30 People Share Subtle Red Flags During A Job Interview That Indicate You Shouldn’t Take The Job
Interviewing for a job is an overwhelmingly nerve-wracking experience for even the most confident people. You do your homework, pick out an outfit, and rehearse your strengths and weaknesses for hours on end only to meet total strangers in a position of power and be judged by a single conversation.
But out of fear of coming off as unfit for the desired company, we can forget a job interview is a two-way street. Just as employers deem whether candidates are a match for them, it's equally necessary for applicants to see whether the organization is in line with their goals and values. Sometimes, the interviewer may make an offensive comment or give out a downtrodden vibe of the office, and our intuition tells us to quickly run the other way.
"What are subtle red flags at a job interview that say, 'Working here would suck'?" asked one user over on Reddit and inspired thousands of people to chime in with their stories. From phrases like "fast-paced environment" to promises to be a part of their close family, people revealed warning signs to be on the lookout for. Below, you’ll find some of the most illuminating responses from the thread, so be sure to upvote the ones you agree with most. And if you know any additional indicators of hostile and toxic work environments, let us know all about them in the comments right below.
Psst! If you’re interested in even more job-interview madness, check out Bored Panda’s earlier piece right over here.
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'we're a christian company'
if they say that... f*****g run. end the interview as fast and possible and f*****g run.
they're going to overwork you, underpay you, short you on benefits, and f**k you over at the first sign of trouble, but the owners will show up daily, driving their $150k cars that they paid cash for, so they can sit in their office and do f**k-all for a few hours and then leave so they can go yell at the contractors remodeling their houses for the fifth time in six years.
Whenever somebody invokes god or their religion in order to give themselves credibility, I know I am talking to the vilest, obnoxious, backstabbing piece of s**t.
As a Christian, I totally agree. If you are a real follower of Christ, you don't have to tell people
Load More Replies...Personally I have worked for a Christian company and I really loved it. All it meant was that Christian holidays were fiercely observed with days off and that keeping my family as a priority was supported. Our boss was one of the kindest, most understanding men I ever had the pleasure of working for. Don’t let hypocritical Christians lead you to believe that blanket statements about Christianity are as true as any other blanket statement about anyone.
Same. My christian boss was the best I ever had. Invested in me, helped me improve my skills and experience, and even kept me on the payroll for a month after I quit (because I had just had a baby and chose to stay home for a couple years) and he wanted to make sure I had all my benefits and was completely covered. There are a lot of fake christians who use the label to cover for a lot of shitty behavior. But you know when you've met the real deal.
Load More Replies...My dad works for a company like that and he's fooled himself into thinking they're great. He's pushing 70 and literally almost died for this job (developed end stage heart failure, given 6 months to live all because of the years of stress he's taken on) but he still doesn't think they're that bad. His physical health is back to normal now, but he's never going to be able to retire and he will die working for this "Christian" company that will replace his as soon as he's gone. I hate them.
Not to mention they won't pay for your birth control or necessary reproductive healthcare.
Okay, christian or non-christian, they won't pay for it. There may be some but, even the non-christian one's don't pay this.
Load More Replies...My mom learned this the hard way over 30 years. She would always look in the phone book for businesses with a cross or a fish symbol, or use a referral from church. F**ked over and ripped off, every single time. Christians are the reason I'm not a Christian.
A local contractor was caught taking 10% off his employees wages and donating to his church as well as refusing to pay OT after one of the workers took him to court. Only hires young and dumb guys from his church now.
YEP. Had NO idea panera was a xtian company until i worked there. worst. job. ever.
People can be Christians - companies cannot. A company is a commercial entity. You can no more have a Christian company than you can have a Christian pogo stick.
I feel like that should be obvious, unless they are implying their connection of buildings and money has its own soul.
Load More Replies..."Must be a self-starter" = We won't train you. "Fast-paced environment" = We will overwork you. "Must be able to multitask" = We fired three people and want you to do all their jobs.
Right person could get quick promotion = Kiss the right a*s and we may give you a pay rise. Maybe.
But you gotta get your tongue in there, deep. No, deeper. See, this is why you aren't getting a bonus, your tongue is too short.
Load More Replies...As an HR professional I would argue that multitasking does not always mean that. My company has some positions that do require multitasking, such as taking customer information while entering it into the computer, and there are some people who cannot handle that.
True. I realized some time ago that there are some people who can't multitask well. Multitask doesn't always mean negative.
Load More Replies...The must be a self starter red flag is so true! Had a job where even when I had all the skills and done it before and they still refused to teach me even local practices (which was crucial to know to do the job well), then got pissed I didn’t “pick it up fast enough” when I tried myself! Noped out of there and haven’t looked back since, that’s why their turnover was so high…
I had one job where they were reluctant to show me where stuff was. I mean, i could be bloody gorden ramsey, you still have to tell me where you store the spices.
Load More Replies..."Must be a self-starter" Yeah, you'll start yourself looking for a different job.
"And other duties as assigned" - if nobody else will do it, guess what?
My employer checks all of those boxes. It can be stressful but it's a great company. Our ops manager and field manager both started as techs. I worked my way up from tech to engineer.
I might be weird for this but I enjoy a fast-paced environment. The day drags on if I have nothing to do, and I naturally move quickly
When the mournful eyed Filipina janitor bumps into you as you walk towards the restroom, slipping into your pocket a hastily scrawled note that says "you leave, is no good for you here".
If that ain't a sign to hightail it outta there, I don't know what is.
I once had a receptionist say "You look like a nice guy, run while you still can" when I arrived for an interview.
That's just sad man... I assume they have a way to make her stay there or maybe they have no option but to work there and get abused or whatever they have to deal with
I know! I also wonder about that poor janitor!! :(
Load More Replies...Do you know why companies specifically hire Filipino workers? Because they're bound by the laws of the Philippines that doesn't allow them to sue any foreign company. That's why cruise lines employ tons of them. They can't sue for wage theft or injury.
I once interviewed for a company that said they'll be holding onto my passport and my university degrees as long as I work there.
While I had heard of such instances, I also knew it's against the law.
That's illegal. No one should hold on to your personal ID and qualification papers. Just NOPE and report them after you walk out.
how does a company "hold on to" your university degree? It's not like you can't get transcripts and a replacement diploma with very little effort.
I've heard of this being done to immigrants working on visas; so they can't leave the company.
Did they say why? I have never heard of this or any reason why you should be doing this and I work in HR. This is nuts.
Unfortunately, it’s a common practice in some parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It is straight-up for the purpose of keeping the workers enslaved. It makes it impossible for them to leave, to travel, to go anywhere or do anything until their “employer” “releases them.” These schemes often also involve providing their “employees” with housing, which sounds great, right? A foreigner in a foreign land probably isn’t savvy about prices, safe neighborhoods, transportation, even simple things like where to shop and eat. Providing some sort of company housing, among others who speak your language and know how to get around the new city is something that makes the worker’s experience so much better that it’s a pretty common perk, even/especially by legitimate businesses. But the shady ones will over-deduct the cost of housing from peoples’ pay, to the point that they end up owing more than they make. No $$$ + no travel documents = you are TRAPPED!
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While waiting in the lobby for my interviewer to come out, a man flung the work area door open as he was screaming and literally sobbing about the place being worse than hell. It was like a red flag factory exploded in my face.
"We asked people some subtle red flags" yea I don't classify this as subtle at all
I don't know; this could go both ways: a truly horrific place, or one where they are so tolerant that they even accommodate a drama queen - maybe he was just denied permission to wear his two-piece bikini to work...?
Plot twist: it was a great company and that was another applicant trying to scare the competition away hehehe
"Screaming and literally sobbing". That is not a "subtle" red flag! That is a giant neon red flag!!!
I'll just keep my head down and then quickly disappear, never to return.
Or that could have been the shittiest employee Finally getting fired for their incompetence. Seen it many times, the people that behave like that have been allowed to get away with incompetence and blame others for their failure.
Not subtle at all - I went for an interview for a job that I was already doing with 5 years experience, with excellent reviews and even a recommendation from my current employer. It was a panel interview and as soon as I walked in one of the interviewers walked out to the parking lot. He comes back and goes "how do you plan to work this job with two kids still in car seats?" I told him he was asking an illegal question and was being straight up sexist and inappropriate. I knew right then that I wasn't taking the job.
Kudos for pointing that out and letting him know that such attitudes are not okay!
Problem is it doesn't hurt them to just leave and walk away from the opportunity. In fact it probably validates, in their mind, that you would never be able to handle their job. It just seems this idea of if your boss is racist, sexist, or phobic then just show them your power by resigning or walk away from that job because you don't want that place anyway is not logical. Most those companies move right along they just become more of what they were before. Something should happen when these illegal inappropriate incidents occur in interviews and at the job but powerful and wealthy have us convinced it's law suits that are causing the problems and not the company employees that would tell you you can't be successful here as a woman with children.
Load More Replies...I'm in the UK-its illegal to discriminate on the grounds of gender, age, marital status, whether you've got kids or not, and people who become pregnant during employment are allowed paid maternity leave. I went for a pre-interview visit to a hospital to look around, and the manager doing the tour asked my marital status and whether I had children, or was planning to in the near future. I said that sort of question wasn't appropriate, and could be discriminatory, and he replied that this wasn't a formal interview so he could ask whatever he wanted, he was just making conversation. Aye, right-he would have been one of the interview panel and the information would potentially have biased them to a candidate that wasn't at risk of getting pregnant and having maternity leave.
What an mule. The law is that it's illegal to discriminate, asking anytime could (and should) lead to a lawsuit.
Load More Replies...Forgive me, but this is a little weird. How did he even know which car was yours? Even if there was sn unidentified car in the car park, why would someone randomly assume it was yours?
I am assuming he'd seen them getting off the car (maybe from a window)
Load More Replies...Kids old enough to be in car seats? Or, the literal you have two small children that you have left unattended in your car? Just wanted to check because I know that at least one of those is illegal in Australia.
I read it the second way initially (they had left actual children in the car in the parking lot during the interview) which is a red flag for the hiring manager (and child protection services!). But I think they'd just noticed that there were carseats in the car so surmised that the OP was a parent and was being discriminatory.
Load More Replies...To be fair, it was also pretty obvious that he was telling you that he had no intention of giving it to you to begin with...
idk...if so then why bother continuing with interview and placing the company in an illegal position. Why not say "look we just filled the position, i'm going to lunch". Sounds like a negotiation tactic.
Load More Replies...Social media ain't enough for them, now they gotta go dig around in your car? What next, a home tour?!?
One place my wife interviewed asked her if she had any kids or planned on getting pregnant soon.
Both questions are illegal to ask during an interview.
I got told at 27 why am I applying for a job that requires to be on call and 50-60hrs hands on work. I should be thinking of kids and finding myself a good man. Oh I answered in very detailed description.of.multiple miscarriages I have had, with blood transfusion and how my partner and I made a choice not to take any risks to my life. Then I left and reported him, while walking out I loudly complained on the phone every detail. Pretty sure by the time I left premises everyone knew what an a*****e SHE was. She looked younger than me, why was she there.
There is no misogyny quite as unpleasant as internalized misogyny.
Load More Replies...I've always had a young face. I was once asked how old I was, and when I told them they were surprised and said they couldn't hire me because they wanted someone who "looked older." Totally illegal, but the job wasn't worth the battle. It was at a college if anyone's interested.
So true! And they will continue asking these illegal questions until someone finally reports them and puts an end to it. We have to call out these assh*les until they finally "get" it!!
Load More Replies...Is anyone noticing how people seem to have a single example of a woman who unfairly took maternity leave and then had the nerve to take sick days as well and this is their justification for discrimination against women??? And people are wondering why less and less women are having children.
