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30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags
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!
This post may include affiliate links.
“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.
It means we actually do not have a clear position and just want to be able to stuff you with all kinda crappy tasks that nobody else wants to do and you'll not be in the position to decline.
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
Any job that requires an upfront cost. This is a telltale sign that you are getting wrapped up into a MLM pyramid scheme.
Yup. A real job pays YOU, not the other way around. EDIT TO ADD - Also, your pay shouldn't be dependent on how much your "downline" works.
In the entertainment business, if any agent asks for money up front to represent you, it is non legit. They take a percentage of what you make on jobs they definitely get for you, that is their incentive to find you work.
Beware! There is a new scam going on. This scam seems like a legitimate job for remote work. You will be told that you'll be receiving a phone and laptop for work. Then you'll be told that there's an issue and you'll need to order a phone and/or laptop through a portal and will be reimbursed on your first check. The portal is a scam and your money disappears.
I think its that you need to buy these items/products, join this group for a fee, pay for that training. That sort of thing. Basically you are paying money to the person recruiting you who pays money to the person who recruited them. You only get paid a pittance and you only get paid good money if you recruit more people who recruit more people, who all spend up front money and do whatever gets the pittance paid and also recruit more people. It's like a toned down legal pyramid scheme.
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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.
I know exactly how it looks, like I've got a life of my own and I am maintaining my work/leisure ratio as intended.
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
probably means someone walked out in the middle of a shift five minutes earlier
Here is a way to find a red flag.
Go into the interview with actual questions. (See some below) if the interview/s can't or won't answer them, thank them for their time and leave.
Sample questions:
What is the turnover rate?
How do pay increases work?
Are promotions internal? And are they based on performance or seniority?
How long have you worked here?
Do you offer and pay for external training?
What is the overtime policy?
How do you handle conflict in the workplace?
If I need help who do I ask, what does "the chain of command" chart look like
These are just a few. But the idea is to ask the questions that you wish you would have known the answers to before taking you last crappy job.
for your future boss if he is part of the interview process "what is the most average day in this position?". If they start to wave around the answer or give torpes like "there is no typical / average day" it means either they don't have a clear job in mind, they have no set procedures on how to handle work tasks and you will and up doing 100 different things or you will be the fireman asked to put out fires all the time. Even for actual firemen have a number of standardised tasks they have to do every day.
Initially unpaid, but will result in full time offer upon completion of XYZ
Interviewer for an shift manager job at wendy's asked me to quit college, said I needed to always be available to them if they needed me. Never mind that HE was over an hour late to MY interview.
NO...I will not quit college for 9 dollars an hour
Similarly, I have had to work two jobs and one of them said I needed to choose between the two. After saying that, the decision wasn't hard. The job I chose to keep was full time with benefits anyway. If your employees have to work multiple jobs, look at yourself and see how you can be doing better, don't see them as a traitor for needing the extra money.
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
Just started a job with a new Behavioral Health company after leaving my last one. They thought because of my experience that they didn't have to train me, so I was thrown into it almost right away. Every company is different, even if it's the same position, that's why it's called 'training' so you can get used to it their way, not your previous company's way. I found out that they didn't do it to just me, they also did it to this young girl that is brand new to the field. In other words, they just do it to everyone.
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.
Or that each person wants you to take over some of their work, so that you get a bunch of stuff to do that helps the others but not you.
"Family owned and operated". The family members will not be held to the same standards as you.
If the job description has about 20 items of which one is "sales" your job is going to be sales.
So... it wasnt clear that you were responsible of sales and if you dont hit the targets you'll be in trouble?
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.
That person conducting the interview needs to wake up and realize what he's doing with his life.
I was recently (roughly two months ago) given a job offer from a company I was really interested in. The job sounded great, was in a career path I was originally hoping for when graduating, and was back in my home town so I could see some old friends and family regularly.
When they made me an offer, it was a pretty big pay cut from what I'm currently making. Actual salary would have been flat-out even. I hate my current job, so that would have been ok by me. However, I would be losing a week of vacation, a week a paid sick time, getting slightly worse benefits, and half of what my current company offers in 401k matching.
When I asked what was available for negotiation, they got mad at me. In fact, they expected me to make this life-altering decision in 24 hours with little to no questions asked... and got even more mad that I wanted to negotiate *my life* instead of just say yes or no.
