With a job offer and decent salary at the employer’s disposal, it can be easy to forget that a job interview is a two-way process.
While hiring managers are assessing a candidate’s suitability for the role, candidates are equally sizing up potential employers—and arriving late to an interview, being rude, or dodging questions can act as warning signs for both parties.
“The interview can often be the first experience of the internal workings of a company for a potential employee, and it should present the best version of the business, just as the candidate will be showing the best version of themselves,” advises Lucinda Pullinger, managing director U.K. at the Instant Group, a workplace advisory firm.
“Hiring can be an arduous, long, and costly process, and it would be a shame to have found the right candidate, only for the interview to make them think twice before signing their contract,” she adds.
To help employers avoid putting off candidates, the Instant Group scored interview posts on Reddit to find out what the top red flags are among today’s job hunters.
As the talent pool tightens, recruiting managers would be wise to avoid the following phrases and gestures if they want to put their best foot forward while hiring to secure the best talent.
The top 15 red flags among job seekers
1. Bad Glassdoor reviews
2. Poor answers to questions
3. “You’ll be wearing many hats”
4. Clothing with the company logo
5. Suggesting you sign the contract immediately
6. Saying their employees like overtime
7. “Work hard, play hard”
8. Dodging questions about pay
9. Asking “what clients you can bring?”
10. Undercutting salary offer
11. Suggesting work over weekends
12. Condescending tone
13. “We’re like family here”
14. Poor explanations of the training process
15. Asking bad questions
It’s not uncommon for candidates to research their potential new workplace to prepare for an interview, so it won’t be long until they stumble on Glassdoor—home to the good, the bad, and the ugly reviews left by current and former employees.
With almost 50,000 upvotes on Reddit, a bad Glassdoor review is the top red flag among job seekers. No matter what employers say once they’ve got a candidate in the hot seat, those candidates will already have a bitter taste in their mouth if they’ve read that workers are treated badly at that firm.
Fortunately for hiring managers, they have near-term control of all of the other red flags that job seekers noted.
For example, coming in at second place is “poor answers to questions,” with over 40,000 Reddit upvotes. Interviewees are encouraged to ask questions as part of most hiring processes, so employers can look disorganized and unprofessional when they can’t answer these.
Plus, with salary transparency becoming increasingly common, if it wasn’t explicit in the job ad, you can bet that candidates will ask about pay in the interview. It’s why “dodging questions about pay” specifically also makes an appearance on the list at No. 8.
With 16,200 Reddit upvotes, asking candidates to sign a job contract immediately also made the top five red flags. Although from a business perspective getting your dream new hire onboard as soon as possible might look efficient internally, on the outside it could signal a high churn rate or that no one else wanted to take the job.
“It’s nice to be wanted,” the Instant Group says, but “employees are wisely wary of a company that seems desperate.”
Meanwhile, it’s clear that job hunters are put off by any whiff of a company culture that encourages overworking. Phrases that suggest taking on more than the job requires like “you’ll be wearing many hats” and “work hard, play hard” made the list four times. So hiring managers should avoid at all costs suggesting that staff enjoy working overtime or on the weekends—unless it really is required.
Should employers avoid telling workers they will need to work overtime?
Although candidates clearly don’t want to hear they will be expected to work on the weekends or beyond their contracted hours, if they genuinely will need to be reachable after hours, then employers best not gloss over it to appear more attractive at an interview stage.
“Some roles are high-pressure and stressful, and to imply that they aren’t will only mean new hires are either ill-equipped to perform in the role or consider leaving soon after joining,” Miranda Kyte, career trends expert at Glassdoor, told Fortune.
In the end, “omitting less favorable aspects of a job may lead to more applications, but this practice is unlikely to deliver the right candidates.”
