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.
"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.
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".
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.
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.
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!
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.
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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!!
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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.
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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
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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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Had a brand new manager come on and within 2 weeks informed us that she was leaving for 3 months, in 3 months for her maturity leave. On top of that she was gone for 6 out of her first 8 weeks because of personal issues. The place shut down within 6 months of her starting. Not legal to ask, but, Unethical to deceive a future employers, and Abuse the law. Maybe this company has been through the same issue, repeatedly. The manager she replaced was gone, completely, for 8 months in her 2 years there, because of maturity leave, and would bring her kids to work, Not do any work and hang with her children. This was a restaurant.
If I had a company the only reason I would ask this is to make sure we have enough staff at our free full day/ after school child care facility.
When I lived in the South, I was asked those questions on every job interview. I knew they were illegal. So what? When I moved North I was asked those and similar questions 20 years later! How stupid do these idiots think we are?
I overheard an interview where people were asking the woman about kids and where they stay while she's at work. Not sure if it's illegal here but it sure striked me as weird and inappropriate, like that's none of their business.
I announced I was pregnant... my employer's response- we'll have to replace you
People consistently make that mistake. It is NOT illegal to ask those questions. It IS illegal to make any hiring decisions based on the answers the applicant provides for those questions. If they ask those questions and then do not hire the applicant, the applicant has the legal basis to sue the company for discrimination.
What do you think the purpose might be to ask those questions in an interview?
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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?
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.
If they say, "It's like a family here", they mean "the drama is unbelievable and yes, it gets very personal".
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...
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....
If to move forward in the hiring process you have to pay them for anything
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.
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.
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.
They wanted me to explain my tardiness stats from high school.
I'm in my thirties.
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
When they mention the high turnover rate several times during the interview.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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).
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.
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).
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.
This is why I always ask an interviewer what the turnover rate for the position is. You can tell a lot by their response to that question. Sometimes they're straightforward about a high turnover, which is a red flag, but even worse is when they're cagey about it. If it throws them off, or they get defensive or stumble trying to come up with a lie, get out of there.
Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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.
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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.
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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.
Once was at a state panel interview and was asked because I am a veteran- "how do you handle your PTSD?" I was floored. 1. I don't have PTSD. 2. Highly insulting question to assume all veterans have psychological issues. 3. Illegal to ask 4. Personally insulting I should have walked out but I was more interested in what other moronic assumptions that idiot had to say
I went to an interview and there was an empty condom wrapper under the desk.
No there wasn't. If there was, you interviewed for some low-brow job or a strip club.
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You guys have to put yourselves in the company's shoes... Would you really want to hire someone so that they can take a pregnancy leave? Stop being a bunch of hypocrites... Also, companies should stop calling people you don't want to hire. If a company calls me, I would think I got the job!
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.
Once was at a state panel interview and was asked because I am a veteran- "how do you handle your PTSD?" I was floored. 1. I don't have PTSD. 2. Highly insulting question to assume all veterans have psychological issues. 3. Illegal to ask 4. Personally insulting I should have walked out but I was more interested in what other moronic assumptions that idiot had to say
I went to an interview and there was an empty condom wrapper under the desk.
No there wasn't. If there was, you interviewed for some low-brow job or a strip club.
Load More Replies... You guys have to put yourselves in the company's shoes... Would you really want to hire someone so that they can take a pregnancy leave? Stop being a bunch of hypocrites... Also, companies should stop calling people you don't want to hire. If a company calls me, I would think I got the job!
