On this page: Key takeaways · The six interview questions not to ask candidates, and what to ask instead · Why does "are you flexible?" get you nothing? · Which questions touch privacy or equal treatment rules? · What are the common mistakes when rewriting a screening script? · What does a rewritten order picker call look like? · How Radius helps · Replace the six questions this week · Frequently asked questions
Key takeaways
- A vague question invites a yes. A question about the real rota, start time or task gives an answer you can check.
- Health, pay history and mother tongue questions run into Dutch law, government guidance or a professional code. Ask about the job instead.
- Write the questions before the first call, and ask every candidate the same ones.
The six interview questions not to ask candidates, and what to ask instead
Each of these common screening lines has a stronger version.
| Stop asking | Ask instead | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "Are you flexible?" | "Our shifts are 06:00 to 14:30 and 14:30 to 23:00, alternating weekly. Which can you work, and on which days?" | You can check the answer against the real rota. |
| "Do you have warehouse experience?" | "Tell me about the last time you picked orders with a hand scanner. What did a normal shift look like?" | It asks for a concrete example. |
| "Are you reliable?" | "How will you get to the site for a 06:00 start, and what will you do if that option fails?" | It asks about the condition that decides attendance. |
| "Do you have any health problems?" | "The work involves standing for most of an eight hour shift and lifting boxes of up to 15 kg. Can you do this work, with or without adjustments?" | Dutch law bars health questions; asking about the work itself is allowed. |
| "What do you earn now?" | "The pay for this role is stated in the vacancy. Does it work for you?" | The NVP code says not to ask; a Dutch bill implementing an EU directive would ban it. |
| "Is Dutch your mother tongue?" | Ask a work question in the language used on the floor, and note whether the answer is understood and understandable. | It tests the level the job needs, not origin. |
Illustrative example: the times, weights and conditions are examples. Use the real ones for your role.
To have every applicant asked the same questions about the real job as soon as they apply, see how the AI Interviewer works.
Why does "are you flexible?" get you nothing?
Almost every candidate says yes, so the answer tells you nothing.
A candidate who needs work hears "flexible" as "will you take what we offer?" and agrees. The recruiter hears agreement to the full rota, and the gap shows up in week two. Naming the real pattern lets the candidate answer for themselves.
"Do you have warehouse experience?" gets the same yes after two weeks of summer work as after five years on a reach truck. Nobody answers "no" to "Are you reliable?". All three are closed. Open questions about a real, recent situation give answers you can compare, which is the core of a structured interview at high volume. On sharing the real start time, see Tell Candidates About the 05:30 Start.
Which questions touch privacy or equal treatment rules?
Health, current pay and mother tongue each have official guidance or law behind them.
These are pointers to official sources, not advice on your situation.
Health
Dutch government guidance on questions not to ask in a job interview says an employer may not ask about an applicant's health or sickness absence at a previous employer, and gives examples of questions about what the work demands that an employer may ask instead. The Medical Examinations Act (Article 4) sets the related rule: a medical examination at hiring is allowed only for jobs with special medical requirements, and nobody other than the examining doctor may ask about the candidate's health or past sickness absence. The SER complaints committee adds that this covers written questionnaires. "With or without adjustments" matters too: equal treatment law on disability and chronic illness requires effective adjustments when filling a vacancy, unless they are a disproportionate burden.
Pay history
The NVP Sollicitatiecode (July 2025) says organisations do not ask applicants about their current or previous salary. It is a code of conduct, not law, and it points recruitment through intermediary agencies to a separate code, the Recruitercode, which agency recruiters should check too.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970, Article 5) says employers shall not ask applicants about their pay history. Member states had to implement it by 7 June 2026. The Dutch bill that would do so, 36949, was still before the House of Representatives on 21 October 2026: the government answered the committee's questions and made technical amendments on 2 September 2026, and a committee debate on the bill is scheduled for 14 December 2026. The Senate must approve it after the House. The government aims for the rules to apply from 1 January 2027 if all goes to plan. Check the status before relying on that date.
Mother tongue
In opinion 2017-49 (20 April 2017), about a translator role, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights found that rejecting a candidate partly because Dutch was not his mother tongue was indirect discrimination on grounds of race, because the employer had not shown the requirement was necessary. Its opinions are not legally binding, but courts must take them into account. The General Equal Treatment Act (Article 5) prohibits discrimination in offering a job and in job placement.
If the work needs Dutch on the floor, decide the level and test it with a work question in Dutch. Listen for whether the answer is understood and understandable, not for accent.
What are the common mistakes when rewriting a screening script?
Three mistakes undo most rewrites, and each has a simple fix.
- Closed questions that still invite a yes. "Can you work weekends?" beats "Are you flexible?" but is still yes or no. Fix: name the weekend pattern and ask which parts the candidate can do.
- Testing language or cultural knowledge instead of the job. Idioms or questions about Dutch customs test something the job does not need. Fix: one work scenario at the level the job needs.
- Asking some candidates and not others. Asking only candidates with a foreign name about language, or only women about lifting, makes a fair question unequal. Fix: the same written questions for everyone.
What does a rewritten order picker call look like?
Illustrative example: each question is tied to one real requirement.
An agency recruiter fills order picker roles at a distribution centre. Before the first call, she gets the rota, start time, physical tasks, pay and floor language from the client. The call then runs:
- "Our shifts are 06:00 to 14:30 and 14:30 to 23:00, alternating weekly, plus one Saturday a month. Which can you work?"
- "How will you reach the site for a 06:00 start, and what if that fails one morning?"
- "Tell me about the last time you picked orders with a hand scanner. What slowed you down?"
- The physical tasks question and the pay question from the table.
- In the floor language: "A box on your pallet is damaged and leaking. What do you do?"
She ends with an answer for each requirement that she can compare with the next candidate's.
How Radius helps
Radius Hire is an AI hiring platform for frontline roles in the Netherlands. Its AI Interviewer holds a short, structured voice interview that candidates can take on their phone, whenever it suits them, in the language set for the role, and asks every applicant questions built on the role's requirements. Candidates are told at the start that the interviewer is automated and that a person reviews the result. It does not read emotions or assess accent, appearance or background.
For each requirement, Match shows whether it is backed by a document or a check, rests only on what the candidate said, or is still missing. Radius never rejects a candidate on its own; a recruiter reviews the evidence and makes every hiring decision. See how this works for warehouse roles and staffing agencies.
Replace the six questions this week
Start with the six lines in your current script.
One conversation with the site supervisor gives you the real rota, start time, tasks, pay and floor language. Build each question around one of them and ask every candidate the same questions. You get answers you can use, and you stay clear of questions you should not ask.