I had a group interview with other staff (after meeting with the manager and director previously) and the administrative assistant cheerfully said "we like to do things like baby showers, birthdays, wedding showers if you have any of those?" Someone else did jump in and say "you can't ask any of those!" and I just kind of laughed and said "none of those in the near future" or something like that. It was clear she didn't have hiring authority and was just asking out of friendly smalltalk, and after I took the job she did organize excellent parties for all of the above!
That's actually cute. It IS really hard to sell the location aspect of a job if you don't know a person's interests or situation, abd you got to find out that someone was excited to throw personal parties AND that the people actually hiring were serious about nondiscrimination. Edit: just wanted to say absolutely clearly that I really value the nondiscrimination laws and am not at all suggesting that "less awkward smalltalk" would be a reason to soften very important anti discrimination laws, and this would have read a lot differently if someone hadn't jumped in.
Load More Replies...I used to think such questions should never be asked, until me and my teammates had to shoulder a new colleague's work for 3 years. She announced her pregnancy as soon as she passed probation, and asked for time off all the time and refused to pull her weight in the team. Then paid maternity leave plus her annual leave in one go, fine that was her right. When she returned to work, she did bare minimum, completely ignored how much the rest of the team had already covered for her. She then fell pregnant again less than a year after her first kid, and the whole shitshow repeated itself all over again. She resigned not long after she came back from her 2nd maternity leave. She left an American firm to join our firm which is European. European firms are known to generally offer better benefit plans in our markets
That's purely management issue. They are responsible to filling the maternity leave caps. In Estonia maternity leave is three years. While the person is out, or even a person taking extended holidays, the Company is responsible covering those shifts. So they ensure the services don't suffer because one person is missing. It's temporary contracts, or timed contracts. It is never the responsibility of the person on legally taken time off to keep the business running. There's plenty of jobs that last 3mth, 6 MTHS, 12m. If business fails due to one person being out on legal maternity/paternity leave, sickness, broken leg, family reasons then the company is badly managed. You do not put responsibility on other employees, managers are there to manage work load and reach results benefiting the customer and the shareholders. If workload is large then higher people on temporary contracts. Or Position Cover for maternity leave 12mth. yes let's blame a small person not a company abusing staff
Load More Replies...Extremely inappropriate...Sorry you had to experience that...And from another woman at that...
Was asked if I had kids. Told the interviewer (a man) it was illegal to ask that. He tried to tell me it was not if the job involved long hours and weekends. I walked out.
I was asked what I would do if I became pregnant. I smiled and said wed cross that bridge if we get there...but I really wanted to punch him in the face for asking or assuming. Sexist and made his mind about who I was because he met me once prior at a holiday work party Iwent to where I dressed nice...like okay guess I gotta start wearing sweats meeting people for the 1st time and of course let my employer know what my plans would be with my non existent child that I havent even thought about and or plan to have...but he needs to know cause apparently its super crucial to know.
I believe it is illegal to ask an applicant those questions.
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I had an interview where the guy said "we - we work hard here. I'd like to say we play hard, too, but.. we work hard here".
Then, later on when I asked about what happened to the predecessor "he left. Unfortunately, he took on a little too much, became unhappy and left. He's taking some time off before he decides whether he wants to stay in IT or not."
So you overworked a guy to the point where he decided he needed a new career?
If an employer said they "play hard", I would be put off working there. Don't want a partying culture at work.
Absolutely. I withdrew from an interview after they continually went on about how they like to party hard, and then mentioned that there was a mandatory night out once a week. I want to work there, not have my life dictated by them.
Load More Replies..."Work hard, play hard" is code for "we'll work you to death and you have to laugh at our antics".
So basically a guy was overworked so badly and so underappreciated that he had a breakdown of sorts and now you're desperately trying to fill his place.....no that's not a question. Peace
I always got the impression that if a company says they play hard, it means they expect you to socialise with work colleagues after work and weekends, and failure to join in means you aren't committed to the company.
Honestly, I never knew how to interpret the "play hard" aspect.
Load More Replies...Knowing that it is IT, it's even worse. People are constantly overworked and are given impossible deadlines. My dad has worked in IT my whole life and has been looking for a way out because of the amounts of stress and never really being able to step away from the computer for a proper break.
you know you're a true nerd when you can look at these stock images and understand the code on the computer screen
I never socialize with coworkers outside of work. One company I worked for tried to force us to socialize by requiring all employees to eat lunch in the break room. My supervisor and I went out and ate on the grass under a tree. The office manager went off. We took it to the owner who informed her that she can’t dictate to us where to eat since we are oof the clock.
Had an interview with a store owner once when I was in high school. Guy threw a pad of paper across the table at me and told me to list out my values.
The values of an 18 year-old. Applying for a job as a cashier at a sporting goods store. Uhhh, what?
Jotted some stuff down and he then proceeded to tell me why all my values were wrong.
"Family is great, but God is greater. God should be top of your list."
"School is only good if you get to work in your field."
"Work ethic? I'm just going to assume you don't know what that is."
"You definitely don't know what love is, so don't list your girlfriend anywhere in your values."
He then told me that I'd be less than minimum wage as a Trainee for as long as he saw fit to call me that and how that was completely and totally legit.
Promptly Noped the f**k outta there.
To the person below; Australians say wanker too. Also, can’t understand the last part of your sentence..
Load More Replies..."God should be at the top of your list. Also we are going to take total advantage of you and pay you an illegally low salary."
This same dude 100% puts up signs like: "due to government handouts, nobody wants to work anymore..." F**k that.guy and his store.
"You definitely don't know what love is" My aunt got married at 19. She's still very happily married now at 61. I don't know why people think NO young people are mature enough to have a meaningful relationship.
People love to assume everyone, except themselves, are idiots. I met my partner at 15. We have been together several decades. Both my ex best friend, and two family members tried to break us up, or told me that I, "didn't know what I wanted." Jokes on them.
Load More Replies...As a retail manager lemme tell you whoever did this interview is literally just wanting to judge and be an a*****e to his workers cause literally NONE of that make a good worker.
Some interviews are designed to determine the one quality the interviewer wants - the willingness to take c**p.
If they say, "It's like a family here", they mean "the drama is unbelievable and yes, it gets very personal".
'it's like a family here' translation: we are anti-union and culty about it.
"We're like family in here, just not the ideal, healthy, and harmony one."
Load More Replies...“We’re a family here” sorry, but I want a job, not a family. I don’t breed familiarity at my job as a given, AKA I’m friendly and helpful and even noted to be really great interpersonally, but getting to know too much of my personal life? NO. My last job even complained they never got to meet my husband as I was leaving and I just said “yeah, I know right? Because this is my job, not his, you didn’t need to meet him.” Always complained too that I wouldn’t participate in outside office bonding time like going to happy hour every week because I want to spend time with my actual family that I like after work, not you guys. Anyway, new jobs I’m interviewing for now currently notably DON’T say this and I love it. One job even said, “we’re professional and friendly but realize it’s just a job, not family” and I’ve never been more intrigued to work for a company so honest before
Nope, nope, nope, nope. And if you have time after that, nope. Work is not family. Work is work. Family is family. You can have a good relationship with your coworkers while staying out of any drama (if there is any) and then leave at the end of the day. I make it a point to get all of my stuff done in record time so I can leave on time and go do what I really want to do, which are my after work hobbies. I worked a job a few years back and they always complained because as soon as 5:00 hit, I was out of there. I didn't hang around because I don't hang out with coworkers away from work. When asked why I always scooted out of there simply said, "5:00 is quitting time. I miss my home so I'm going there to be with my family." They replied, "But we ARE your family." Uhhh no. Toxic was more like it. People who spew this c**p need to get a life outside of work. I'm glad I found another job.
They are going to take advantage of you on every opportunity, ask for sacrifices and nothing in return... Because that's what family does
Listen if it's like family, thank you but no thank you. I don't like my own family. Why do you think I want to work in environment.like this? Most families are dysfunctional, and I see my family once every half decade if their lucky once every 10+ years if I'm lucky. I go out of my way to go see my family at the most stressful times of their lives so I won't get another invitation. If this is what you're offering, sure where do I sign? But if you mean family.drama.like soap opera and movies then hell no.
"Great. I only see my family at funerals. Let me know when one happens and I'll show up."
Load More Replies...Then you mention, My family is toxic as hell and I haven't spoke to them in over a decade. Followed by exiting the room.
Disagree with this one. A “family” atmosphere could also mean celebrating the people’s lives. Such as life accomplishments like the boss treating the recently graduated adult college student for lunch, or telling a person who showed up to work when everyone knows there is something going to take some time off, or the girls throwing their pregnant co-worker a baby shower, or the guys taking their about-to-be-married associate to get a drink after work, or everyone meeting at an agreed upon place for lunch simply because they want to hang out together and not have worry about work at the same time. I have worked at a place like this and still think the “family-like” workplace is the gold standard.
What you described sounds still pretty awful for people who see work as work. I personally think it's quite intrusive to ask about my outside life. Also celebrating my baby, pregnancy, wedding and graduation is not a work thing and I do not welcome any colleagues outside of work. Thankfully the companies are learning that not everyone wants to share and I have opted out of my birthday and other achievements to be announced when signing a contract. Also any team building activities not related to work is a big no, I'm not doing a play date, I don't drink with people I work with. (Usually when I see a drunk colleague on a work party I'm put off working with them) separate fun, family and work. There even have been cases when people have sued companies for disclosing personal information like birthday, after that you just need full name and address if you're opportunistic criminal. Gold standard is to provide safe environment to everyone, not some.
Load More Replies...I was told it was like a family at a job and it really was but in the good way. They were all kind and accepting. They paid well, gave bonuses, and raises, and always gave me hours when I asked. They also knew my dad was in end stage liver failure and they were accommodating to every time I had to leave work early or call in because he was in the hospital. I gave them business until they sold in December and I still give the new owners business.
We are a family here - the manager is the super abusive parent, the assistant manager is the gaslighting appeasing spouse, and you are the kid who gets slowly beaten and tortured to death.
Applied for a Guitar Tech job at guitar center. Went through three levels of interviews. Right during the last one, this f*****g dude, goes through all my paperwork and is like "you got the job, we're gonna start you off in sales." And I was like "I didn't apply for sales, I've interviewed the last three weeks for the Guitar Tech position." An he just said, "I know." And had this sh*tty stupid smile on his dumb face. And that's when I realized, they probably don't care for their employees there.
I had an enterview for java developer, and when interview was almost over they told me that job position was for credit recovery. When I realized I stood up and went away...
That s**t should be illegal. You should just tell them you’ll take it give them a start date and then not show up.
Load More Replies...It really drives me crazy when you go through the whole process for a job and then it ends up being something totally different. Amazon does this a lot. They'll advertise for a position at like 18 an hour, 9-5pm, then you get there (their application and hiring process is such an ordeal. You literally have to go to a hotel banquet room with 100 other people and take tests) and you have to choose from available shifts for a 15/hr position. When you question them about it they say that position in the ad was already filled. But the ad is always there- they never take it down. it's a lie meant to bring you in.
this happened to me for an interivew once! they posted all kinds of jobs but we all showed up and at the end of this commissioned sales video speil they were like 'any questions :D' and me and SEVERAL other people were like 'yeah hi i applied for x not sales???' and oh my god they were not prepared for half a dozen people NOT drinking the kool aid. We all walked out of there furious. Such a waste of time and gas!
That happened to me when I interviewed for a job as a legal secretary. They hired me, first day on the job I find out they hired me to do nothing but collections. Walked right out.
Lol, had interview for HR position, where guy kept asking me typical questions for “sales representative”… I had to stop him and asked “wait, what position is this interview for and what happened to hr position?”, he flustered, got quiet for a moment, and said “I just thought you’ll fit better in sales”. Seriously, I was not happy about wasting time on this.
happened to me, but with a positive twist. I applied for and interviewed for a job. The next day the company called me up and basically said "You're not really a good fit for the job you applied for, but we have this other opening that we think you'd be good in". And I was. I kept that job for 12 yrs.
