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19 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags
Article created by: Austėja Akavickaitė
The US unemployment rate went up to 3.7% in August, a bump that surprised economists who had expected it to remain at July's 3.5%.
One of the main reasons for this increase was the fact that more people were actively looking for work—labor force participation rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 62.4%.
While the figure is still a full percentage point lower than it was before the pandemic in February 2020, it could be the first glimmer of hope that there might be some relief ahead when it comes to the tight supply of workers.
However, when they're in such high demand, people shouldn't sign on the dotted line before exploring all of their options. To help everyone do this, we thought it would be useful to find a way to narrow the selection.
And there's a Reddit thread that might do the trick. Created by user CurrentlyCurious, there's a post that asked, "What's a red flag when looking for a job?" The 12.9K comments it has received so far have plenty of suggestions!
- Read More: 30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
“You’ll wear different hats in this role.”
First of all, this is a stupid phrase. Secondly, you just mean you’re going to make me do six different jobs and underpay me for them all.
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#2
If you ask them what the pay is and they start off with what you COULD be making after so much time and they start rambling about the raise process, run the other way
#3
Any job that requires an upfront cost. This is a telltale sign that you are getting wrapped up into a MLM pyramid scheme.
#4
I turned down a second interview for a position in which the interviewer said something to the effect of "If your boss Emails you on a Friday night, you don't have to respond, but you know how that looks...."
Made it pretty clear that they expect work to be your first priority.
#5
I got a call from a subway I applied to telling me my interview was in ten minutes. That was the first I heard from them after submitting my application
#7
If you are expected to work right off without sufficient training. It reflects poorly on the company's management and likely also means that they don't care about the employees
#8
It's common in my industry for you to be interviewed separately by 3 or 4 different people. They will typically all be people that you will be working with or for (e.g.: the hiring manager and two teammates). I've taken to asking each of them to describe what they see as the day-to-day duties and priorities of the role. If they don't align, it's a warning sign that no one knows exactly what they're hiring for.
#9
"Family owned and operated". The family members will not be held to the same standards as you.
#10
If the job description has about 20 items of which one is "sales" your job is going to be sales.
#11
This was a red flag I had during an interview process once. I was doing a phone interview for an IT position and the person I was interviewing with basically changed the details of the job during the interview. Instead of the first shift hours the position promised, he immediately went into saying it would be 6+ months before the opportunity for first shift would even be a possibility.
Also, he was big into asking how dedicated I was to jobs. The idea of weekend shifts (again, not in the original description) kept coming up and how everyone had to be a team player and help out on weekends when needed. The kicker was when he started talking about how many hours he worked. He was bragging that he was up at 6am everyday working, then he'd go into the office for the day, come home to see his family for dinner, and get right back to work until 10-11pm every night.
I had never been turned off from a job faster in my life. He asked me to think things over and he'd send me some paperwork via email. Needless to say, I called him the next morning and declined the job. It was the worst interview process I'd ever been in.
#12
When looking at compensation figures, bear in mind that "up to X" includes the number zero.
#13
A former coworker shared this tidbit with me years ago and it works wonders.
Try to schedule your in person interview as late in the afternoon as possible, relevant to your position. If you're expecting a 9-5 job, schedule your interview for 4:00 or 4:30. You probably discussed after hours work etc during the interview, when you are done, you should be able to look around - are people still working? Is the parking lot empty? You can match up the evidence with what was claimed during the interview and from that, judge how realistic the entire job description is based on how they treated the after hours work.
#14
I interviewed for a company that had a recruiter after me pretty hard. The company was just moving into my market and the reviews on Glassdoor definitely mentioned people being frustrated with the “bro culture“. All of my interviews were over facetime with the managers showing up in their pajamas from home and admitting that since the company is still growing the work load was pretty much 7 days a week until you got your new team hired and running - it just wasn’t very professional and it was obvious they didn’t have structure or care about people’s time.
I also don’t trust companies that brag about things like nerf gun fights around the office and constant Happy Hour events. Those perks are fun but it’s clear when that’s all they talk about in the job posting that they’re trying to distract you from other issues. I need to see that your company culture is enriching and creates success, not free lunches.
#16
"Looking for rock stars" in the job description, unless of course the posting is in fact for a position to be a rock star!
#17
Making jokes about overtime and "crunch time". Guaranteed it's going to be a nights and weekends are optional (but not actually optional) place.
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