So... I ended up just walking away. I hate my current bosses, but not enough to walk away from 4 weeks of vacation and an extra week of sick leave. And especially not for, given the signs, people who will treat me the exact same way as my bosses.
"But but but... wE'rE dOiNg YoU a FaVor! You get to work with US!" Yeah, nope.
Arrived for an interview not to long ago. Showed up 15 minutes early and had all my certs to prove training. Waited over 20 minutes before the secretary led me to a conference room. Waited another 40 minutes and got fed up. Quality manager walked in as I was getting up to leave. He was very offended when I told him he had wasted my time and i would never accept a position after being left to wait almost an hour while having an appointment.
Why is it so hard for these arrogant managers to just say "I apologize for making you wait".
When looking at compensation figures, bear in mind that "up to X" includes the number zero.
This happened to us. My partner's son got a new job and was going on about how he'd be earning £10 / hour. I asked "Have you had that confirmed?". "Well, no, but the advert said up to £10 / hour". I pointed out the "up to" and that "up to" included everything from zero to £3.50 and beyond. His response was "Well they're not exactly going to pay £3.50 because that's below the minimum wage!". Of course I was just using that to make a point. So what was his starting pay? £7.49 / hour. Nowhere near the £10 he assumed he'd be making.
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.
I don't agree with this one. It depends very much on your individual position and tasks. Your being required to work longer in the afternoon (or not) may differ a lot from the person in the next room if the tasks are just slightly different.
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.
Perks don't pay your bills. That stuff is great but often used as a way to cover for garbage pay and murderous workloads
Always ask them why the person you are replacing left the job. The way they answer this could be a red flag.
They'll never tell the truth. I had a coworker quit without notice because our boss would not allow her to take time off with FMLA that HR had already approved. He would never in a million years admit that to any applicant who asked.
"We work hard and play hard", it actually means all work and for sure no play.
"Looking for rock stars" in the job description, unless of course the posting is in fact for a position to be a rock star!
"Reaching out to potential clients" likely refers to cold calling. F that.
Any job that forces you to watch videos, or has videos playing during the interview process that talk about how great it is to work there.
Amazon, Geico, Wal Mart, etc.
All have Soviet style Propaganda videos
Making jokes about overtime and "crunch time". Guaranteed it's going to be a nights and weekends are optional (but not actually optional) place.
I worked in a warehouse for 4 months. When I got hired they said "we rarely do overtime" Everyday I worked those months were overtime
"if you're the kind of person who likes a 9-5 job this may not be right for you"
If you're the kind of person that doesn't appreciate being overworked, underpaid and underappreciated, this may not be right for you.
"Master's Degree Preferred" for an entry level job.
I saw one recently "Laborer needed, with a Class 4 driver's license" Which is a lorry license...therefore they want a driver but at minimum wage.
Test task that looks like real work they need to be done
I saw a job posting last eek in which one of the requirements was to keep your desk tidy.
If they're willing to put that in the ad, the office is run by control freaks. Stay away.
My desk at work will always be immaculate if you let me work from home.
A employer who treats you like they are doing you a favor. With good servant leadership it should be the other way around. An unclear job description, or a job description that includes too many duties. Not being offered the opportunity to see the working areas or talk to people who would be your peers.
Just generally trying to feel out whether or not they have things under control or not. I don't want to walk into a s**t show.
When they talk bad about previous employees. They're going to do it to you.
When I was new to the area and looking for a job, I was offered a position that was filled by someone they were planning to replace. When I pointed out that the position might not open up since the current guy was working under a strong union contract, they just shrugged and said that didn't matter to them. Where I worked before, I had been the union president. I turned them down.
Earning potential is stressed over current salary.
"You pay will be great in three years!" "OK, I'll be back in three years."
when the interviewer has been with the company for less than a year.
Unfortunately I have worked for a couple of places that hired roughly 75+ people 3 times per week at several location just to keep up with turnover.
"We offer flexible hours!" means that you will never have a set, week to week schedule, you will never be able to make plans more than a week in advance, and you will probably get stuck with turnaround shifts. (closing then opening.)
