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9 Egregious Red Flags to Look Out for During Your Interview

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9 Egregious Red Flags to Look Out for During Your Interview

What you will find in this blog:

    You got the interview! Yay! You are excited to meet with the company and see if the role is right for you.

    But… what if the interview does not go as you hoped, and you get a bad feeling about the company and the manager?

    Listen to your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. The last thing you want to do is take a job that ends up being a poor fit, or worse, burns you out.

    Here are some red flags to look out for during your interview.

    9 Interview Red Flags

    🚩 1. Constant reschedules and disorganized scheduling
    If the company is repetitively rescheduling or canceling your interviews, they do not respect your time. One instance of a reschedule is okay, things happen and scheduling can be tricky. Keep track if your conversations are constantly canceled, moved, or not everyone who was supposed to be present is available. It is a bad sign.

    🚩 2. Lack of clarity in job description
    If the job description is vague or overly broad, it could mean that the company does not know what they want, or they are trying to get one person to do multiple jobs. Be sure the role and your tasks are clear. The interviewer should be able to answer your questions about responsibilities, and how you fit into the company structure. Beware multiple managers from different teams. Yikes.

    🚩 3. Rudeness or distractions
    You are interested in the company and the role. Your interviewer should be interested in you! If you can tell that the interviewer is checked out and not listening to your answers, then they certainly are not going to be engaged when you are an employee. Watch if they are rude to other employees as well. If there are constant distractions that need attention during your interview, it could be a sign the team is overworked and could set you up for burnout. No thanks!

    🚩 4. Toxic culture
    Keep your ears open for company culture red flags. If these phrases are used to describe the company culture, be sure you get clarity or you might want to pass:

    · Grind workstyle
    · Fast-paced environment
    · Thrive under pressure
    · Work hard/play hard
    · We’re a family
    · We’re on 24/7

    🚩 5. High turnover
    If the people in the role before you were there for less than a year, and did not get promoted within the company, run for the hills. That means the role and company are so bad, it is likely these people quit or left before their first year was up.

    🚩 6. Inappropriate (or illegal) interview questions
    Everything should be professional in your interview. This is how you can expect to be treated once you start. So, if inappropriate questions are being asked in the interview itself, you know that there will be no personal boundaries once in the role. Inappropriate questions could include:

    · Do you plan to have children within the next year?
    · Are you married or seeing anyone?
    · How old are you? When did you graduate?
    · Where were you born?
    · Have you ever filed a workers comp claim?
    · Have you ever reported anyone to HR?

    🚩 7. Changes in compensation or limited time offers
    If the role posted has a pay range that meets your requirements, but what is offered in the screening call is less or keeps changing, cut your losses early. You do not want to go through the whole interview process and then get offered a salary that does not meet your needs. Also, if the job offer is “only good until the end of the day” or they “need to know first thing tomorrow morning” and the offer expires, they are rushing you to decide for some reason. Pass.  

    🚩 8. Values do not match
    Every company has values and a mission. Make sure that these align with your values. For example, if you care about the environment and a company has sustainability as part of their mission, that is a good fit! However, if you care about the environment, but the company actively pollutes, tries to get around regulations, or is incredibly wasteful, that is not a good fit and you will end up being unhappy. Next!

    🚩 9. Avoiding your questions
    At the end of your conversation, you should get time to ask your interviewer questions. If the person does not give you this time, or does not answer your questions directly and clearly, they are hiding something. You will not want to work at a company where your questions or concerns are ignored. Move on.

    Look out for interview red flags
    These are huge interview red flags that should not be ignored. Particularly if multiples of these red flags happen during your interview, you should absolutely consider the fact that the company is not the right fit. Choosing a place to work is an important decision, and you do not want to get stuck somewhere with a bad manager and poor culture.

    Looking out for these interview red flags can help you avoid accepting an unsuitable role and ensure that you find a better option.

    Connect with me for assistance on preparing for your interview as well as an interview debrief where we discuss if the company is right for you, recap any potential interview red flags, and strategize on how to negotiate your job offers.

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