At least they let you know. That's how it becomes a positive - both parties are aware of the switch and, crucially, agree to it.
Load More Replies...I wanted to buy a new acoustic guitar, but my local music store didn't have the type I wanted. I went to check Guitar Center for the hell of it. Not a single guitar in my price range ($500 to $1000) was playable. One had a broken neck, one had electric guitar strings so high it could have been a lap steel guitar. I tried over a dozen guitars and not one of them was remotely playable and no one offered to help. The only interaction with staff was when I reported the broken neck guitar. Nobody cared.
Twice a year, every year, my old workplace would advertise in the biggest online employment website looking for full time employees, for the then 400 stores. Put sometimes upwards of 20-30 people through group interviews for the 5 stores in the area. Followed by individual interviews, and then hire a couple of people for each store for a casual position that would usually only last for the two months of mid year, and Christmas. Only the as they're getting their paperwork to fill out, did they find out it was for a casual temporary position, but if they worked really hard (ie unpaid overtime), they might not be let go. This has not changed. Australia passed a law for any person who has been employed for 6 months or more, worked the same shifts every week, is automatically granted a permanent part time position, with leave benefits, and sick days. So company makes employees sign new contract, they are now unemployed after each shift, until the start of the next shift.
I had an interview at a popularly known coffee shop that is orange, pink and brown. I have a Engineering degree but couldn't find work in my area (it's a poor town and it's hard enough to find work without a degree). The manger asked some of the following? "Why don't you have an engineering job yet?" "Something must be wrong with you." I explained the market and how a lot do my friend still didn't have jobs (which was true). I said I'd had a lot of interviews but nothing had resulted in an offer (which was also true). "Well I think something is wrong with you and you are hiding it." Well thanks... She then proceeds to tell me if I have any form of anxiety I can't work there as I won't be able to complete my duties so to fess up. (I do have anxiety but 1.)I don't have to disclose that s**t and 2.)it's very very mild and I know it wouldn't impede me). Lastly she tells me how she is going to be firing everyone that works there over the next month because they all suck. She offered me the job, I accepted at the moment and was supposed to go in the next day to fill out my paperwork. I went home and stressed about how I knew I would be miserable there and what to do. I decided to decline it as my health and wellbeing were more important than this job. I sent a very nice email stating that it wasn't the right fit for me at the moment. The next morning I received an offer from an Engineering company I interview at earlier in the week. Apparently she still complains about how I decided to decline the job....
this place has the WORST interviewers i swear. Had a similarly horrific interview experience with them once....
Orange, pink, and brown? Can somebody clue me in? I don't think we have this chain where I live. EDIT: never mind, it seems it's the American chain Dunkin' Donuts.
I think I would have taken the job for one day just to inform everyone of her intention to fire everyone.
They can easily do this anyway. Breeze in and say "I love my new engineering job! I am so glad I didn't get the job here. Oh. And folks, the reason they are interviewing is they are going to fire all of you according to X. Have a blessed day and good luck!" Then breeze out again. That manager will be working the place by themselves likely for the next few weeks until they can find more victims.
Load More Replies...In the US at least, it's 100% illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of a real or perceived disability. All they can do is ask if you can do the job with or without accommodation. First offence ADA violation is $50,000 and it goes up from there.
Try to prove it. Or prove their understaffed makes it impossible to make reasonable accommodations. I worked for a hearing aid manufacturer which overworked the leads so they couldn't make accommodations for my hearing loss.
Load More Replies...I worked at that place for 6 years. The franchise owner gave all the high up positions to family and they would frequently drive up in brand new cars, Gucci and Prada and come poking around for no reason. The owner's son asked me to make a latte, then told me I did it wrong. He thought an Americano was a latte.
That company had a head hunter call me at the cafe I managed, for an HR position, after she saw me deal with a difficult situation at my shop... it seemed weirdly sketchy. I declined. Plus, their coffee's not great.
I would've gone out of my way to let all her employees know they were about to get fired.
It took me 3 years and 2 need-income warehouse positions to find an IT job after my first contract ran out. And yes, I was applying for jobs during the contract too, so make it 4 years.
I applied at the same shop, but a location near me and I turned it in the same day (filled out in store).... Got no reply even tho they desperately need employees.....and it's been three months
If to move forward in the hiring process you have to pay them for anything
Yeah, including paying for branded (logo) uniforms. Needing workboots or black pants is one thing. If they're useless to you after you quit because you must pay for THEIRS, don't do it.
Sounds like if Scientology started a company. You don't wanna know how much would it cost you to actually work there
This should be the first red flag for all those people signing up for MLMs.
Sorry, I thought I was interviewing for a programming position, not a charity organization.
Kind of a rip of/racket was The time I had to pay $100 to start a job in a school for the NYC Dept of Ed for fingerprints. Anyone who works with kids must have them done. $100 was definitely a racket tho as it costs about $20 at the police station. Other job where I had to have them done was free. 100x all the people they hire is a-lot of money especially year after year. This was also 20 years ago!!
I've only had a couple bad job experiences when I was younger and they both had one thing in common: They made me wait for 15+ minutes to start after the scheduled interview time.
If they don't respect you and your time before you start, they definitely won't respect you when you're working there.
Now that I've been on the other side and interview people, I would never even think of doing that, no matter how busy I am. I also personally call every employee I don't hire, explain why they weren't the perfect fit, and try to give them some positive encouragement going forward.
BOTTOM LINE: Just because you are the one looking for a job, doesn't mean that the potential employer shouldn't be courteous and treat you just as well as they treat a client/customer.
EDIT: Call back only people I've interviewed, not anyone who has ever sent a resume in.
Once got screwed around by a company during an interview. I turned up 10 mins early for the interview. No-one knew why I was there. An hour later they found the guy that had invited me in. He had forgotten to put it in the diary, then gone to the dentist. When he turned up, about 2 hours after the interview was supposed to be. He handed me a handful of papers, saying "do this test and get it back to us". I let him have it both barrels, dropped the papers in the bin and walked out. Since then I have had recruiters constantly trying to send me to the same company as they are almost always recruiting due to not being able to hold onto staff.
Sounds oddly similar to an experience I had actually. Showed up 20 minutes early and was harassed by security for 5 minutes on why I was there, building wasn’t open. Told them and showed them confirmation of my interview at the time they scheduled, still harassed until I finally asked to go to the bathroom and was begrudgingly let in. Get in, go to sit, no one there knew why I was there and kept being upset to see me “so early” (10 minutes to go to interview by now) Finally they find the assistant of one of the people I’m interviewing with, who was genuinely surprised to see me as well and ushered me to a public waiting room where I had to wait for 30 more minutes to finally be interviewed. By that point I should’ve just walked out, but completed the interview and as I was walking out assistant chased me with paperwork to fill out that they had “forgot” to have me fill out before. I didn’t do it and told the poor assistant to tell his boss I wasn’t interested anymore. Just….😡🙃🙃
Load More Replies...Worst interview I ever did, they were running an HOUR AND A HALF late. I was just finishing uni for nursing, and new grad positions were super competitive, so of course I sucked it up and waited. I was such an anxious wreck by the time they go to me though. (I did get the job, but ended up also getting a better one, where they didn't make me wait, so I took that)
It's great that you actually call the people that you don't hire and give them the reason/s they weren't good fits for the job. I one traveled about 500 miles and stayed in a hotel for a job interview (I was hoping to relocate) and never heard from the company after the interview. Not even a "Dear Applicant" letter!!! That was about 20 years ago, but I still won't buy any of that company's products.
I was interviewing for a job while abroad, they were more than fine with a Skype interview, but their first suggestion was at... 5 am. I knew their working hours, so I asked if it would be possible to have it later and I suggested what would be my 9 am, and their 3pm (still within their office hours). Their answer? "Yes we can but we prefer to have that interview in the morning". (NOTE: I understand they might have different things planned in the afternoon, that's why I suggested different time. They didn't have different, important things later; they just wanted interviews in the morning to slack later) I knew it was a red flag, they proved me right not long after that...
I had that happen to. It actually worked in my favor because on the way there, I got stopped by a cop for speeding. When I got there, probably 15 minutes late, I still waited about 20 minutes.
I once interviewed for a position in another state from the one I live. Had to take a bus there. I checked in and the interviewer came down and had the interview in the lobby of the building. The building lobby was shared by a large and loud mall. I couldn't heard a word she told me. I kept having to ask why we couldn't go upstairs and I couldn't hear her. After the interview she took the person after me upstairs. Turns out the interviewer only took people that she deemed fit to go upstairs. I was deemed unfit due to the fact I was a person of color.
Just out of my first temp job (took temp jobs to try things out) was sent for an interview by the careers office (under 18s). Arrived 20 minutes early, waited 40 minutes to be sat in the main office to fill in a n application form. Waited another 15 minutes before the manager deigned to speak to me. She had been lambasting everyone in the office whilst I was waiting. Her language and treatment of her staff made me decide not to accept if I got the job. When I returned to the careers office they asked how I got on with the "lovely lady" who was so kind and polite to them. I described her in one word...harridan, and warned them of the way she treated her staff.
Well i understand what you are saying and some companies do that as part of interview. They make you wait to observe your stress level and patience. It is kind of a bad practice, but ya, they do it anyways. But, i think in SOME fields, it might be good but not in for all types of jobs.
Baker here, on my first day I was given a potted tree, I was told to plant it, if I was still baking when it got big enough to hang myself off, I should, because this is not the job you want for the rest of your life.
Idk. More like 30 years, depending on the tree.
Load More Replies...Not sure this qualifies as a 'subtle' red flag! More like a sign from the Red Flag Store during their annual Red Flag Supersale!
Grandfather immigrated in '27, old school (German) baker all his life...worked every bakery in town. Got fed up, quit, farmed and raised bees, then go work at a different bakery.
No doubt. They are pulled from reddit. There no way there aren't at least few that are fabricated, but hey if they entertaining enough I'm willing to suspend a small amount of disbelief and just simply enjoy them.
Load More Replies...But....I know some bakers and they are happy people. I swear some of these posts are by people so abused that they don't realize there's other jobs out there.
That was me, except as a pharmacy tech. My husband kept telling me I should find a job doing something else, but I was so focused on the fact that I went to school for this, passed tests for certification, and that I had worked in pharmacy for so long what other job could I even get, or be qualified for. I ended up getting fired in 2021 for some stupid thing someone else did. Couldn't find a job, then a family member who worked at a medical assembly place making stents talked me into applying there. I had to get in as a temp though because of no experience. I was so stressed the first month thinking what if I can't do this, what if I am really bad at it, what if they think I'm stupid and don't understand, this isn't pharmacy, I'm out of my comfort zone. Fast forward 9 months and I was trained at more stations faster than any new temp with no experience, and was told how I was a really good employee. I did just leave there for other reasons and took a job doing metal finishing.