I have the same problem. To me, a flexible schedule means flexible for them. Not for you. I requested dropping to a three day week instead of a four day week and that's all they did. I still have to work anywhere between 9-5 instead of the hours I wanted which was 9-2. Not only that but, I was told everybody has to work a Saturday which makes no sense since there's one guy there who's never worked a Saturday in their life. The managers however can work any days or hours they want. That's what a flexibke schedule really is. The managers working when they want to work and still get paid for it.
If it feels like you have the job before your 'interview'.
I once applied to a trainee position, I got to the interview and it felt like I had already got the position and the meeting was just for details. It was weird, he looked at my docs more as a formality but apart from the excessive praise, I was never actually asked anything. I was told I would do a week trial with only travel expenses paid.
During that week there was no training or anything, I heard some not nice things (also some illegal things) whilst there, the boss was making plans to go out of the country for an extended period within 2 months and I'd be taking over for him as well as expected to bring in clients too...Also I wasn't deemed to be working fast enough and therefore they wanted to pay me less than £4 an hour. I didn't go back.
Yikes, that sounds like being the fall guy for a bunch of illegal activity that would be pinned on the lowest employee who stuck around.
I was once called to arrange an interview for a job in the medical field and the woman wanted me to show up for the interview without telling me what company it was, what was the job description etc. She told me we'll discuss during the interview and asked me to be in an address at a specific time two days later. It seemed way sketchy and I had already a second interview somewhere and pretty sure I would get the job so I cancelled this thing. To this day I wonder what that was about.
Couple of things.
**Open interviews**
Admittedly I've fallen for this a few times but I was young and stupid. It's clear they have a high turn over so they're trying to secure as many people as they can. Most of the time these open interview jobs don't have salaries, just commission.
**Refusal or reluctancy to share details over the phone**
This is what usually ends up in you turning up to an open interview. If they withhold information about the role (what you'll be doing etc.) that's a huge red flag. They just want to get you in the door for an interview to pressure you into joining.
In the 90s when restaurant job posts were in newspapers, I made sure to avoid those that seemed to have an annual subscription to the help wanted section. If they are always hiring, people are always leaving. I can get that with sales and marketing, but if you are burning through cooks and dishwashers every week, something must be amiss with management.
Places who always say they're hiring and always taking applications but you never actually see anyone new being trained or anything. It means people are quitting CONSTANTLY and management isnt hiring new people, so they are critically understaffed on top of poorly managed.
Extremely short interviews and overly technical questions.
I've been interviewed several times by tech companies that clearly didn't read my resume or just about anyone else's. They'll base too much on your current knowledge and certs instead of on your ability to learn and willingness for a job.
Once had an interview last 15 minutes. No questions about prior experience, no specific questions about me, set up the interview with the hiring company literally the day before. Asked about the specifics of how a TCP conversation worked, seemed genuinely surprised when I couldn't remember one barely used flag. Felt like I was taking the CCNA all over again, useless knowledge and all, and they scoffed every time I missed a question. No 'thank you' at the end of the interview, no real signal that they cared about me at all.
Next day I received an offer from a different company. Their interview was heavenly and the day before that nightmare interview - they wanted to know about me, my motivations, interests, hobbies, and genuinely tried to get to know me and how I learn. They treat me so well and try to work with me on everything. I found out that the other company I had interviewed for was a failing SOC lovingly known as a revolving door from friends and colleagues.
I can think of a few specific examples.
A) When I was younger I was in between my dads house and my eventually wife (and then ex-wife)'s parents house, kind of living both places but I was transitioning to move in with her family. We lived about 50 minutes apart. She stayed with me on occasion at my dads, too. This all becomes relevant. I applied at the McDonalds in her town just trying to do anything. Well I got a call one morning at 7 AM, McD manager says interview in 25 minutes. We were at my dads and that call woke me up. So I told him look, I'm almost an hour away there's no way I make that, he said "Then I guess you dont want the job that badly". Today me would have told him to jog off, but back then me jumped in the shower and together me and my (ex) lady sped 120 through country roads and SOMEHOW managed to make it just in time. I gave my best damn interview. He never called me back.
