Gosh, some of the replies to this thread have made me quite cross!
I am in touch with the fact though that it may be because I am tired, having just finished a days work.
But let me give you 3 examples of how my own "irrelevant" interview questions have helped me and others...
A guy told me his parents were divorced during his interview and that one lived in X place, and the other lived in Y place. He had no family in Z place (the city I interviewed him in) other than his girlfriend and her family.
So when he turned up after New Year at work black and blue with bruises due to domestic abuse from the same girlfriend and her family, I remembered his circumstances from the interview and immediately invited him into my home for 4 weeks while he sorted out flights to his mum. We are still Facebook friends to this day.
And what about the girl who answered, "Yes" to the question, "have you ever suffered with anxiety/depression etc.?" And informed me she had an accident on a motorway a few years before that caused her to suffer from panic attacks for a while? 4 weeks after interview, when I was able to walk her through a panic attack so severe in the workplace that she thought she was having a heart attack and was bound to die, don't you think she felt thankful I knew about her history of anxiety and walked her through it calmly whilst on the phone to her family doctor?
And finally, what about the girl who told me she had no GCSEs on her CV as she was bullied by a teacher at school and her dad left her on her own to look after her mum and sisters from a young age? Those of you on my Facebook know what I got this girl as a gift after 10 years in service with me, and for those not on my Facebook, I urge you to watch the famous film with Audrey Heburn in it.
So, I will continue to ask these "inappropriate" questions, whether they should be made illegal or people will lie to me, I really don't care! It gives me a chance to help people who deserve the help/opportunity/whatever you want to call it, and I can't do that if I don't know the whole package about what I am taking on.
And I am sorry if that offends some of you.
I a sure if I asked everyone, "can you cut hair/can you do nails/are you trained in massage?" That 99% would answer, "Yes", but a working relationship with someone rests on much more than that. As an employer, my main questions in my mind are, "Can I help this person achieve what they want to achieve/can this person help me achieve what I want to achieve?".
That's about it!