BellaOnline Forums Career Job Search Telling personal business during an interview

I was reading the Washington Post today and a reader asked the question of how much information to share during her interviews. She was leaving a good paying job to move to a new city with her boyfriend. She was concerned that recruiters would be suspicious of why she was looking for a job in a new city where she had no relatives or other ties.
The answer was to go ahead and share her personal life with the recruiter because they might be sympathetic toward her circumstances. The answer also went ahead to say that the recruiter may even be impressed.

I said "WHAT!!!"

To me, the recruiter has no business asking her personal information. I know as a human resources manager and recruiter, if an applicant started telling me about their personal love life - that would be strike one....against them...
My thoughts would be...ok so when they have an argument, what will happen? - will she quit and go back? If she is willing to talk to perfect strangers about her love life, what kind of gossiping is she going to be doing around the office...

I personally frown on applicants sharing too much personal information about why they want a job.

I'd be interested as to what you all think about sharing your love life with interviewers to get a job.

I think the problem is what does "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" mean. Is this is a casual relationship or a long term / permanent relationship between people who don't believe in marriage or see the reason for it in the absence of children (Domestic Partner) or somewhere in between. If it's the former, I do agree it's a problem and bad advice.

It's not uncommon for spouses to move because one or the other gets a job in a new city and I don't think anyone would think much of mentioning or hearing that someone moved to town because your husband or wife was transferred. I know that in negotiations for hiring people, employment assistance for spouses is sometimes an issue - and some companies offer that as a benefit for new hires at a certain level. If this is the case, she needs to come up with a more clear description of her relationship and reasons for moving.

I don't think you should expect "sympathy" for moving with your family though, and I'm not sure I'd want to work for a company that made hiring decisions on that basis.

This is what i believe that sharing personal information to a certain limit if fine but getting too much into it gives the impression that you more concerned about your personal life and care less about your job. Such issues can be dealt with the community of professional women in NAPW. Please visit [url]http://twitter.com/napwinc[/url] for more information.