'How Old Are You' Readers Tell Job Interview Tales 'How Old Are You' Readers Tell Job Interview Tales Readers ask, experts answer age-based interview questions Editors’ Note: A story that ran in Ladders’ Sept. 16 newsletter, “Don’t Answer That Interview Question,” elicited a nearly unprecedented volume of reader responses. Many recounted their own experiences with interviewers who asked inappropriate questions, and others asked how to respond, whether the questions come from hiring managers or online forms.Ladders took some of those questions to recruiters, lawyers and hiring professionals, asking them about the appropriateness of the questions and the best responses candidates can offer.Question: Do I need to date myself?Karl Lohrmann prefers not to answer questions about his age. But it’s hard to avoid revealing it, sometimes indirectly.“I’m filling out a lot of applications online. I don’t know anyone who fills out an application on paper anymore,” said Lohrmann, 62, of Chicago. “Most of these forms ask for my college-graduation date.
How much you must earn to afford a house in the largest cities How much you must earn to afford a house in the largest cities Buying a home used to be part of the American dream. It lets you build equity over the years, gives you a significant financial asset, and provides a pride of ownership or investment in the surrounding community. The problem is that in some cities, workers must earn hundreds of thousands of dollars to afford an average-sized home.We found the numbers behind our latest map from HSH.com, one of the largest publishers of consumer and mortgage information in the country. HSH focused on the 50 most populous metro areas in the country, and figured out the price of the median home for sale. They then calculated monthly principal, interest, property tax and insurance payments buyers have to pay for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. To keep things simple, they determined what salary would be needed to afford each home using the 28 percent “front-end” debt ratio, meaning the total housing payment could not make up more than 28% of gross income.
