Looking for a jobcan be frustrating. It’s an arduous process that requires a lot of time and preparation, and even with all that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get the job.But being on the other side of the process is arguably not that much easier. The hiring managers, too, have to invest a lot of time and effort into finding the right fit for a certain vacancy. But over time, it becomes easier for them to do; after talking to hundreds—if not thousands—of applicants, they know what to be on the lookout for.Recently, a group of hiring managers delved deeper into the topic after one member of the ‘Ask Reddit’ communityasked themabout the subtle red flags that say, “This person won’t be a good hire.” They gave examples and shared stories, which might come in handy when it’s time for you to look for ajob, so you might want to scroll down to find their answers on the list below and read them carefully.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Looking for a jobcan be frustrating. It’s an arduous process that requires a lot of time and preparation, and even with all that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get the job.
But being on the other side of the process is arguably not that much easier. The hiring managers, too, have to invest a lot of time and effort into finding the right fit for a certain vacancy. But over time, it becomes easier for them to do; after talking to hundreds—if not thousands—of applicants, they know what to be on the lookout for.
Recently, a group of hiring managers delved deeper into the topic after one member of the ‘Ask Reddit’ communityasked themabout the subtle red flags that say, “This person won’t be a good hire.” They gave examples and shared stories, which might come in handy when it’s time for you to look for ajob, so you might want to scroll down to find their answers on the list below and read them carefully.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
A guy i know that works in the IT industry told me when a girl he interviewed for a junior Developer job had a complete meltdown and completely froze. The interview ended akwardly and that was that.A couple days later the girl sent an email explaining she had issues with anxiety and asked for a second chance. Of course my friend gave her that chance, she nailed it and got hired. She now works as a product owner after 5 years with the company.
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Men that avoid eye contact or direct communication with women. Lots of men in my field (STEM) don’t want to interact with women and will answer questions from female interviewers as though the man sitting next to her had asked it. I refuse to hire anyone with that BS attitude.
In a recent interview withBored Panda, the OP shared that they have been on both sides of ajob interview—the one who wants a vacancy filled and the one looking to fill it.“I have been giving interviews for my previous job for five years and then interviewing for a year after leaving that position,” they said, adding that, when it comes to being on the company’s side, the most challenging part of interviewing is candidates not showing up. “It’s such a huge waste of time,” they noted.
In a recent interview withBored Panda, the OP shared that they have been on both sides of ajob interview—the one who wants a vacancy filled and the one looking to fill it.
“I have been giving interviews for my previous job for five years and then interviewing for a year after leaving that position,” they said, adding that, when it comes to being on the company’s side, the most challenging part of interviewing is candidates not showing up. “It’s such a huge waste of time,” they noted.
I once had a guy show up (late) with blood all over his face and clothes looking really disheveled. Typically, I don’t waste my time with people who can’t even make it to their interview on time. But this guy said that he was in a car accident on his way to the interview and got there as soon as he could.After the interview he asked if there was any way he could get a ride back to where his car was. Believing his story, I offered him the ride. This man’s car was nearly FIVE MILES AWAY, legitimately crashed, and it turns out someone had broke into his car and stolen his child’s car seat and his stereo system during the couple hours he was gone.I hired him. He turned out to be really difficult to work with but the guy was a programming genius. Kept him for years before he moved on.I don’t hire liars. This guy wasn’t 1.
When asked about their experience with a topic, they stick to reciting textbook definitions of terminology rather than demonstrating any understanding of how to apply it.Had one person who was literally forwarding our questions into ChatGPT, and then reciting rambling answers that provided definitions of keywords in our questions rather than actually answering the question. Like, we’d ask “What’s something a previous employer or educator has recognized you for?”, and they’d answer: “Examples of things that an employer might recognize an employee for are…”.
The OP shared that throughout their career they have seen many “not-so-subtle red flags.” But when talking about the more subtle ones, they said that viewing working with kids as fun would be one of them.“[A subtle red flag when hiring would be] people who thought working with kids would be ‘a lot of fun.’ While it is fun, it’s also challenging, and if you’re only in it for the fun, it’s going to be rough,” they explained.
The OP shared that throughout their career they have seen many “not-so-subtle red flags.” But when talking about the more subtle ones, they said that viewing working with kids as fun would be one of them.
“[A subtle red flag when hiring would be] people who thought working with kids would be ‘a lot of fun.’ While it is fun, it’s also challenging, and if you’re only in it for the fun, it’s going to be rough,” they explained.
Showing up to the interview with a parent in tow. I’ve had this happen twice and both times I refused to go through with the interview. Grow up people! You don’t need mommy or daddy with you at your professional job interview!
I had a dude just straight up say he doesn’t like black people during his interview.