B) A job for online Apple tech support through a third party working from home. In the interview they told me they'd send me a Mac to work from and a phone to use. I was a little smarter than the me in example A, so I had questions. My main red flag popped when she said "you're responsible for the equipment and the cost of any repairs if it breaks" .. Okay makes sense. But I asked "Are these new devices?" She danced around the question but I was persistent. Finally she said no, they're refurbished. So my next question was "So if you send this Mac to me and day 2 it stops working because of some non-damage issue, do I still have to pay the repair?" Yeah apparently I would and these suckers are NOT cheap. After that she said "I don't know if this job is right for you" because I ask strong questions to see if I could get f****d over by you guys? Yeah maybe not.
tl;dr McManager on a power trip didn't even call me back after I went double the speed limit to make his outrageous time demand. And sketchy work from home job wanted to give me possibly janky hardware and then charge me if it stopped working, got defensive when I asked if that was really the case.
Long personality quizes during the application. They're a huge red flag that the manager is incompetent
I had a management interview with Cheesecake Factory years ago and it was an hour long phone interview of personality questions. It turned me off enough I won't even eat there 20 years later
If they ask you to pay for training, that's usually a red flag that it's a MLM or pyramid scheme.
If they ask you to buy stuff on commission and then it's your job to resell it, big ol' red flag.
I've had job interviews where the whole company gave me a weird vibe - lots of psychology questions like "do you like to be in control?" while sitting in an office building with zero privacy - all of the offices had glass walls, so everyone could see everyone else. Needless to say, I didn't accept their offer.
When they say you could be earning 6 figures in less than a year
When they can't return a call or keep you updated about your onboarding.
I'm in the process of this; had an interview, took them almost 2 weeks to call me back, said I can start there. So I sent my info for the contract, still haven't signed anything, send them an email, no reply. Starting next tuesday. If i don't sign anything before that I will not be clocking in that day. The lack of communication makes me feel like I'm making the biggest mistake of the year so far :/
Really small places, my last two jobs have been tiny. Fewer than 10 and once I get out of this second one I'll never work at such a small place again. You are absolutely at the mercy of the people/personalities around you. I can pretty much guarantee one of them will be someone with a borderline personality disorder who has a baffling amount of control and you've got zero buffer from anyone.
I used to work in boutique law firms, a.k.a. very very tiny law firms with 2 to 4 attorneys, and one to three staff… it was hell. My last law firm, we were at the mercy of a very narcissistic, passive aggressive, unhelpful, rude, disgusting (both in what she said, the food she heated daily, and the bathroom stench) office manager. I refused to work another law firm after that job, and I switched careers!
If the office is a s**t hole/bathrooms are dirty. **(TL;DR: cheap a*s owner)**
This is kind of an odd one, but here is what happened to me. I left a decent-size (400 employee), successful company because my career path was dead-ended. I had two positions above me: one was my boss, who was not going to retire for 20 years, and the VP, who was above him and also not going anywhere for 10 years or more.
Took a job at a much smaller company (70 employees), but it had a ton of growth potential. It was a small company on the verge of blowing up and getting big. I didn't pay a ton of attention to my surroundings because I was too excited about more money, growth, etc. The offices were a dump and the bathrooms were disgusting. There were two reasons for this: first, the company was small and growing and somewhat cash poor; second, the owner was cheap as F**K. In my time there, he would frequently make comments like "offices don't make me money," and "bathrooms don't make me money." Which, on the surface, is true. HOWEVER, people don't like working a dump. I had a job in IT and we would end up cleaning the bathrooms on a rotation. I'm not above scrubbing a toilet, but no one told me when I was hired that I'd have to wipe up p**s. I might have reconsidered taking that job.
Over the next couple of years, the company did grow and they did hire a cleaning company and they did invest in the offices, but the first 12 months or so were not entirely what I expected. Especially coming from a company that prided itself on nice, clean, modern facilities. I will say this though, the owner's cheap mentality was a continual roadblock for me in my time there. I eventually became director of operations and it was a constant challenge to deal his "step over a dollar to pick up a dime" methods. Here are some examples of his idiocy:
-Only the owner, the VP, and the financial guy were allowed to have company credit cards. I was a director of operations with 65 employees under me and I had to get petty cash from accounting or use my own credit card and get reimbursed for any events/spending/meals
-Most people were not allowed to book their own flights. It wasn't until later on that I was able to book my own flights. The entire purchasing department and none of the sales force were allowed to book their own flights. The owner did it and, if he could save $60 by adding two layovers or making your flight a redeye, he would do it. Nevermind the lost productivity and what that costs, we saved $60 on your ticket.