Load More Replies...Self-unliving, please. You can't write that bad word over here at BP. /s, 🙄
Load More Replies...I told this tale, just the other day in response to a different question so, enjoy your duplicate post. A company emailed me that they found my resume on Monster and were very interested in meeting to discuss an opportunity in their office and would I be available this Thursday at 10 am to meet with Scott? Absolutely! So, I show up at 10am. A girl rides up the elevator with me and gets off at the same floor. We both walked into the same door. The receptionist greeted us and the girl said, "I'm here to meet with Scott." I thought, "Well, that's a little weird but, maybe she's super early." The receptionist looks at me and, I said, "I'm also hear to meet with Scott. I have a 10am." She escorted us to this conference room where I see 30 other people. Now my alarms are starting to go off. She tells us to find seats and watch the presentation. Scott will be in shortly. So, sitting there in silence for 15 minutes before I finally lean over to the girl and ask, "What job are you interviewing for?" She answered, "I'm... I'm not entirely certain." I asked, "Well, what's on your resume? What job did you think you were being offered?" She answered, "I'm a mechanical engineer. You?" "I'm a software developer." So, another 5 minutes goes by when Scott walks into the room. He's super excited to see us and this presentation will take about an hour. He's asking people their names and making an effort to use their names whenever possible as he's handing out copies of the power point slides. Tells us that we can take notes. I start flipping through the slide deck and notice right away that all the slides are either blank or otherwise devoid of content. They might have a title on them but, the title is just words. No explanation whatsoever. Things like, 'Company History' and 'Compensation' but otherwise empty. He tells us that there will be time after the presentation to ask questions but, in order to get done before lunch, he requests that all questions are held to the end of the presentation. "Scott," I said, "I do have a quick question before we get started." "There will be plenty of time after the presentation for all questions." "Scott, I promise that this question will be quick and very relevant. Are all the positions available commissioned insurance sales?" "Well, we are an insurance company." "That's not what I asked, Scott. Are all the positions available commissioned insurance sales?" "Well, yes." I stood up and gathered up my resume and folder and said, "Thanks for wasting my time, Scott." And, I walked toward the door. Scott rushed to beat me to the door and opened the side closest to me causing me to pause briefly. As I did, I heard a great deal of grumbling and paper shuffling behind me. I turned to look and literally everybody in the room except for 4 dudes in three-piece suits at the front of the room had stood up at their tables and were putting their s**t in their briefcases and notebooks. I exited quickly enough that I got the elevator to myself but, looking back on it, I should have waited because I definitely want to know what their elevator conversation was.
THIS EXACT THING HAPPENED TO ME OMG!!!! was is the duck. it was the duck wasn't it.
I had a similar thing happen, but not for the Duck. I was actively searching for an IT job and applied for a desktop support role with a regional government's farm agency. I get there, and actually sit through about 10 minutes of the presentation and realize all they're talking about is insurance sales and politely ask if I am perhaps in the wrong meeting as I applied for desktop support. The presenter was confused and said they contract out all their IT and the only positions they ever have are 100% commission sales positions. I showed him the posting I applied to and left.
Load More Replies...I had something similar but different happened to me. I had an interview at an assisted living for a medication technician position. Med Techs are basically CNAII with additional training responsible for giving patients medication. We take on a lot of responsibilities that would normally go to an LVN or an LPN but with less pay, and shorter training. When I sat down for the interview, the administrator started giving me all the wonderful things about the company but then in between she would throw in major red flags. Like they do not pay for experience, which in nursing homes if you have had years of experience you automatically get a higher grade of pay. Then she said sometimes we are short on the floor, and when we do we might pull a med tech from the medication card and just have RN passed out medications. When I asked how often this happened, she pretended that she didn't hear me and went on to something else. Then she also said that sometimes do the circumstances and residents needs you may not be able to take your breaks at the appropriate time. That happens, but she said if you can't take it at the appropriate time you will have to wait until there's an available time for you to take your break and not when you finish whatever task you're doing. That was red flag number three or four, she then began a conversation about how often they report to the state registry on employees and I asked I why is this a thing? I've been doing this for over 20 years and I've never had an employer be excited to turn in employees to the State board. Again she had no reply, but at that time I tried to pin her down to working on the floor, I don't mind working on the floor but I'm older now and if you're working on the floor, I would be working as a CNA II , I wanted to know how often this happened because my body can't do that but so often, and two does my pay rate change if I'm on the floor. Instead of answering my question, she replied that I seem to be extremely interested in my pay. To which I applied 'ma'am I'm extremely interested in my employment, but I'm also interested in living indoors and paying my bills' never giving me a direct answer she said we will address that when we come to that. Then she said you're hired but we're going to start you off on the floor, and let you work up to the med cart. And we're starting you at a pay rate of $12. I think I had my first and only blackout, because the next thing I remember I was in the parking lot looking for my car I don't even remember getting up closing my briefcase saying a word or walking out.
Yes, they do indeed like to jerk-around us healthcare workers. Especially in asst. living, memory and med. floors. Work us to DEATH, pay us nothing, give us NO respect. We take care of their Moms & Dads, bath them, dress them, feed them, sing to them & put them to bed. Yet they treat us like cogs in the machine. Karma baby. Someday it’ll be YOU that needs our help. You drive out the caring people & hire the cheapest you can get. Good luck getting somebody to answer your call bell!
Load More Replies...This kind of c**p should be illegal. People are legitimately looking for real jobs. Having resources and time wasted on cattl
Multi Level Market. Get Conned And The Only Way To Make Money Is To Con Others
This is funny. I was young. I stayed. Cutco got me but not my wallet. Honestly, the people who put this on are great salespeople. Free sales training.
While CUTCO are great cutlery sets abd do perform as advertised, selling them is a pyramid scheme. Got sucked in myself. Also, same with Kirby vacuums.
Load More Replies...I had the exact same thing happen to me. Twice. The first was back in 2010 when the warehouse I worked went under. I was called into an "interview" because my resume showed that I had managerial experience. In freight. They made it sound like it was a salaried manager position to sell Primerica. Pyramid scheme. I'm currently looking to leave my current job, also freight, and received a email from a woman who promised me unlimited earnings potential as an insurance rep. I didn't even bother answering.
I got contacted for an accounting position and I went and when I got there..it was an insurance sales position...i was SOOOOOO MAD
They wanted me to explain my tardiness stats from high school.
I'm in my thirties.
They probably asked for a high school transcript. I have find that if you're going for a job that requires a college degree and they want your high school transcripts you should run away from them as fast as your feet will carry you.
Load More Replies...This reminds me of gaps. Why do I need a reason for the gap? I was unemployed, living at home, after I got laid off from a job I worked to the bone to keep and do well. My mental health was gone, I still haven't really recovered mentally and financially. Now I realize that working like that is worthless. Is that what they want to hear?
Just lie and say you freelanced, works for me.
Load More Replies...Oh my god in heaven it really DID go on your permanent record!!! I’m in so much trouble!
Yep. I cannot believe they asked the question. What the heck did they expect to hear? I was tardy because I was smoking joints behind the bike sheds?
Load More Replies...Sometimes interviewers ask random questions just to see how the candidate can think on their feet . You can't rehearse the answer to a question which is thrown from left field.
One that I've experienced- they asked me to start immediately.
"When can you start"?
"Tomorrow!"
"How about right now, we're way behind." *Thanks for joining the crew of the Titanic! Watch your step, she's listing about twenty degrees to starboard, but a finer luxury liner has never sailed the seas.*
Oh yeah, I've had this one. Lol. The agency sent me over for the interview, interviewed at 9am, was asked to start at 10am, opted to start the next day. It was my first real job so I was excited. It was a bit hellish but I met some good people (still really good friends) who were also on the sinking ship lol
I had a job offer like this, and while I was there there was a fist fight that broke out in the breakroom and they asked me to identify who started it! Really, you want me to narc on my colleagues before I've even met them? Nope. I stayed 2 weeks at that job because I got a better offer.
I don't necessarily agree with this one. Some places have smaller teams and losing one means we need to replace them as soon as possible. Not every job is an office job with 30 people, lol. Especially if you're talking about service jobs like waitstaff or retail. The hourly labor is very small so you're able to give everyone hours. If someone leaves everyone has to pick up those hours so it can be a push. It's not necessarily a sign of a bad place to work. People just regularly outgrow those jobs.
This has happened to me. Went to turn in final paperwork to the job and they were like, "Um, we had someone call out, would you mind staying and covering?" I figured it was a good time to train, despite that I wasn't really dressed (no uniform yet, was wearing ballet flats that weren't meant for standing all day on tile floor), but I did it. Had a customer complain that I wasn't in proper uniform attire and my feet hurt so badly by the end of the shift. I regretted doing that and should have taken the hint.
At my old job before the last I started the day I was hired. This place majorly under pays. This place had so many ocean violations. If you like your back it's not a good job. It was a run down industrial Laundry company. It's highly successful but the money dousn't go back in to maintain the machinery. I worked with allot of junkies meth heads ex cons and a few really hard workers. There were a few incidences that could of lead to deaths. We had the drum roll on a machine while it was open. I was partly in it seconds before because it was having issues and I reached inside. A chemical spill caused a sort of mustard gas reaction once. We had a gas leak once. The three safeties on the boiler went out. So it has to be manually maintained. However our system was acting up on top of it. This isn't even half of it. Needless to say this this place had an insane turn over rate. Only crazy people stay there and I worked there five years.
Put in an application on a Wednesday, interviewed on Thursday. Was asked if I wanted the job and if I could start on Monday? Said, sure. Got a call on Friday asking if I could start on Saturday (the work is seasonally busy and requires travel)? Said, sure. Will have been with the company 12 years this October. Urgency is not always a red flag.
Had similar at a foam mfg co as a CQE. Their previous engineer had left. Owner overhead complaining about waste and the operators not being diligent. I rhetorically asked about the equipment calibrations.... got a blank look. The operators have to directly control the precision since the equipment drifted so much. Declined the offer. If a company isn't interested in investing in the proper equipment but blaming the operators for low yields ... yeah, not dealing with that. They are still around but high worker turnover and workplace accidents.
Yikes -- thanks for the reminder -- I'm putting in for Hindenburg tomorrow. 🤞
When they mention the high turnover rate several times during the interview.
Then fire, miss, hit glutinous maximus, results in a lobotomy.
Load More Replies...I mean that's not always a bad company or interviewer. Some jobs no matter where or with who inherently suck, and it's better to have an applicant be fully aware how soul crushing it will be during and interview than hire them and they just f off in a week. I was in a bad spot and applied as a dish washer, the chef warned me like 5 times how hard and bad of a job it is, how they can't find anyone to stay past a shift, and how it can break your spirit and body. He wasn't wrong, and everyone who still wanted in after his speeches lasted. The manager who interviewed people acting like it was a simple entry level kitchen job and how they would probably be on the line in no time making more and it's "just washing dishes".... none of her people made it past a day.
I've received two job offers in the past week, both say they have near 100% of employees moving up in the business after a year. Other jobs in this field have about 50% leaving the job within 6 months. It's a tough, under-appreciated field, so I feel good about both these offers.
Been through man job interviews, a few I've seen
* A "hostile" interview in which the interviewer deliberately acts difficult and challenging to see how you behave under pressure. If they're willing to treat you like s**t during the interview, they're willing to treat you like s**t at work.
* Never interviewing with your future boss. It's okay for early interviews to be screenings with HR, but at some point you should talk to people you're going to working with; a failure here indicates that they aren't investing much in you, and don't expect you to stick around very long.
* Vagueness in describing the job. If they can't tell you what your day-to-day is like, you probably won't like it.
The interview process with my current job, which I love, went like this:
1. Got a call from HR to set up a phone interview
2. Phone interview was with one of the two managers who run the department I would be working in (though not the manager I would be working for)
3. In person interviews with:
* The manger I would be working for
* His boss
* Managers of two different departments that I would be working closely with
* HR manager
* Going out to lunch with the team I would be joining
So, if you have an employer that does that...it's a good sign.
that would be a red flag for me - too many interviews, terrible decision-making processes.
There is a sweet spot in the middle between "if you have a pulse, you're hired" and "you've been here on so many interviews that you pretty much already work here". (And that is two interviews max, imo.)
Load More Replies...3. Is exactly the interview process I went through with my current company. I was genuinely surprised when at the end of the interview, they said they had a table booked at a local fine dining Inn. Amazing interview, meal afterwards and the job is Great! Keeps me busy and interested all day and all week. And as a bonus, its a 10 minute drive from where I live and the payscale is really good for the area I live in.
Ahhh! A unicorn (interview process) in our midst! Congratulations!! :)
Load More Replies...What Company Needs That Many Managers On ONE Employee ? (BTW...Who Paid For The Lunch ?)