I once interviewed someone who told me she technically wasn’t allowed to be in the building because someone on another floor had a restraining order against her.
While it’s crucial for the company representative to be attentive to any of the so-called red flags an interviewee might raise, the latter should also listen carefully to what’s being said; or on the contrary—omitted.According toForbes, one of the red flags to indicate that the company itself might be something to run away from is the interviewer advising the interviewee against asking questions. In addition to that, they might respond with vague, perfect answers, badmouth other people, or adorn the conversation with inappropriate questions or remarks—all of which are not ideal, either, and should indicate that the company might not be a good fit.
While it’s crucial for the company representative to be attentive to any of the so-called red flags an interviewee might raise, the latter should also listen carefully to what’s being said; or on the contrary—omitted.
According toForbes, one of the red flags to indicate that the company itself might be something to run away from is the interviewer advising the interviewee against asking questions. In addition to that, they might respond with vague, perfect answers, badmouth other people, or adorn the conversation with inappropriate questions or remarks—all of which are not ideal, either, and should indicate that the company might not be a good fit.
When interviewing people I always try to find a way to subtly disagree or challenge one of their positions (whether I really disagree or not) and their reactions mostly fall in 3 categories.1. They agree with me/take it as a learning opportunity (green flag)2. They confidently back up their claim with supporting statements (very green flag)3. They get defensive/territorial that I’ve challenged them (red flag).
It’s a really, really bad idea to be combative with the interviewer. I’m legit trying to help you succeed and I make a concerted* effort to make you feel at ease. If a question or request doesn’t make sense to you, that’s fine - let’s talk about it. If you answer defensively, bordering on aggression, it’s *really* not going to go well. And you may get the answer right but the question I’m asking myself is if I want to deal with you every day. Especially considering this was likely your best behavior.
Continuing about red flags on the company’s side, Forbes also pointed out an organization requesting time-consuming, free work, asking you to do an assignment that’s not a part of the job description, constantly rescheduling or ghosting you, not giving you a chance to speak but offering you a job nevertheless, and rushing you to make an immediate decision. All of these warning signs should not be overlooked, even if you really, really, really want to get a job.
He cried. Never had that happen before and threw me off. He was unemployed and really needed a job. He was not a good match for the job he applied for, but the recruiter and me gave him tips and tricks for the next interview. Hope he made it.
They are wearing pajamas. I had to hire entry level staff to work for an airline - everything from checking people in to pushing wheelchairs and throwing luggage. Over the course of 2 weeks of hiring I had 3 different people show up for interviews wearing their pajamas (one of them had a robe a doo rag, and a beat up stuffed animal and kept sucking on a pacifier).Needless to say, I didn’t hire any of them, but, to this day I still don’t get why they bothered to set up the appointment, take the time and effort to get there, get through security, etc, but didn’t think it was important to put on actual clothing.
I interviewed this lady, and she brought up how she had an issue with an old coworker, and at the end of it she said the coworker died of cancer. Of course, I said “oh I’m sorry” or something similar, and she responds with “she got what she deserved.“Yeah, No thank you.
“I wish everyone currently looking [for a job] some good luck, and hopefully some of the advice listed here helps!” the redditor said.
I’m sorry I’m late for the interview it took a bit longer at Starbucks than I’m used to.
I’d say not being aware of who you’re applying to is a big red flag.I once worked for a local retailer in Maine, and at the time they did group interviews for potential employees. This was likely to see how well we’d be able to speak to customers and build team camaraderie.We had just gotten to the Q&A part of the interview where everyone was asked the most low-ball question of “What do you love about the outdoors?”Well this one older lady very loudly and proudly informed the room that she does NOT like going outside. She said it was full of animals and bugs, always got her shoes dirty, and she has everything she loves inside her house.We were applying for L. L. Bean, whose motto is literally “Be An Outsider” so safe to say she didn’t get hired.
Was giving an interview, maybe 20 minutes long. The lady being interviewed asked if she could go outside and smoke a cigarette.
Subtle: he didn’t have enough characters in his CCNA certificate number.Less subtle: I looked it up while his would-be boss asked him some softball questions. Once Cisco said it couldn’t be found/tracked, I asked him what was going on. “Oh I’m working on it, should have it in 6 months.“Yeah, Cisco doesn’t give a CCNA cert to someone that’s still working to pass the test.
Had a management position open and a quality applicant came in on time and was well-dressed for interview. Halfway through we had a great interview and I could sense he was already sure he had the job. His body language started changing and he relaxed more and more, pushing back from the table and stretching his arms, eventually a full backstretch with a yawn. Then he proceeded to order pizza for his daughter and himself so it would be there when he got home. He started discussing the commute and how much time he would have to dock from the workday for that. Shook his hand and never spoke to him again.
