Sometimes you get a feeling during a job interview that the workplace will be toxic and you know that you’re not gonna take the job even if they offer it to you…
And we could all use as much insight into this topic as we can get!
Check out what AskReddit users had to say about red flags that you should look out for in job interviews.
1. Poor reviews.
“I brought up a company’s poor Glassdoor reviews during an interview before too (they were all complaining about the owner of a small company).
The folks interviewing me looked at each other and said that the owner could be difficult but he’s in Mexico most of the time so I’d never have to see him. I accepted the job because I was desperate but sadly that was around the time the owner decided to stay around and get his hands in everything.
I was only there for 8 months and I think five people left before I did because of him.”
2. Lame.
“Right after graduating college I was working on Martha’s Vineyard for the summer and had a job interview in Boston.
I had to take the early ferry back to the mainland to catch the bus to make it to Boston to take the T to the interview on time … and then the person who was supposed to interview me wasn’t even in the building.
I was pi**ed.”
3. Nope.
“We expect our employees to be flexible regarding work schedules:
Would you be available to work evenings, weekends, and occasionally on holidays with short notice according to our needs?”
4. FYI.
“If you hear the word “sales” mentioned ANYWHERE in the job description, then sales will be your main job.”
5. A bad sign.
“When they have nothing good to say about the person whose position they are trying to fill.
They aren’t necessarily talking bad about the person- just little digs, almost passive aggressive.”
6. Run for it!
“Once you discover that all upper management is family.
This, or they’re all from the same church or community. Nothing like being passed for a promotion by the new guy because he’s with the higher ups every Sunday despite being totally incompetent at the actual job.
Classic nepotism.”
7. It’s a scam.
“If you have to pay any amount of money in order to work for them it is a scam and stay away.”
8. You’ve been warned…
“”What did you earn at your previous occupation?”
“We are not looking for someone with a 9 to 5 mentality”
“Here you will truly be a part of the ( corporation) family””
9. Gonna get ugly…
“”We work hard play hard”
“OT is basically Infinite, and you can work it as much as you want”
“We have a high turnover rate cause people just stop coming to work”.”
10. Background check.
“One of my coworkers told me an interviewer asked for her social media passwords to “expedite their background check.”
She did NOT comply and bailed on the whole interview. It was some small IT firm that got government contracts, don’t recall the name & I’m not going to guess because I don’t want to smear the wrong employer.
I only remember the story because we were all shocked at the audacity.”
11. Everyone else’s fault.
“If they ever say “people just don’t want to work anymore” or something similar, RUN.
They won’t value your time you as an employee, pay is likely to be s**t, management is going to be incompetent and/or overbearing, and options for raises, promotions, or career advancement is going to be minimal to none.”
12. Lots of ’em!
“I did an interview 2 days ago and the red flags I saw were:
Not sticking to the agreed upon time (that they chose). We began 40 minutes late
They were rushing through the questions and kept saying they were short on time
What’s your current salary
“Don’t expect a standard 8 to 4. This position requires long hours, some weekends and public holidays. We need to make sure you understand this and also are you married or got any kids?
Listing responsibilities not mentioned at all in the job description. As an insights analyst, why would I have to do site visits?
I pulled out a small book with my questions they looked nervous because short on time and they kept saying they were hungry and didn’t eat all day etc
Asking me for ideas on how to improve their app. How would I go about starting this one specific project etc.”
13. Wow.
“I had an interview for a security company and it was flags everywhere. Flags usually present themselves when it’s your turn to ask questions.
There is a lot of report writing for the job. We had to submit a writing sample. I asked if they had any feedback on my submission; “ I read so many last week I can’t remember, but if there was anything wrong with it we wouldn’t be talking. We have to write a lot of reports so if you can’t write then I won’t hire you. I don’t have time to teach someone how to write.”
Ok, not even a glance at their submission before interviewing someone and an unwillingness to train employees on a very important part of the job.
I was told they lost a few employees quickly “dropping like flies” was how it was told to me pre-interview. I asked what was the reason they lost their last few employees. “Better opportunities” Short, No elaboration, summing up pretty much several employees left for the same reason.
I know there’s a lot of burn out and turn over in the industry, caused by low wages , bad hours and over work. I asked what the company does to retain its employees. “If you come and talk to us we can help figure something out and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out” So no incentives to stay, just a focus on getting employees back to work if they have difficulty or they need more. No active approach to gives you a reason to stay but just giving you reasons not to leave.
I asked what the work culture was like. “We have a family-like environment. We work hard and play hard” Ugh, that speaks for itself.
I highly recommend in any interview try to ask probing questions. Try to see how willing they are to answer your questions. Sort generic answers are not a good sign but not a deal breaker but a big flag is if they actually don’t answer your question.
Example; when I asked what they did to retain employees, they essentially told me how they get people back to working.
Remember, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.”
Now we want to hear from you!
Tell us what you think about this in the comments.
Thanks, friends!