For my new job that I'm actually training in right now, the last interview I had was with the person who would be my boss. Frankly, just from my first 3 days alone, it's a marked improvement from my previous job in terms of atmosphere(everyone always seems to have a good mood and it's easy to crack jokes while still remaining professional or being able to snap to professional mode), and despite having a massive increase in responsibility, it feels a lot more relaxed. And the boss is trained in everything the staff has to do so they can jump in if need be, something I got to witness today.
Some jobs those tulypes of interviews are necessary or helpful, other jobs not so mucg
At my company, once a candidate makes it through the HR screen (can you speak in a full sentence, does it seem like you match your resume, etc.) They interview with the hiring manager and maybe the next level up. After that (usually immediately after) they meet with 2-3 of the senior ppl on the team who provide some feedback to hiring manager. Usually just "yeah they seem like I could work with them" kind of thing.
If you can you assess the coffee situation while moving through the office for interview.. Powdered creamer? Run. Liquid creamer in numerous flavors? Work there till death or retirement.
looking at refreshment quality indicates the general quality of facilities at a workplace
Load More Replies...Hard disagree. A lot of the time, going all-out on the bennies can be a way for the company to mask the deeper issues they face. I once worked at a place that had a weekly on-site massage therapist and a wide variety of fancy coffees with all the bells and whistles- I was there just shy of three months before the owner's constant powertripping and micromanagement ran me off, like the 4 girls before me. Things that seem too good to be true probably are.
I agree with InvincibleRodent, this can actually be a shady way to cover up a bad company actually. Like, “Oh we have so many perks and care for our employees!” And it’s stuff like coffee or donuts in the morning but when ask for a raise or schedule flexibility, taking time off, you get yelled at. Some of the best jobs I’ve had didn’t even have coffee period because they let people take breaks to go pick it up from local shops when they wanted, or if you didn’t drink coffee (me), just nice little breaks. So yeah, this is a dumb metric to judge by.
Had a door to door sales job for a small franchise owner. They would joke around with us, buy us lunch and keep snacks stocked up, bully us, and allow sexual harassment in the office
Load More Replies...Wrong. If the boss likes coffee and doesn’t like their employees, they’ll keep the supplies to themselves lol.
Load More Replies...A lot of companies will put all their "bells & whistles" in display to lull you into a false sense of "Wow, this company has 87 creamers!" Personally would rather work for a company that has s**t coffee, but respects me and pays me + benefits at or above my expectations (I can buy my own coffee) than work for a company that has snacks, and flavored coffees, and blah blah blah, but pays/treats me like s**t.
Worked at a dealership with a full out restaurant in it for employees. Owner ran a red light while texting and crashed into a family - why is this relevant? Because the next day we're all in meetings being told we have to lock our cellphones in our toolboxes when we're at work and on test drives in customer's broken-a*s cars because if the owner can f-up like this than surely you can't trust 'the help' lol. Drinks and amenities mean nothing. Judge your coworkers happiness, not the variety of snacks and creamers...
If they say that over time is expected. That just means they are under staffed and you will be putting a lot many hours you are not getting paid for.
I actually had a meeting with my team last week where myself (a manager) and a supervisor on our team told everyone they were only expected to work 40 hours a week. Period. We're consultants, so we bill our hours to the client, and it's a metric. Billing 35 hours a week will easily blow that metric out of the water, so leaving those 5 hours to take care of internal c**p (like the meeting we were in) is completely reasonable. I got some pushback by some people saying that the higher ups wouldn't agree. I told everyone 40 hours is the standard I personally expect and I would take it up the chain. I did, and immediately got total agreement, and the higher ups told the team that 40 hours is what is expected and not a minute more. We all know there will be times were we have to do that, but week to week, it's 40.
I at least appreciate that they warn me ahead of time. I'm so tired of jobs where they tell you your schedule and then you get there and it ends up being totally different. Or you end up penalized in some way because if they ask you to come in early or stay late all the time, and you say 'no i can't'. They see it as not being a 'team player'. Some people have real issues with staying later; they need to pick up their kids or they have family in the hospital or they're taking care of someone. But even if that wasn't the case, I agreed to work a shift. You told me what it was. Why am I now being penalized for doing exactly what you asked? And they always frame it in this way, "oh you'll make more money!" When I apply for a job I make sure I can live off the base salary. I don't rely on other things. I don't want the money- I want my time. It's the same thing with promotions. All of a sudden a jobs are requiring you to take promotions even if you don't want them. It's annoying.
My hubby works at the big blue superstore and i swear they are doing sleep deprivation experiments on him. They keep flipping his sleep schedule on it's head. 1-10 shifts one week, 5am to 2pm the next, maybe a day off, maybe two, maybe start the week with noon to nine, end the week with 5am to 2pm.... He can't just sleep when his schedule gets whipped around like that. They were supposed to be getting more regulated scheduals. The coaches were changing the schedule to make things easier, then corporate decided the auto-generated schedual should only be the manager's to meddle with.
Load More Replies...How would that ever be a thing? I have never met anyone that didn't get paid for over time. Also, no union would ever stand for this.
Easy, more work than employees. And no union. The Netherlands.
Load More Replies...I'm a little confused.....What is illegal? Mandatory overtime or not paying for it? Can overtime be mandated and can you be terminated for refusing to work overtime??
Load More Replies...This times 1000!! Every job I ever had where they said things like "plenty of OT opportunities" or "we do a 55 hour week" means you WILL have no life! If you can't live on 40 hours a week, something is fundamentally wrong! [OT is fine if you are trying to save up for something or love the work, etc.]
Sometimes they do actually pay you for the overtime but they expect you to pretty much live at the company and the job is worth the OT rate and not the rate you were paid for the first 40 hours.
I went to work for a corporate event company in Orlando as an event manager on salary. Even though many times I was at events until midnight and on the weekends I was expected to be in the office at 8 a.m. every morning unless I had to be onsite at one of the venues at that time. If I worked onsite all weekend they still expected me to be in the office at 8 a.m. on Monday. You are on salary, remember? I finally put in my notice after a year and they walked me to the front door. I couldn't have been happier.
As a capitalist who works hard, enjoys money and doesn't mind extra time... this has absolutely true. Probably one of the best pieces of advice on this page. In fact, kids if you're reading this, most pieces of good advice can usually be given in one or two sentences.
Hostile interviewers. I had an interview years ago, where they had a good cop, bad cop routine going. The good cop asked me about my hobbies, and seemed interested. The bad cop, scuffed and rolled his eyes.
Or the bad coo is just a jerk. Either way, don't want to work there
Load More Replies...I had one of these once. It was for an alumni program. Asked me about a sporting event, so I detailed it and said that a fight broke out at the end of the game (no where close to me, I was just giving details of the event). Dude looked at me and was like "oh, so you like fights, you like that sort of thing" ....now I'm kind of happy I didn't get the call back, he seemed to have made his decision early in that interview.
I have a very solid resume with 2 degrees, easily confirmed in the background check process. Interviewer looked at me and said, "what year did you graduate high school?" I said, "if I tell you that, you'll be able to calculate my age." (The year i got my H’s diploma is in no way Germaine to my abilities to do my job). I got the job and accepted the offer. I loved that job, and learned while working there that the interviewer was a complete idiot, because I too, worked in HR.
Had that same thing at a gym. The bad cop didn't become any better of a cop when I was working there either
This would not go well if they tried it on my mother. She demands respect from people and would never put up with this.
I hate those. Or the one where they are each rattling off questions it’s annoying and I’ve said it to them.
Anything that implies that you'll be doing sales/cold calling. I once applied for a "Marketing Strategist" position that required a degree and slowly figured out that I would be cold calling people to sell them stuff they probably didn't want. Sorry but unless you're basically a sociopath, sales/cold-calling is an absolutely awful, soul crushing and highly stressful line of work that very few people can be successful in.
Be wary of vague job titles involving Marketing. Marketing offices are usually in nicer buildings as well, and not strip malls in an industrial park.
I was a whisker away from being homeless when I took on a telesales job. It was awful, I got yelled at on an hourly basis by the people I had to cold call. I think I managed two months, my already fragile mental health was shattered.
I lasted one day doing that. I was supposed to be calling from a random list, selling an upscale restaurant package. I kept getting answers like "oh honey, I've been on oxygen for years" and other things like that. I figured out I got 'hospital hill' with many retired people living on small pensions. Another woman got an area with multiple huge fancy mansions and got lots of sales. Right. Random phone numbers my a*s.
This is so common. They lure you in by calling the positions "Marketing" or "Customer Service" then proceed to present the product that they sell and expect you to make a list of "leads" to give them. I had that happen to me once... I got up and walked out. I wasn't going to write out my contact list for them to make money off of! Employers, if it's a sales position you're hiring for, please just call it a "sales position" so that people who don't want to do that won't waste their time. It's one of the biggest scams ever.
YES! I've been fortunate and I've never left a job without having another one lined up but I couldn't take it anymore and literally quit. So it was really scary trying to find a job, and I went a few months without one. It's so infuriating how many scams you have to wade through with these types of "marketing" job descriptions. The titles are so vague and they're trying to fluff up what they actually are by using fancier words. I would apply to something like 'executive assistant for VP of marketing" thinking that's exactly what is, then I'd get there and it's a job for Verizon and standing in a Wal Mart trying to get you to sign up for their service. You get told to come to a building that ends up being the 1st location, then when you get there they give you the address to meet the interviewer at the wal mart or chain store. I would want to cry because of all the prep and driving I'd do just to find out it's this scam. It should be illegal to do this to people already struggling.
"Your first job will be to call people to tell them their car warranty has expired... but don't let that bother you."
I once drove by a company with a big sign that advertised they were hiring for customer service. I had just gotten done with doing five years in an inbound call center for customer service. I set up an appointment with them and when I came in they gave me a tour of the place. It was an outbound cold call center for selling magazines. And of course they had their quotas but, they didn't like to call them that. Aholes. That is not customer service.
I mentioned above that via Monster I was contacted for just this sort of job. I went to the first meeting, which was a small group of people who had been contacted about the job. The meeting was about what we'd be expected to do (see above article). I called and cancelled my my later personal interview because I hate being on the phone and cold calling etc... is about my worst nightmare.
As a costumer I hate cold-callers. I am sure they are decent people in person but, when somebody(especially a girl) calls me to sell a product that I don't need my inner demon is answering the call.....
Thanks for this! I was very curious about the Marketing Positions as well
When the person interviewing you is the person whose job you'll be taking, and they're quitting because the job sucks. This comment is oddly specific, but I'm currently interviewing candidates to take over my job. It's a real ethical dilemma, encouraging someone to take the job I'm leaving due to dissatisfaction, but I tell myself that they may enjoy it better than I have.
Not necessarily. Might be retiring, getting a promotion, moving to a different city, etc
Yes, I agree. But OP specified that "they're quitting because the job sucks" in the other half of the first sentence, so there is that.
Load More Replies...I was in the same position once. I told them that I didn't want any part of the hiring process. They hadn't listened to me before, why would they now? I still got roped in. One guy was a really good candidate, so I gave him a job application for the new company I was moving to.
In these cases I used to just ask ; why are you leaving. No satisfying answer ; red flag.
It depends on what was causing the dissatisfaction with the job though. If it was just that it was a bad fit, someone else might well be happier. But if it was overall systemic stuff (overwork, underpay, poor management, etc.) most people won't be happy there.
This happened to me. I was just honest with people, and what their expectations should be. If they still wanted the job, then there it is. You'll make good money, but the hours are long, the insurance choices aren't good, but maybe you can go on your spouse's plan...
