Congrats on scoring an interview!
This could be the first big step in your career… or it could be a nightmare. You can wait until you get the job to find out, but there are probably many signs that will cue you into what the company is all about. Here are some red flags to look out for:
Your interviewer is unprepared
You wouldn’t show up late to an interview and expect to get the job, right? You also probably wouldn’t show up to an in-person interview without knowing anything about the role. Everyone knows that this is interview etiquette 101. We like to throw these hefty expectations on candidates, but they also apply to hiring managers as well.
So, when the hiring manager brings you in, is late to the interview, unengaged and vague about the job description details… this could be a warning sign. It could mean that they are juggling way too many candidates. It could indicate a lack of respect for people in the workplace altogether. It could also be a sign of general disorganization within the company.
When this happens, you’ll likely want to figure out if this is just a bad day for them. Ask them specific questions like, “What does this role look like day-to-day?” or “What are your expectations for this role within the next 3 months?”
Negative comments about previous hires
When you step into an interview, you never want to speak negatively about your previous employer. With this same logic, you will want to see how the employer speaks about their previous hires.
An off-color remark from the hiring manager is never a great sign and you can assume that this is normalized talk. Negative comments about the person you’re replacing is a sign that this company may be prone to unethical behavior or that the morale is generally low.
The interview took forever to plan
The job process takes forever, and it’s been over a week without hearing anything back. The process seems confusing altogether. You’re about to throw in the towel, but a small inkling of hope keeps you hanging on. When you finally get a call and complete an in-person interview, you find that you’re only to be left in the dark for another week.
If the communication sucks right now. It will not get better once you get the job. In fact, it’s bound to get worse.
You don’t feel heard
We admit that sometimes a “red flag” isn’t necessarily an actual red flag and more so just a faulty hiring system. That in itself isn’t always negative for the company as a whole. (Perhaps they need to hire an amazing recruitment firm to lend them a hand…)
However, if the hiring manager or recruiter doesn’t take the time to know you, take a pause. Before anyone can assess whether you’re the right fit, it’s important to establish what YOU are looking for. What are your past accomplishments? How do they correlate with this opportunity? If you feel largely ignored now, it is likely to get worse with time.