Getting to the interview stage is the first hurdle. Knowing whether you want to carry on is the next. Being able to recognise red flags for interviewees is essential to knowing when to walk away.
Great news, you’ve secured that interview! The ecstatic moment when a recruiter reaches out to you and says ‘we’d like to invite you to an interview’. As an employee it feels good when we’re selected and wanted by an employer.
An interview is a nervous and an exciting time simultaneously- a potential salary increase, a new job role, new team. But whilst there is a lot of exciting new information gathered during the interview process, there are also a lot of subtle warning signs – red flags that show this might be a job you’d do better to walk away from.
Whilst there is a lot of exciting new information gathered during the interview process, there are also a lot of subtle warning signs – red flags that show this might be a job you’d do better to walk away from.
I’ve had a lot of terrible interviews, and the past two years have really shown me how good or bad an interview experience can be. I’ve talked about in my previous articles about when you should walk away from your current job and the right questions to ask at the end of the interview. But what do you do when you did everything right and you get some weird vibes, or feel that the interview red flags are waving?
Throw into the mix that remote interviews are the main way to interview (since COVID-19 80% of interviewers are now holding video interviews) and a hiring manager can treat an interviewee any way they like from keeping you waiting 30 minutes before you can join the call to being downright disrespectful and asking illegal interview questions.
Here are my top five red flags employees should watch out for during an interview and not ignore:
Interviewee Red Flag #1: Interviewer turns up late to interview
I interviewed back in 2020 with Rococo Chocolates and I was invited to a first stage interview only to find out that their HR department was completely unorganised.
One of the most basic pieces of career advice for interviewees is to arrive at least 10 minutes in advance, or if the interview is remote, to make sure your camera is turned on and you are presentable and prepared. HR not turning up to interviews or rescheduling at the last moment are signs that the company is disorganised, or simply lacks respect for its staff.
In the end, I was waiting for someone to let me into a Zoom call interview for 30 minutes before I had a random number call me. The first question I was asked in that particular interview was ‘Why do I want to work for this company?’. By then, I had already decided that I did not want to work for a company that did not appreciate the time or energy I was investing by coming to this interview. A larger question I was asking myself was ‘if HR is like this now, what would they be like when I joined?’
Emergencies and extenuating circumstances do happen – people get ill, meetings conflict or deadlines suddenly move. Providing candidates with enough notice to be able to deal with a rescheduled interview is not kindness, it’s basic professionalism, and not having it is a huge red flag.
Providing candidates with enough notice to be able to deal with a rescheduled interview is not kindness, it’s basic professionalism
Interviewee Red Flag #2: You’re offered a job after your first interview
A first interview is pretty big. It’s the first time you’ll meet your future boss and team, learn about the job and about the company, and all in under an hour. A good interviewer will know that hiring slow is the way forward. The full interview process for a company that hires carefully can take up to 9 weeks, giving the interviewer a real opportunity to actually get to know a candidate and their motivations for applying to the job and company.
I’ve experienced quick job offers more with startups – potentially it could be to do with the ‘high-growth’ or ‘high-dynamic environment’ (a buzzword red flag!) or they are trying to be efficient. Regardless, being offered a job after knowing someone for an hour is like asking to move in on the first date, it’s too soon!
It can feel fantastic to be snatched up so soon and maybe the hiring manager was extremely impressed with your CV. However, you could be walking into a job that is chaotic, and be putting out fires from day 1.
You could be walking into a job which is chaotic, and be putting out fires from day 1
If you are offered a job during the interview or at the end of the first interview, do your checks on the management style and the company. A lesson I have learnt is that it is not good to rush into accepting a job – the company may be trying to make sure you have as little time as possible to do additional research. Even if you do have a 2nd interview after being offered a job, this does become more informal and can seem premature when you don’t know who would be working on your team or your exact job responsibilities.
Interviewee Red Flag #3: You’re Ghosted
The exact opposite to the above red flag. I feel like ghosting is the biggest warning sign in the hiring process. I have been a victim of ghosting from recruiters after being sold ‘the once in a lifetime job role many times. I’ve been ghosted after an interview but worst of all, I’ve been the victim of a full-ghost. I define a full-ghost as being ghosted after the interview/hiring process has finished.
Earlier this year, I had interviewed with Natoora and was originally impressed with their mission statement and ethos. However, I was not impressed by my final interview and the lack of follow-up, so much so that I wrote a Google review detailing my frustration at not hearing anything back, and my final interviewer not being interested during my interview.
Ghosting sucks and being made to feel that you don’t deserve any feedback from an interview is a massive red flag that the company culture is not all it seems. Ghosting could be down to many reasons from understaffing to non-existent HR to just being a shitty company that hired someone internally and didn’t have the decency to say so.
The average length of a job interview in the UK is around 27.5 days. If you’re stuck at a particular interview stage or never get a response back from a job interview, I would call it luck. Usually, when I’ve had time to dig a bit deeper whilst waiting, I find some Glassdoor reviews which highlight the truth.
Interviewee Red Flag #4: Information about the company is not widely available
I have worked for one small company that no one I know has ever heard of. Why? The promise of work-life balance after coming out of a job where I was working until 9 pm felt like it was the only thing I wanted in a job. How wrong I was.
It’s easy to go on Glassdoor and read the negative reviews because the majority of Glassdoor reviews are negative and from disgruntled employees or ex-employees. However, reading a Financial Times article on a company that is sexist or has been fined is another matter and should not be taken lightly during the researching the company phase of interview prep. A company that is not active on social media or recognised as a company on LinkedIn is a red flag for credibility, company culture and career progression.
A company which is not active on social media or recognised as a company on Linkedin is a red flag for credibility, company culture and career progression
It turned out that the Financial Times articles about the company being stuck in the 1980s and sexism were true, I had seen this in the day-to-day responsibilities of my job role and the way my department had been managed. Also, how could you answer the ‘Tell us what you know about the company’ question when there is no public information?
Interviewee Red Flag #5: Setting of the interview
My final red flag is an unusual one but something I think applies to Zoom interviews – which have grown exponentially since COVID-19. I was invited to an interview with a shipping start-up and the hiring manager conducted my interview whilst on a yacht with his family in Greece. I was completely shocked at the unprofessional setting of these interviews, and as a candidate it made me question the professionalism of the company.
An unprofessional interview is a serious red flag that the company is disorganised, chaotic and not running like a proper company.
I hope you found the above tips helpful and whilst some of these tips are uncommon and not your standard red flags these were the warning signs I experienced during interviews, some of them on multiple occasions.
In the end, an interview is a two-way process and there are only so many questions you can ask and signs you can look out for. I’ve been lied to about some aspect of my job/ team/ company in most interviews so remember to take everything with a pinch of salt, do your research, and watch out for these interview red flags!
What is a red flag for you during the interview process? Comment below!
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Tim Gouw on Unsplash
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