One employer had me train the person they were replacing me with due to my being pregnant. (Yes, I know it's illegal. Try paying a lawyer while supporting a family of 5 off unemployment.) I trained her well, knowing what was happening. I explained in detail what her new job was about to be and trained her in all aspects. She thought I was just bitter about the situation and didn't believe me. Lol A few months later, she calls me and apologized for not believing me. I just laughed and said I was being honest and preparing her for new job. She had just quit and told me that my former boss blamed me for not being able to replace me. No dude, nobody else wants to work on behalf of 3 people while they watch the other 2 do whatever pleases them.
I was interviewing for new jobs while interviewing applicants at my current company. One day I was the interviewer in the morning and the interviewee in the afternoon.
I liked my previous job but it just didn't pay enough for the (geographical) area. There was no possible way I could qualify for even the cheapest apartment in a 10 mile radius. The pay would have been more than fair for the job had the cost of living not skyrocketed. No sense in asking for a raise because I wasn't going to get a 100% raise. I crossed my fingers and hoped they'd pay my replacement a bit more so they'd stay.
I see a lot of comments about 'see how many people have left and that will tell you how good it is.' That's not always true. Some people think they can handle a job and end up not being able to do it. I went through a lot of staff for a position working overnights. it was a very easy job and paid very well. But they'd get hired and started doing the job and couldn't keep themselves awake, or they feel it's more dangerous working alone than they thought and aren't as comfortable as they thought. Or didn't like responsibility. No matter how much you try to prepare people for certain jobs, sometimes their desperation just to get a job makes them apply for something they don't actually want or aren't qualified for, or they lie about their ability to do the job. Certain jobs have a high turnover because of that. It's not always the company's fault.
They work alone overnight? Do they deal with the public or are just in a big empty building by themselves? Either way, I wouldn't do neither...too many crazies out there. But if they have to deal with any public, they definitely should not be working alone.
Load More Replies...Lol that is the position my mom is in... She took over the job of her interviewer
Group interviews. Seriously what a dumb idea. I think Walmart and a few others do this
For a split second I thought they were talking about panel interviews and was like, "Oh, but that's quite normal!" In case anyone else had that moment of confusion: Group interview: Multiple people being interviewed at once; for sure a red flag. Panel interview: Multiple people taking turns asking questions; intimidating, but not a red flag
Kroger does this too and after the interview they put you guys on a computer and make you do ethics tests
Load More Replies...Amazon does this a lot. And it's a sign that you are really just cattle.
Been there, experienced that. I got so angry instantly, all my answers became short and sarcastic, didn't even try to make a good impression, it was a battlefield and I was alone, and there were four of them. And they called after! But the whole thing exhausted me and I said NO, hell NO.
Load More Replies...I remember doing a group interview when I was in high school. We were all completely blindsided because no one told any of us we would be "competing" for the job. I think maybe 10 minutes or so into the interview, they also let us know that whomever was hired would then have to compete for weekly hours through sales. There were 8 people in the group, and as soon as the interviewer said that 7 of us left.
A group interview tells me that upper management doesn't give lower management the time and resources to do their job. And that you won't be given the time and resources to do yours, either.
The only group interview that I was a part of was for an airline attendant position. It was a major US airline and for the second round of interviews they flew potential candidates down to their headquarters. It was like walking into a cattle call. There were people from all over the country in this huge room. They did divide us into smaller groups for the actual interview, but they conducted it as a no-holds barred, free-for-all. I figured it was done this way for the purpose of finding the alphas in the group, but I still was very uncomfortable. Needless to say I didn't make it to the third round of interviews.
Even before reading your comment I was picturing the scene from Schitt's Creek where David goes with Stevie to a group interview with the very budget airline. One of the screening questions was that you were not eligible if you were currently part of a lawsuit against the airline and like 1/3 of them got up to leave. LOL
Load More Replies...I had one of those at a business that rhymes with coals. I applied for a job in the warehouse and they put me on sales because I had a "great personality". Dude, there were ten of us in there, how would you know? It was so terrible I was actually relieved when I was activated by the national guard
They have to do this when they have a lot of applicants. My husband is trying to get into dispatch and their interviews are in groups of 4 or 5 candidates, but there's a test before the "interview" which is the important part, the interview is just to formally meet the hiring manager and give them an opportunity to talk about the role.
I actually had a similar interview a few years back for a rail company. There was about 20 or so of us all show up, we basically got told as a group what the job would entail, the pay, training etc (it honestly paid so good I didn't even care how bad the environment was at that point, which it actually didn't sound like it was) then we had to do a written test that was impossible to finish. The goal was to answer as many questions correctly as possible. Things like moving train cars around on two tracks to put the cars in a certain order. I scored the highest on that. They sent everyone out while they graded the tests, brought in the people who didnt pass that stage to inform them to go home, then brough the rest of us in one at a time for the actual interview part. Ultimately I didn't get the job because Im not physically strong enough and am not used to working in harsh outdoor environments (you have to be able to walk the length of the train in waist deep snow while carrying 80lbs)
Load More Replies...Did this with a river cruise line that advertises heavily - sounds like biking- 3 rounds of group interviews and then nothing. No response on their final decision. I had sold over 3 million in luxury cruises the year before- the other folks I interviewed with had no experience. Have a feeling this was a case of supervisor worried I could do her job.
When they ask you to stand up and do a slow turn for them, then tell you you're only allowed to wear short shorts. (Was not for a strip club).
Heh. I'm betting you're male. This used to happen more often... but stil happens. :(
Load More Replies...I will gladly wear Daisy Dukes and show off my scarred, splotchy, dry, unshaved legs with hair thicker then a Persian rug.
Stand up, slowly turn until you're back is facing them, go to the door and leave.
I'm assuming Hooters (or one of the same kinda places), but I'm confused why the person interviewing for a job at one of those places wouldn't already know what the uniform is? 🤔
I think the implication is it's a job that it shouldn't really be relevant for
Load More Replies...Yeah, gotta agree with the top comment here and I know a lot of users here confuse my 'equality' logic with being a sexist, but whatever. I don't care if you're working at Hooters, a sports club, a bar OR a strip club, this is beyond a red flag.
If interviewing with a large corp and you notice the office flooring/cubes/desks all look old and worn. If it is a large corporation they normally can afford to update the carpet once in awhile. The fact they do not bother shows that management is too cheap to care about the environment they provide to their employees. If your management does not care about the how the carpet/cube/desk in your work environment they sure as hell are not going to value you.
Ok- so I have worked for a number of small companies over the years and some of my best experiences have been in crappy old offices where the computers were new and the desks were not. I am ok with a company spending money on people and their tools rather than the carpet.Worst experiences were with slick, shiny , fancy offices with people with no clue how to manage things who thought looking successful made it so
100% agree! I did a 6 month stint selling apartments to seniors. After my grandparents lived in a community like it I knew it could be a good thing- except it wasn’t. The company I worked for was national, had hundreds of communities charged $3,000-$6,000/month but couldn’t put any money into the budget on building improvements. It was all going into the pockets of corporate leadership. Meanwhile residents had carpet pulling up that was a trip-hazard (for people using walkers!), half the air conditioning/heating units didn’t work and we had to take from vacant apartments and move them to occupied apartments, leaving few rooms that could actually be rented - which I needed to rent out 3 apartments a month to get a bonus, much of which was from cold-calling. It was AWFUL! Lesson learned, and I know I will NEVER let my parents live in a community owned by that company!!
Maybe Instead Of New Carpet Every 5 Years They Paid Workers Well ? ( ROFLMFAO )
IMHO. I would rather work for a company that put it's money into the employee's ( pay, benifits & perks) than a company that prioritizes trendy offices. I have worked for many large corporations, and the management thinking of NEW desks/ carpets... cheap chairs - was amazing. Put a bit of that money into decent chairs for the staff, Not fancy just fully functional, Headphones for the staff who are on the phones 6+ hrs a day... little things like that. Instead we got new cubicles ( do not decorate) new chemical laden carpet - that gave off fumes for months, and the cheapest chairs they could find ( I had to help do the ordering).
This even applies at bob's magic kingdom tbh! In the late 90s the travel co had to move out of their og building and the company built A WHOLE NEW FANCY BUILDING for them it was LIT in there. a decade+ later when they needed more space? They just rented a floor of an office building. Things went downhill for my mom after that until they just terminated her whole position right after the pandemic. She left and suddenly whoops everything she used to do is messing up... 🙄
Nah, worked for a lot of great companies that hadn't updated since the 90s. Again, this is baby thinking. Baby needs colorful walls. Baby needs comfortable seat. Baby needs good creamer for coffee. Grow up.
They mention their employees must wear "many hats".
I think one is highly dependent on the role. Many of us actively seek out roles where one can wear many hats. I often find myself working in startups and other small businesses that require someone to be adept in many different areas. In time, we will hire for all the roles, but in the early days, you simply can’t have that many bodies on payroll. Taking these rolls allows me to continue to grow my skill set, shape the direction of a fledgling business and, in some cases, either become and early investor in businesses that I see potential in, or I can negotiate a stock grants or options in exchange for other considerations on my end. For context, I’m not a business guru or an MBA. I’m a 40 year old high school dropout with a strong work ethic and a desire to learn (and no, the irony of that last sentence is not lost on me).
You're in HR, aren't you? Which position are you trying to get people hired for, and how many "hats" will your company be making them...not letting them choose...but making them wear?
Load More Replies...My favourite on a job description is always the last point "and any other duties"
If you work for a company that has more tham a handful of employees, that is a total recipe for utter disaster. I have worked for family run companies and they neve expect you to do more than the workyou were hired to do.
Amazon were particularly guilty of this. They'd wait until you were trained on one part of the process, then after a couple of weeks take you away to be trained on a *completely* different part. Then once you were 90% trained on *that*, they'd take you away *again* and start training you to do something else. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Me: "oh but why may I ask? is there a possibility that the ceiling will fall down and hats are to prevent any major head injuries. If so, I would prefer to wear a helmet as it is more sturdy."
I once interviewed with a company and they had a paper that showed the breakdown of how all the shifts reported. It was basically a flowchart with names... And start dates for their employment. Only one name had been there longer than a year.
Edit:
Also, this job was for a company (in the DC area) that makes RAM. I was interviewing to be an electronics technician responsible for the robots that handle the semiconductor material while it is in the clean room.
Edit 2: The name that had seniority there had a start date in 1998, and my interview was 2011.
Well what do you expect looking for a tech job in DC? Looking for any reasonable job really.
They put an absurd emphasis on "cool" perks like free beer/soda, ping pong tables, pizza parties etc. Those things sound fun, but usually are band aids to cover up more deeply rooted problems like low pay, poor benefits, long hours, incompetent leadership, and low job security. Those perks sounded exciting when I was fresh out of college but nowadays I'll take a boring but stable 9-5 that pays well and has good benefits over a "cool" company that might expect me to work 60 hours a week and might lay me off at any time.
Ugh I can't talk about how much I hate that c**p. I'm sorry but I'm an adult. I don't want to sit on beanbag chairs and play games we don't have time to actually play anyway. I used to be the store manager for a large retail gas station and we'd have these meetings where they would have us dance and lipsync to cheesy music and record it for their website to make the place seem fun. I appreciate when they want to give us nice things and extra fun stuff but there's a difference between giving us some money to have a pizza party with our team and being forced to do duck, duck, goose as some team building exercise. Want to build the team? Stop treating employees like children and pay them well. And stop making me feel like some grumpy, debbie-downer because I don't want to hurt my knees sitting on the hard ground. You aren't going to get younger people to work there by making it seem like a party and, really, why would you want someone who wants that? It's patronizing on top of it.