When I call in a group to interview I give simple instructions. Bring Your ID, a pen, a piece of paper. 90% of the people who show fail to bring those 3 things and immediately get rejected. Can’t follow simple instructions then why in the hell would I trust you with #1000’s of equipment on jobs where you could cost me 10s of $1000s.
I can teach anything but giving a damn. If your interview doesnt show you give a damn, it was a waste. Ask questions people, like you are sincerely trying to determine what the role is and entails.
I’m a mechanical engineer and I have to interview candidates from time to time.In general i give them a really simple technical question that I would expect a highschooler to solve. It’s literally going to be things like, “calculated the force on this object.“The more you deviate away from, “force equals mass times acceleration,” the more i know you are going to be a bad hire.Not only does it show a fundamental misunderstanding of the material at hand. It also shows me that when you don’t know the answer, you’re prone to taking up meeting time endlessly pointing out true but impossible to solve problems. .
I used to host Zoom interviews for a bit. The amount of people who would be 10+ minutes late astounded me. It was an immediate no hire for me. If you can’t ~open your laptop and click on a link~ on time, I don’t trust you to show up to shifts on time. Bonus points for being late + obviously laying in bed. .
Many of you dont know what subtle is. A person being openly racist or late for the interview isn’t subtle. .
I work in politics and hire a lot of entry level positions. With some firms, the only qualification is a pulse.In the screening call (pre interview) I ask them about an issue that they care about. This is to first wd out anyone that doesn’t have a clue what is going on and also to wd out someone on the other side of the aisle (it very much is a partisan position).One person last year slipped up and somehow passed the screening call. In our office, there were cardboard cutouts of 3 prominent political figures (2 presidents and a VP, all household names at this point). He got to the office, saw the cardboard cutouts, and asked who they were.
If they’re 23 and don’t have 15+ years of experience in their field.
I had a perfectly nice woman come in for an interview. Lied about her education. I knew because the diploma mill she listed quite famously doesn’t exist anymore, but she said she was a current student set to graduate in 2 years.Honestly, if she hadn’t lied, we would have hired her. But once I pointed that out in the post-game meeting, everyone lost any enthusiasm they had.
I was hiring someone with web development skills. Asked a candidate to tell me about a time they encountered a critical error and how they fixed it. Their response, “Well I was on our website and noticed some information was out of date, a critical error, so I told the web development team we needed to update that critical error.”.
Due to the nature of roles I interview for, I often get people with PhDs and they split into two categories: ‘I’ve done my homework and I’m ready to answer any question’ (good) and ‘I am better than this job and you will give it to me, but I’ll join the charade’ bad, like… really f*****g bad.Also: Top tip - if you apply for an information specialist role, don’t fudge your own information. We will do due diligence and we will understand whether you are trying to big yourself up, regardless of your background/nationality.
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In IT, not asking any questions. An interview should go both ways. You should ask me about my company and team. Not only does it show interest but it gives you information to make a decision.
I once interviewed a woman that was chewing gum the entire time! I don’t remember any of her answers because all I could think was, “I can’t believe she’s chewing gum while talking. “Had another lady interviewing for a personal assistant to company owner who said that we could not run a back ground check on her.Neither were hired!
The same ones you look for when making friends. At the end of the day this person will spend a 3rd of their day or more at the job.That being said,Super negativeThey never do anything wrong or can’t think of something they can improveTrash talking their former employerTalking more than listening (cutting you off)Etc.
I have a few.- If they misspell my very common name in the cover letter.- If they don’t follow the clear rules on how to apply for the job. I had someone send their resume through an email change form for for existing customers. IT said they hadn’t realized that was even possible. The kicker was the first line of their letter is ‘they keep close attention to detail.'- Any mention of ‘they don’t want me to waste their time.’.
I’m not anyone who makes hiring decision but I’m often invited to interviews to give feedback on candidates.Something that almost always kills the offer letter is negativity. We just had a fantastic candidate but she found a way to complain about everything. The state she was from (too boring), the state we are in that she just moved to (too cold), past jobs (too mundane, bad leadership, etc), even some of her family members received jabs (currently living with sister who is too messy). She said everything with a smile on her face and was generally pleasant, but we couldn’t get past the fact that she had something negative to say about EVERYTHING. Doesn’t really scream team player/good fit.
Had two interviews for a software dev position this year that stood out.First one, the guy was well into the interview and going through the coding portion when the door opened behind him. A woman stepped in and asked something about reports and to wrap up what he was doing. When she left he turned back to the screen and said he was sorry but he had to go and ended the call.Second was a guy who was doing alright but halfway through the interview he just stopped responding to us (call wasn’t frozen, he just stopped talking/responding). Then the call just ended and we never heard anything from him again, even after reaching out to see if he had connection issues and wanted to reschedule.
