Be ready to discuss your goals for each major area of your life: career, personal development and learning, family, physical (health), community service and (if your interviewer is clearly a religious person) you could very briefly and generally allude to your spiritual goals (showing you are a well-balanced individual with your values in the right order).

Yeah, this needs a hard stop right after learning. Maaybe community service if it's career related. As an interviewee, I'd flip out like a mammal if much of the rest of that came up, and (aside from the legality/ethics of it), way to lead you into a potential minefield.

As an interviewer, the few times those sorts of topics came up, my (internal) response was "why the hell would you be talking to me about that?"

The advice about being prepared with concrete, progressive goals is right on though. (Progressive as in multi-stage, not lefty.)

With women, especially, asking about future family plans can lead to "Well, she wants to have kids, so we can't hire her as a manager when she'll be off on maternity leave!" That happened to a cousin of mine who didn't know she could tell the interviewer that her family planning was no business of his.

Our instructor pointed out that aside from HR reps, many interviewers don't know what the rules actually are, hence the need to be prepared for wacko and possibly illegal questions.

I've never been asked those personal sorts of questions, and I'm not sure how I'd feel working for somewhere that thought it was okay.

However, I have been asked for samples of documents I'd prepared for previous employers, and well, patently not mine to distribute and I said so.

Still got the gig.

I love that there's a wank!wiki.

I found this Byrne-related article which includes the quote I'd been thinking of:

Personal prejudice: Hispanic and Latino women with blond hair look like hookers to me, no matter how clean or cute they are.

"Personal prejudice" reads to me here like "no insult intended."

The advice about being prepared with concrete, progressive goals is right on though.

Exactly. Having a decision tree-like, if this...then that, strategy is really useful.

I have to admit, I've never been upset over a non-bfoq question. When faced with them, I've generally asked something like, "Is that an important part of the organizational culture?" Or "That's a interesting point. I wonder how that effects people here." If it is a major issue (like the fundamentalist tendencies of an org I once interviewed with), the interviewer has done me the favor of hipping me to something that could be a real problem down the road. Rather know now, then later.

eta:

Our instructor pointed out that aside from HR reps, many interviewers don't know what the rules actually are, hence the need to be prepared for wacko and possibly illegal questions.

This is more often the case as not, I think.

Be ready to discuss your goals for each major area of your life: career, personal development and learning, family, physical (health), community service and (if your interviewer is clearly a religious person) you could very briefly and generally allude to your spiritual goals (showing you are a well-balanced individual with your values in the right order).

That gives me hives.

Our instructor pointed out that aside from HR reps, many interviewers don't know what the rules actually are, hence the need to be prepared for wacko and possibly illegal questions.

Oh, agreed -- but be prepared as in, "sidestep gracefully without getting so flustered as to blow the interview" rather than as in "go ahead and answer anyway."

Any good sports bra suggestions? Starting mixed martial arts program next week and would prefer not to, you know, bounce...

Anything that hooks in the front? That would be glorious, I hate wiggling out of those things.

I always hate the goal question. Usually I'm in such a position that the answer which leaps immediately to mind is: "Get a paycheck, Dork-o. I'll think past that when rent's paid."

I've never had anyone ask me about family planning, religion or anything besides the "goals" and "how do you think you could be an asset" questions, really.

As to my gut answer to the "assets" question, is is usually: "I'll show up."

Oh, agreed -- but be prepared as in, "sidestep gracefully without getting so flustered as to blow the interview" rather than as in "go ahead and answer anyway."

Yes, totally. But "sidestep gracefully" can be hard! And while I tend to go with "go ahead and answer", it's not the best plan either. And trying to desperately make up my mind what I can/will say tends to come out sounding stuttering and insane.