I've had several interviews where I walked away from the offer... 1. I was interviewing for a IT Mgr job at some small-mid sized company. During the interview I asked about the person who I'd be replacing as it was mentioned that he was still there and the interview was hush-hush. I was told that he was being replaced because he was slow on getting things done. "Well we don't really know what he does. Nobody here is technical but him." I heard that as, "We don't know what he does but we want it done faster and we are firing him because of it." 2. Same interview... "So you don't have a college degree. Why should I hire you over some kid fresh out of college?" I dunno, my decade+ of solid work history and proven track record? I did get offered the job and turned them down. 3. I was left waiting in the lobby for 20 minutes after the interview was supposed to have started... the marched down endless rows of cubicles into a bland meeting room where I was group interviewed by 7 people. None of whom seemed to be having a good day. They then wanted to test me. Nevermind that I've years of Sr. Unix Admin work on my resume, ask me how to clear a printer queue... 4. The interview went well, really well, I even had a former co-worker who now worked for the company saying amazing things about me. The problem was the offer... They wanted me to go through an agency for 3 months to prove myself. Nope. Nopenopenopenope.
In all seriousness, check the bathroom for one-ply toilet paper. If they don't care about your a*s, they don't care about your a*s. I've worked several places when I was younger and all the bad places fit this rule.
This wasn't during the interview but after the fact...I went for the interview at a dental office for reception work. Was offered the position about a week later. 20 minutes after I accepted the job, the lady called back and said "Dr so and so actually hired another person for a job at one of our other offices but they need to train here. Unfortunately, there isn't enough space in our office to train two people at once so we'll have you start in a few weeks." It's been a year and they still haven't called me back. Luckily, about 45 minutes after that phone call, I got an interview at a different company, something in my gut said take the interview even though you were offered a job, and I got that second job two weeks later and I'm about ready to hit my year mark with that company and even got a promotion and raise 4 months ago. Sooo yea...good idea i didn't wait around for that other job. Occasionally I want to stop by that dental office and ask them when I'm supposed to start.
Lol I love the end. I went through something like this myself. I applied at a veterinary office and the interview went great. Everything seemed good and the manager talked about me being able to start the following week. They had me go in the back and see the surgery areas and what I would be doing. She also told me I would need to buy scrubs and I could get them at Wal Mart pretty cheap. So I finish up and they tell me they'll call me to let me know my schedule. I go out and buy 5 pairs of scrubs (keep in mind I was out of work so I spent about 80 dollars). Monday comes and goes. Never hear back so I go and they're like 'oh sorry we went with someone else.' Are you kidding me with this? I was lucky I was able to bring the scrubs back for a refund. But I can't get my gas money and time back. Stop acting like you're hiring someone if you're still making your decision. I was really upset about that. I didn't take another interview because I thought I had that job.
This reminds me of a local story of a while age. A man was hired for a position and told he would be contacted when he needed to come in. At first he called his employer frequently to ask when he should come in, but after a while the employer told him to stop. He still got payed though, so he spent several years just staying at home.
Hahaha! Idk what that says about me, but that totally sounds like one if those d**k things I would do...*A year later.* "Hey guys, just stopping by to see if you finished training Becky yet, and when you want me to start?"
When they pay you through Paypal and you're two weeks in without any sign of a contract yet.
no contract = no work. Been stung by that again. No matter how friendly they seem. If it isn't in writing. No way.
Two weeks working without contract? Don't you sign the contract and relevant safety and training records BEFORE proceeding with work tasks. It's a legal requirement to have people who work for you trained in fire safety of the premises, have all their access registered, contract, payroll details. I wouldn't entertain anything without signed contract, no word agreements, no phone calls, it's either email, printed paper or both. And you always get a signed copy for yourself, for your employer and they get to keep a copy. Lesson 101: without contract nothing is set. Without contract legally you're not insured to be working for them. Without contract they don't have to pay you or train, and if something goes wrong you are at fault and trespassing.
This is clearly a bad business. No legit business (I should say in the US, at least) wouldn't have you set up payroll and sign your W2 forms for taxes, or have you start working if not officially hired. It you were to get hurt, you could sue them. A lot of jobs don't necessarily require a written contract, but you are required to fill out tax forms and give your social and get everything on file before you start. They usually ask for your voided check or direct deposit form within the first week of being hired. If you don't supply it, they pay you by check or card. Otherwise, they aren't paying their payroll taxes and are running an illegal business.
I had an interview at Tops where the interviewer talked for 5 minutes about how her honeymoon begins at the end of that workday. I got the job, technically because she said she would contact me when she got back about when I could start working. Years of unemployment had finally ended! I couldn't wait! 2 weeks and 4 days later I called to ask about the job only to be told "I don't remember you and I don't remember any interview." I was devastated. A year more with no job and I began the rotation of searching again and got an interview. 8 to 10 years of cashier experience gets you an interview but never a job. I went in to the second interview thinking it might be someone new. It wasn't. What she said when she saw me made me see red: "Oh I remember you!"
"You are required to work a minimum of X hours per week." Fresh out of college, I had my resume on Monster and I got a call from someone with Steve & Barry's (was a short lived clothing chain here on the east coast, supposed to be known for low prices. They over-expanded in the early 2000's and went under by 2008), about a management position there. So the guy is describing the position and says "You are required to work a minimum of 52 hours per week." Not only is that suck, but they might as well just say you have to be here 6 days a week because obviously that's what they want. I didn't take the job because I was pretty sure 52+ hours a week in a clothing store would lead to heavy drinking and/or insanity.
At least they told you ahead of time. I agreed to a salaried position at 60 hours a week (it was great pay) with the understanding that in cases of emergency I would stay and help. Those 'emergencies' were literally every day. I didn't have a day off in 6 months. And being on salary meant I didn't get paid any amount over the 60 hours. Once I hit 72 hours they were legally required to pay me the hourly rate --not MY pay rate, the starting rate which was just over minimum wage. It made no sense. 2 days a week I got paid half my pay rate for doing more work. Crazy.
I recently interviewed for a construction company to be brought on as a resident IT guy. I let them know very clearly beforehand that my background is mainly troubleshooting. Then they starting asking me if I could script them apps for iPhone, set up a new office location network and when not assigned to a task to be making sales calls. When I said I don't have experience in that field they started attacking me stating that this interview isn't going very well because I don't have a can do attitude.
I did a burnout in their parking lot after politely leaving.
I once went to a four hour job interview that was 4 different 50-60 minutes sessions each with a different group of people. Every single group asked me the same damn questions, while repeatedly warning me how busy the department was all year round. It raised a red flag. If you're so f*****g busy all the time, then why don't you get more efficient and interview me all at once!!! I got the job and learned that this was pretty typical. They were always "busy" because they were inefficient. In reality, they really didn't have to be so busy all the time. I often did extra work to fill my time because I did things much more quickly than the previous person to do my job.
When your position "has huge opportunity for growth" but they don't have anything more to say other than "the executive team has a lot of plans for this department." If growth opportunity is important to you, get a 3 or 5 year plan. If there is no plan, there is no growth opportunity.
I had an interviewer that was interested in hiring me and when I asked if we could go around the office and meet his team, he didn't want to. Huge red flag, didn't take the job.
Assuming the interview is going well, I always ask how the team spends their lunch. I didn't ask it once and I found that it was expected to work through your lunch every day (even for an hourly position). I asked at my last interview and it actually opened up a great conversation about the day to day operations of the department. It can be a risky question, but useful if asked correctly.
I just got out of an interview. Red flag 1: was never informed that it was a group interview. They said they were hiring for several positions as they were a new branch in a new market. Ok fine. Red flag 2: when we walked in the office, the receptionist was on the phone. I heard her say "well no, the training isn't paid. It's only 5 days spread out across 2 weeks..." Unpaid training means they don't want to invest in you until you've proven to be valuable. The only way they can afford this is to hire groups of desperate people and train them with no pay. The ones that stick around keep the sh*tty job. Red flag 3: compensation was briefly mentioned as a commission rate on different products we would be selling. Letting someone leave an interview without a realistic understanding of compensation means that you know that's a deal killer more often than not.
For people looking for jobs and reading this thread this is something I will say. When your questions are direct but the answers are not, you are getting mislead in one way or another. Try asking a question from a different angle, and if you still don't get a direct answer that is a red flag. Ex. "How is your company culture?" "We have a ping pong table and we have a nice office layout" "How amicable and social are my future team?"(if you're looking for that) "We have office events all the time and book drives" Red. F*****g. Flag.
Posted this before but my roommate once was asked to do a trial run as a waitress since she had no experience. Sure that's cool. It was for Valentine's Day lunch, surely she will be shadowing and letting drinks and what not. Nope. They put her out there solo for a 5 hour shift THEN ASKED HER TO COME BACK THAT NIGHT TO WORK A DOUBLE. She never got paid for it and never returned.
If you're in the states, they are legally required to pay her for work performed. She may or may not want to pursue it, since it can be quite a lot of trouble and if it's not much money, but they technically broke the law here.
Go right to the Labor Board and make a claim. They love to go after employers that try to cheat their workers. It's not that difficult. I did it for a job that owed me $40 to sit in a parking lot selling flowers for a day. I just went into the office, gave them the info, and a short time later I got my money. Then the Labor Board keeps their eye on the employer in the future. Don't let them get away with shady practices... report it!
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Mine was going for a corporate job that required travel ~40% of the time, which to me didn't sound so bad. I interviewed separately over a day with like 8 people on the team. I'd say about 4-5 of them had negative things to say about the travel aspect. So that was a red flag for me.
My first job out of college required travel to some not so peaceful countries. They were upfront about it. The ungodly hours, the middle of the night flights, the likelihood of getting shot. Major red flags right? Less 6 months in, I was promoted and within 3 months of that made lead. It's the ticket that really fast-tracked me in the industry as opposed to working as a junior for years to earn my stripes. It's not for everyone granted. But sometimes, these tougher assignments could really build your rep as long as the place isn't a toxic cesspool of backstabbing rats.
I was interviewing at a grocery store when I was like 17 or 18, and the first thing they say in the interview is "we are not union friendly." Bruh, I'm 17 (or 18), I don't care about unions, I just need weed money. That job sucked a*s, quit after 4 years, am currently in a union and absolutely love it.
for a moment I read "onion friendly" and seemed weird expecially for a grocery...
"Not union friendly" is an enormous red flag! Means they expect to cheat and misuse you and get away with it.
When they interviewers are too informal. I generally try to be professional until I see them get a little less formal. This one interview the two people kept texting each other on their apple watches and giggling. Then after every response would turn my answer into a weakness. I wasn't offered the job but I wouldn't have taken it abyway
This should be higher and it's totally true. I'm not opposed to a more laid back atmosphere but... an interview is not the time for that. If you set the bar low for being professional than you don't get to be angry when people behave just like you thinking that it's okay. More than that- I'm an adult and I want to work with adults. I'm not interested at working at your hip start up with beanbag chairs and forced games. There's nothing sadder than the aging exec who comes into the office once a week and tries to acts like they're 28, walking in and telling everyone to drop everything for an impromptu game of tag. Like...I'm 40 I don't want to hurt my knees or my back sitting on the floor in your drum circle.
If the interviewer cancels and forgets to tell you. I once drove an hour each way just to learn that my future boss took the day off. Not a sick day. She had booked a vacation months ago and didn't bother clearing her schedule (or checking it when scheduling my interview). That job ended up being very short-lived and traumatic. She was fired like a month after I quit.
If it's a service industry job, or a job that has odd hours (as in not Monday-Friday and 9-5) and they emphasize that your open availability is a must, then they're going to not only expect you to work whenever, but they're hiring you to work the shifts the current employees won't. This happened to me at a restaurant I worked at briefly. Since I was the only one they made close the store (6 days a week with the exception of Wednesday) I was also the only one expected to clean the bathrooms. I made the same if not less than my co-workers (less because it was South Florida and I'm not bilingual). I quit after two weeks and gave no notice, so my lazy a*s boss actually had to come in and do stuff.
I can understand having open availability if you are full time-- sometimes things happen and we need you to fill in for vacations and such. But to expect part time people-- who have to work a second job because you won't give them full time hours-- to then be available "whenever" makes it impossible for them to schedule around that and it's unreasonable.
