10 red flags to look for in a job interview –
Introduction 👋
Job interviews can be a lot of work. 🥴
They take a lot of:
- time
- thought
- effort
- writing
- patience
The whole process can be really stressful. 😓
So – you want to make it worth it, right?
How rubbish would it be to go through all that stress, to end up in a job that you hate? 😬
Today we’re going to teach you 10 red flags to look out for in a job interview, to help you decide if it’s worth working there.
If you’re in an interview and notice any of these red flags, you might want to reconsider working there!
10 red flags to look for in a job interview 🚩
1. Being unprofessional 🤠
In your interview it’s important to look out for anything the interviewers do, that doesn’t feel appropriate or professional. 👀
This could include things like:
- making rude jokes 🤪
- flirting
- talking about bad behaviour 🥊
- gossiping
- making you feel uncomfortable 😬
- touching you
- asking inappropriate questions 🎤
Inappropriate questions could include talking/asking about things like your:
- relationship status 💞
- age 🧓
- race 🌎
- gender 🧑
- sexuality 🧑🤝🧑
- disability ♿
- religion or belief 🙏
- plans to have children or not. 👶
These topics are inappropriate to focus on in a job interview, and shouldn’t have any relevance to you being suitable for the job or not.
If an employer acts unprofessionally in a job interview, it is an indicator that they:
- have bad training
- could have an unhealthy, stressful work environment
- tolerate bad behaviour
- aren’t very welcoming or inclusive
2. Rescheduling/ disorganisation 🔁
Life is busy, and it’s understandable there might be some hiccups on the way to setting up interview. 📆
BUT
things like:
- really late replies – e.g. ghosting you for a week
- unclear communication
- multiple reschedules
- lack of explanation for moving things around
- not acknowledging/apologising for being disorganised
could be a red flag. 🚩
When a recruiter is being disorganised, it can show that they:
- don’t value your time ⌚
- see the job role as unimportant 🤷♀️
- aren’t fighting for your talent against other employers 🥷
3. Unclear answers 🤔
When you’re at work you want everyone to be on the same page.
If people aren’t on the same page during an interview, what are they going to be like in a normal work day? 😬
If anyone at the organisation is giving you vague answers to your questions, or people are giving different answers, this could be an indicator that:
- there isn’t very good communication at the workplace
- they don’t want to be honest with you
This could be a red flag! 🚩
4. Inaccurate job description 📝
When you’re in a job interview it’s important to keep an eye on whether the job you’re interviewing for sounds like the job description you initially applied for. ✅
If the work they’re talking about in the interview doesn’t match the job description, it could be an indicator that they:
- are not very good at communicating job responsibilities (does that mean they’ll ask you to do a lot of work that’s completely different to your role?) 🤐
- don’t put a lot of care/effort into creating job descriptions 🤷♀️
- don’t set very good boundaries for employees 🧱
- might not care about overloading you with work 😩
5. Lack of enthusiasm 😴
You want to work somewhere that people love, right? 😍
Keep an eye out for interviewers who are:
- reading out interview questions like a robot 🤖
- not smiling or acting warmly towards you
- looking bored and tired 😴
- not having any enthusiasm or energy
- struggling to answer questions about why they love the organisation they work for 😬
- not trying to genuinely get to know you – acting like they’re reading a script
- only talking about negative things. e.g. the problems they’re having 👎
These could be signs that they:
- don’t like their job
- already have someone lined up for the job
- have a difficult atmosphere at work
- don’t like having fun
- aren’t passionate about the organisation
- find the work boring
- take themselves too seriously
6. Disrespecting others 🤬
How employers treat others can be a huge indicator towards what it’ll be like working there. 🔍
If they don’t treat each other nicely, why would they treat you nicely? 🤷♀️
In your interview, keep a close eye on how the interviewers treat each other. 👀
Do they:
- Talk over or interrupt each other
- Leave anyone out
- Act frustrated with each other
- Treat other people in an unfriendly way e.g. not smiling or acknowledging each other, awkward body language
If they do, it could be a sign that you might not want to work there.
7. A long interview process 📆
If you’re not interviewing to be the next person in charge of the organisation, then you probably don’t need to be interviewed 4 times to get the job! 👑
Long, drawn-out interview processes could show that:
- the organisation is indecisive
- they don’t respect your time
This could be a red flag! 🚩
8. Different values ⚖️
It’s important that you make sure that you value the same things as your employer.
If you value having fun at work, and your employer is super serious, work would be rubbish! 🤷♀️
It’s better to find an employer that values the same things as you.
You could value things like:
- Having control over your work
- Fun
- Diversity and inclusion
- Helping charity
- Flexibility
- Open communication
What are they doing to support those values?
Why not ask them about it?
Are they actually supporting them, or just talking about it?
If their answer isn’t convincing, that could be a red flag. 🚩
9. Offering you the job – with a deadline ⌛
Whilst this doesn’t happen all the time, some employers might offer you the job, and give you a really tight deadline to decide whether to accept or not. e.g. “We need to know by tonight”
These are sometimes called “exploding offers”.💥
“Exploding offers” can be a huge red flag, and show:
- a lack of respect for you making an important career decision
- that they know they’re not offering you something very good
- insecurity from the employer
- bullying-like behaviour
- lack of flexibility
10. Not liking change 🚀
When you start a new job, you might have some great ideas about how to improve things and make the workplace better. ✨
Sadly, there are lots of workplaces that just don’t want to change, and this is a big red flag! 🙅♀️
In your interview, keep an eye out for clues that they might be scared or uncomfortable with you making changes. 👀
Conclusion 👍
So that’s it!
You should look out for these red flags at your next job interview! –
- Being unprofessional 🤠
- Rescheduling/ disorganisation 🔁
- Unclear answers 🤔
- Inaccurate job description 📝
- Lack of enthusiasm 😴
- Disrespecting others 🤬
- A long interview process 📆
- Different values ⚖️
- Offering you the job – with a deadline ⌛
- Not liking change 🚀
If you know any friends or family members who might benefit from learning about red flags to look for in job interviews, share this post with them!
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