuinely necessary for the organisation or role.
Criminal records
Again, relevance to the job matters. A specific question can be justified for some trust or security roles; routinely asking everyone about all convictions goes beyond what is necessary.
How can you respond?
or
“I fully meet the availability requirements for the position. I would prefer to keep the discussion to information that is relevant to the job.”
For a legally sensitive situation, individual advice may be appropriate. SwissCVPilot is not a substitute for legal advice.
The same principle applies to application data
Information requested during recruitment should remain relevant to assessing suitability. Reference checks also require appropriate prior consent.
Choose private information consciously
SwissCVPilot lets you show or hide personal fields instead of treating traditional details as mandatory.
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