Unlimited earning potential.
Please, multi-level-marketing scheme... with each level getting smaller as you get to the top...
Load More Replies...When the interviewer's eyes have the cold, lifeless look of someone who's slowly dying on the inside. You look into their eyes and see that all their hope and ambition is lost. They've come to accept their meaningless existence and know they will die a lonely death, looking back on a life full of regret. If your interviewer gives you a vibe like that, don't take the job.
Seriously, pay attention to your gut, Spidey sense, intuition, God, whatever. Listen!
If they tell you that you *COULD* work a wide range of different duties and task but then ask "do you mind if your title is test engineer?" Guess what? You're going to be doing testing, not doing design or the other interesting things you *COULD* be working on.
The interviewer calls you by the wrong name after staring at your resume for nearly one hour and asking you questions totally unrelated to the position you're interviewing for.
How much do you make now and how much do you want to make.... This is the worst. Basically "Can we hire you at a very low cost..." "Can we afford you." If a company is more worried about how much they have to pay you over the quality of employee they are going to get, they're going to suck.
have learnt to ask the interivewer 'what's the budget for this position' to counter this!
Depending on size of company and level of the person you are interviewing with, they might have no idea (e.g. HR are handling the budget part, and this specific interview are about your knowledge, not with HR)
Load More Replies...People are way too excited about working there and are totally high on the company Kool Aid. Working there is the best thing EVER according to everyone you talk to. There's nothing they love more than slaving away for company XYZ. They're either full of s**t and lying to you and cannot be trusted about anything -OR- they're truly high on the Kool Aid and you're going to be expected to similarly partake if you ever want to fit in.
"Being a team player" is a big red flag for me - I work for you but the contract is never going to include me trading my brains in for "team Kool Aid".
If they show you large commission numbers from a few years ago. Hotels.com did this, but what they didn't say was the large checks were from a year ago and they changed their commission structure since then an those checks are no longer obtainable.
Don't know if anyone else has commented this but if they volunteer the fact that the business "is not MLM" - it's 100% for sure MLM.
I have a recent story I'm still fuming about: Last week a company approached me with an opening of a senior software engineer. I took the opportunity to interview with them and had 3 stages. I pretty much nailed all of them including the 3rd stage which was a live coding session. It was a live problem solving by writing a simple console application. I completed the task, made a plan and executed it nicely. My app ticked all the boxes and I am proud of my solution. I got a call 2 days ago discussing the feedback. These idiots attempted to lower the price by explaining that checking a syntax online of a rarely used method means I'm not senior, so they can hire me as mid level for less. They knew I'm tech lead at my current job, released a range of apps, contributing in open source projects, released tutorials and courses in my field. Not bragging, but I am a senior engineer by any measure. So I laughed the guy out and said they need to work on their hiring processes. Massive red flag it was.
Nobody has memorized every API that exists. I am a lead software architect. I use stack overflow, and API docs all the time.
Load More Replies...I had a Stage interview at this one restaurant. Was told it would only be for a couple hours. They were 20min late in meeting me. At one point I asked for a cup to drink some water. They just pointed to the tap. One guy had no idea how to roast veg and was asking me. They were using carts (w/o breaks) as prep table to slice/dice items. After 3hrs it was clear they wanted me to work all night for nothing. Two people were in their 2wk notice phase. & I was appalled by their health code violations. I thanked them for the experience and left. Reported them to the health department the next day. It was a "did that really happen?" moment.
One interview I had about 10 years ago with the owner of the company. He quickly scans my resumé, which was kind of long, and then proceeds to tell me about himself and how wonderful he is for the next 30+ minutes. It was awkward since he wasn't talking about his business but his work and life experiences. Then; low-balled a wage, told me he didn't offer insurance or benefits but with the overtime i could potentially work, I'd be able to get insurance on my own. Needless to say I took a job offer elsewhere. With benefits and more money.
I had an interview for a nurse practitioner position in which the interviewer repeatedly asked me why someone would "bother" seeing me instead of the physician, asked how I would be able to treat patients without having been to medical school, what was my value, etc...in the most hostile tone I've ever encountered in an interview. I got through it, then emailed the physician and manager when I got home about the interview and to remove my resume from consideration. He responded in shock, claiming he'd always heard great things about this woman's interviews and that she loved me for the position.
Corporate America has become Hell. Why? Was it all the greedy MBAs who thought they'd get rich quick from someone else's work? Was it all the inherited trust-fund babies who had to do something to please Daddy? No wonder there's an anti-work movement!
Nah, mostly the underperforming millennials that have invaded the market thinking they deserve $25 an hour for working with a GED, expecting insurance for their "kid", which is really their pet.
Load More Replies...I once interviewed for an executive assistant position to the owner of a large industrial cleaning supply company. As I am going through the interview, they mention an amazing salary and I am immediately wondering why the salary is on the level of someone working for a Wall Street firm for basically a small regional company. So when we get to the "Questions?" part of the interview, I ask her. She pauses, then says "How do I put this delicately? Mr. X can be very difficult to work for at times. You are on call pretty much 24/7. He can be verbally abusive. You have to take it. He can be very demanding. He doesn't put up with any talking back. His last assistant was with him for over 20 years, but had a heart attack and died three months ago, relatively young, and he has gone through several temps since then." I looked at her and said "You aren't hiring an exec assistant, you are hiring a doormat and I don't have Welcome stamped anywhere on me. His last asst probably died from stress.
I was 20 years old working on an associate degree and wanted a part time job close by to earn extra money. I applied at a childcare center that looked and advertised itself as top shelf posh and centering on creative and emotional supportive childcare. I'm sitting in the employee lounge waiting on the supervisor when this woman burst through the door dragging this obviously confused 3-4 year old boy by the arm and proceeds to literally verbally gut this child in front of me. From what I could tell, he hadn't hurt anyone else and he wasn't having a tantrum. She just laid this boy to waste in front of me. I was a kid myself with no children and my overwhelming urge was to get in between the two and protect him. It was excruciating to watch. It's been 15 years and I can still see his little face. When the supervisor came in, I stood up and calmly told her I had just seen childcare that bordered on or was emotionally abusive and it would be a cold day in hell before I worked there.
Interviewing for a job the previous employee left after 3 months. Asked about training and the interviewer looked at me blankly before telling me they don't do training but it's fine because "no-one else really knows what they're doing either". I noped out, and three months later noticed they were advertising the job again.
Interviewed voluntarily with an insurance company I was in that raved about how women were accepted in their company, they got to go on vacations all the time, and everyone supposedly loved what they did. There were 10 of us for that interview, mostly women. I was the only one who showed up for round 2. Already suspicious before round 2, I did research on the company, found their a fraud, and only wasted my time and gas to get to the place again just to prove the information I found. Guy was super rude when it was just me and handed me a paper saying to circle every personality trait of mine...? I told him this wouldn't work and walked right out.
Don't know if anyone else has commented this but if they volunteer the fact that the business "is not MLM" - it's 100% for sure MLM.
I have a recent story I'm still fuming about: Last week a company approached me with an opening of a senior software engineer. I took the opportunity to interview with them and had 3 stages. I pretty much nailed all of them including the 3rd stage which was a live coding session. It was a live problem solving by writing a simple console application. I completed the task, made a plan and executed it nicely. My app ticked all the boxes and I am proud of my solution. I got a call 2 days ago discussing the feedback. These idiots attempted to lower the price by explaining that checking a syntax online of a rarely used method means I'm not senior, so they can hire me as mid level for less. They knew I'm tech lead at my current job, released a range of apps, contributing in open source projects, released tutorials and courses in my field. Not bragging, but I am a senior engineer by any measure. So I laughed the guy out and said they need to work on their hiring processes. Massive red flag it was.
Nobody has memorized every API that exists. I am a lead software architect. I use stack overflow, and API docs all the time.
Load More Replies...I had a Stage interview at this one restaurant. Was told it would only be for a couple hours. They were 20min late in meeting me. At one point I asked for a cup to drink some water. They just pointed to the tap. One guy had no idea how to roast veg and was asking me. They were using carts (w/o breaks) as prep table to slice/dice items. After 3hrs it was clear they wanted me to work all night for nothing. Two people were in their 2wk notice phase. & I was appalled by their health code violations. I thanked them for the experience and left. Reported them to the health department the next day. It was a "did that really happen?" moment.
One interview I had about 10 years ago with the owner of the company. He quickly scans my resumé, which was kind of long, and then proceeds to tell me about himself and how wonderful he is for the next 30+ minutes. It was awkward since he wasn't talking about his business but his work and life experiences. Then; low-balled a wage, told me he didn't offer insurance or benefits but with the overtime i could potentially work, I'd be able to get insurance on my own. Needless to say I took a job offer elsewhere. With benefits and more money.
I had an interview for a nurse practitioner position in which the interviewer repeatedly asked me why someone would "bother" seeing me instead of the physician, asked how I would be able to treat patients without having been to medical school, what was my value, etc...in the most hostile tone I've ever encountered in an interview. I got through it, then emailed the physician and manager when I got home about the interview and to remove my resume from consideration. He responded in shock, claiming he'd always heard great things about this woman's interviews and that she loved me for the position.
Corporate America has become Hell. Why? Was it all the greedy MBAs who thought they'd get rich quick from someone else's work? Was it all the inherited trust-fund babies who had to do something to please Daddy? No wonder there's an anti-work movement!
Nah, mostly the underperforming millennials that have invaded the market thinking they deserve $25 an hour for working with a GED, expecting insurance for their "kid", which is really their pet.
Load More Replies...I once interviewed for an executive assistant position to the owner of a large industrial cleaning supply company. As I am going through the interview, they mention an amazing salary and I am immediately wondering why the salary is on the level of someone working for a Wall Street firm for basically a small regional company. So when we get to the "Questions?" part of the interview, I ask her. She pauses, then says "How do I put this delicately? Mr. X can be very difficult to work for at times. You are on call pretty much 24/7. He can be verbally abusive. You have to take it. He can be very demanding. He doesn't put up with any talking back. His last assistant was with him for over 20 years, but had a heart attack and died three months ago, relatively young, and he has gone through several temps since then." I looked at her and said "You aren't hiring an exec assistant, you are hiring a doormat and I don't have Welcome stamped anywhere on me. His last asst probably died from stress.
I was 20 years old working on an associate degree and wanted a part time job close by to earn extra money. I applied at a childcare center that looked and advertised itself as top shelf posh and centering on creative and emotional supportive childcare. I'm sitting in the employee lounge waiting on the supervisor when this woman burst through the door dragging this obviously confused 3-4 year old boy by the arm and proceeds to literally verbally gut this child in front of me. From what I could tell, he hadn't hurt anyone else and he wasn't having a tantrum. She just laid this boy to waste in front of me. I was a kid myself with no children and my overwhelming urge was to get in between the two and protect him. It was excruciating to watch. It's been 15 years and I can still see his little face. When the supervisor came in, I stood up and calmly told her I had just seen childcare that bordered on or was emotionally abusive and it would be a cold day in hell before I worked there.
Interviewing for a job the previous employee left after 3 months. Asked about training and the interviewer looked at me blankly before telling me they don't do training but it's fine because "no-one else really knows what they're doing either". I noped out, and three months later noticed they were advertising the job again.
Interviewed voluntarily with an insurance company I was in that raved about how women were accepted in their company, they got to go on vacations all the time, and everyone supposedly loved what they did. There were 10 of us for that interview, mostly women. I was the only one who showed up for round 2. Already suspicious before round 2, I did research on the company, found their a fraud, and only wasted my time and gas to get to the place again just to prove the information I found. Guy was super rude when it was just me and handed me a paper saying to circle every personality trait of mine...? I told him this wouldn't work and walked right out.