Trash talk all their previous jobs & managers.
Arrogance, being unprepared for even minor questions, not knowing what job role they applied to, not being a good fit in general for the team (i.e. they like to work individually in a role that requires a lot of team work, etc.).
I asked someone in an interview why they wanted the job and they said it was just to fill in until they could find something better.
Once a candidate asked whether we do unannounced d**g tests, not joking.
If every question I ask results in a 10-minute story and I can’t get a word in, this is not the position for them.
I don’t know if it counts as “subtle” or not but the dude had a bunch of prnstar posters hanging up in his home office during the zoom interview. I like prn as much as the next guy but I don’t want to see that s**t when we’re doing standups. Maybe if he was Einstein or Tesla or something but he couldn’t even code his way out of a paper bag.
Software engineer. I always keep asking questions until I find something they don’t know. If they don’t say “I don’t know” at that point, huge red flag.Nobody knows everything, being able to recognize when you’ve encountered a subject outside of your knowledge is essential .
Anyone that leads with how important it is that his or her boundaries need to be respected is for sure going to be a pain in the a*s to employ.Unless you’re some rockstar in your field, you should go into any interview with the assumption that there are 10 other people willing to work harder and for less. If you’re comfortable enough walking away from the job, then you can hold out and demand more. But if you need the job, know that to distinguish yourself, the employer wants to see someone who is going to help him or her succeed.
Called someone up for a phone screening. I was asking her generally easy technical questions to see if she qualified to go through our interview process. She was whispering all her answers and I could barely hear her and I asked her to speak up, and she said she can’t cause she’s in a meeting at work. That’s when I realized that the voice I kept hearing in the background wasn’t a tv but a person speaking, giving a speech or something.I told her to try to reschedule with us. We ended up not having her in for an interview.
If they no call/no show for an interview and then call me in a panic a day later. Nope. I’ve had plenty of candidates call before an interview to say they were running late, or had an emergency, they were very ill and had to reschedule — no problem, s**t happens. You might be an awesome candidate on paper, but if the position is not important enough to you to double check your calendar, the confirmation email, etc - then I don’t want you. Maybe you had a brain fart, maybe you had a bad day - but who cares, we all do. Communication is the key. Im not going to hold anyone’s hand. Better luck next time.
Negative Talk.
Arrogance.
Hygiene.
I interviewed a girl that seemed ok. Alittle weird and quirky (but hey, we are all weird). Could have used some more experience in the field, but if we started her with low and she worked her way up it probably would have been fine.Another manager took her to your the facility and I got a text from my supervisor to come outside to the parking lot area. He was standing behind this girl’s car and did the quiet loud whisper of “get over quick!” I walk over and there is the LARGEST bumper sticker that says “I EAT A*S”. My supervisor turned and looked at me and said “you are NOT hiring her”. Proceeds to walk away.Needless to say with a facility that had kids around frequently we did not hire her. I thought it was kinda funny. Maybe not something you publicly announce though. True irony of it all though was the supervisor was a notorious s**t. Was on Grindr all the time and had his lovers come to the facility. Guess he was a top and not a bottom.
Had one person put down “Instagram and Facebook” in their Skills section. This was for an upper level medical professional position.
Ignoring advice and hints.In tech it’s pretty common for there to be a dialogue between interviewer and interviewee when doing a difficult problem on the whiteboard. Some problems are actually designed so you don’t have enough info without asking questions.It’s okay to struggle a little and need some guidance, but ignoring that guidance is pretty much an instant no-hire, even if your solution ends up being pretty close in the end.Why? Because we’re not just testing your coding skills. We’re testing your communication, and how you work with teammates.If we hire you, the next time we work on a problem together it might be one where neither of us just knows the answer. And in that situation, you need to be able to collaborate instead of just charging past to work on your own idea.
I was in management for a daycare and it became pretty easy to identify the red flags. Unfortunately we were always so hurt for employees we’d hire them anyway.I know it’s kind of a meme but if you immediately let me know your sexual orientation I knew it was going to bad. Like I had several candidates essentially open up with how they were gay, their race, and why their life was tough. Which I get it. We are in the south it sucks. But like how do you feel about changing diapers? And we’d hire them anyway and they’d immediately get into it with a parent.
Oh and so many people lie or exaggerate their experience on their resume. Then, when interviewed, they can’t answer basic questions about key tasks in the role 😭.
They don’t listen at all, just giving shrugs or “whatevers” when describing the job and their duties.
If they bring in their step brother.
Both scenarios emphasize the importance of making refined choices, be it selecting a candidate or enhancing a photograph with insightful techniques.
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