HR asked me a completely inappropriate question right as we were wrapping up the interview
I had a late-stage interview this week with a growing SaaS company for a lead developer role. The coding exercise and the conversation with the manager had gone surprisingly well, and the pay range was very close to what I was expecting.
As we were about to wrap things up, the HR manager said, "Before we let you go, there's one more thing I need to ask you about..." and then she asked me, "Are you planning to start a family at any point in the next year or two?"
I honestly froze for a second. I asked her to repeat the question because I thought I must have heard it wrong. But no, she clarified and said, "We're trying to understand people's circumstances at home so we can plan headcount better."
I've done a lot of interviews over the years, including some very awkward ones, but I've never encountered someone being that direct about something that is clearly not allowed to be asked. I calmly told her I wasn't comfortable answering, because it wasn't an appropriate question in a hiring process. She looked genuinely surprised, as if I was the one making it weird.
That pretty much killed any good feeling I had about the whole thing. I still thanked her for the interview, but I also told her I had concerns about a workplace that sees this kind of question as normal.
By the time I got home, I was still turning the situation over in my head. Has anyone else encountered something like this in tech hiring recently? I'm torn between reporting it somewhere, or just walking away and focusing on other roles.