-Kept an opiate-addict around because he was a good welder and carpenter and would fix/build anything the owner wanted on the weekend for $60, a pack of smokes, and a case of beer. The addict regularly destroyed equipment, stole, lied, and worked whatever hours he wanted. When my predecessor tried to fire him, the owner over ruled, and after that the addict could basically do whatever he wanted because there were clearly no repercussions. I did eventually fire this guy and I still have the voicemail saved where he called up and begged for his job back after he had threatened violence against me and vandalism against my property.
-We had a plow truck that was in need of a wiring harness. The addict employee mentioned above had done something while borrowing the truck with the owner's permission and the truck caught on fire. The truck was an older V30 Chevy truck, but it was in decent shape and worked well. I ordered a wiring harness from Painless and figured I'd install it on a weekend and get the truck working again for $600. The owner traded that truck and $5,000 (!!!!!!!!) for a 2002 F250 5.4 XL regular cab with 275,000 miles on it. The Super Duty frame and suspension were completely rotten and the truck needed a rear end, brakes, brake lines, and fuel lines in the first year. I'm sure the guy that made that trade laughed all the way to the bank, coming away with $5k and a clean square body Chevy 1-ton that had an SM465, NP 205, 14 bolt, Dana 60, and only needed a wiring harness to be back on the road.
-I wasn't allowed to hire a lawn care company to do the mowing, so we had to have employees do it. The owner bought a used $400 riding mower that had 4 flat tires, no belts, and no battery from--you guessed it--the addict guy. I was not allowed to have a company credit card, but I did have a company Lowe's card, so I bought a cheap push mower over there and we used that to mow until years later when I was allowed to hire a mowing company.
Hiring lots of people on the same position, everyone who calls gets a job.
Often means the job is either b******t or they're setting you all up to compete for the actual job.
I think it's a weird question to ask a prospective employer, but an important one: What are your company values? It's kinda like asking on a first date your date's life philosophy. But man...it becomes EVIDENT when a company has no values. And if you don't have anything to strive for other than a dollar, your employees won't last.
You'll more than likely just get their generic mission statement. And let's be honest, mission statements are pointless and usually include something about "meeting customer requirements." Duh.
I walked into a supermarket years ago for an interview- I wanted part time work while I studied but the staff all looked so miserable, was like a horror movie, sad staff, crying kids, blinking ceiling lights, so I didn’t put any effort into the interview and didn’t get the job of course
The interviewer spends a lot of time staring at your chest and asks overly personal questions. I outright walked out of that interview before it finished - if I’m getting creep vibes I’m out.
I once had a really great job interview. The recruiter was really excited for me. Then said, the post won't be available for a few months. We'll follow up with you then. A few months? I was looking for a new job now.
If they have some goofy statement in the job ad. e.g. A company was advertising for a Graphic Design position and requesting a person who could "make a Macintosh get up and dance". You know the company culture will be like a circus with no ringmaster.
A job interview is a negotiation among equals. I want you to hire me, so I hope that I have the skills and demeanor needed for the position I want. But you need to make coming to this place and doing this work worth my while. If we meet each other’s needs, then it looks like I have a job and you have a valuable resource.
Once signed up for an online job site, after browsing it for a bit decided it wasn’t for me and my cv/profile that I had filled out only had my name and title of my last position, nothing that would lead any employer to show an interest, within an hour I had an email inbox literally filled with offers for interviews and even a few actual employment offers some from big household name companies, I figure if a company doesn’t care who they employ they aren’t going to treat those employees well at all
The interviewer spends a lot of time staring at your chest and asks overly personal questions. I outright walked out of that interview before it finished - if I’m getting creep vibes I’m out.
I once had a really great job interview. The recruiter was really excited for me. Then said, the post won't be available for a few months. We'll follow up with you then. A few months? I was looking for a new job now.
If they have some goofy statement in the job ad. e.g. A company was advertising for a Graphic Design position and requesting a person who could "make a Macintosh get up and dance". You know the company culture will be like a circus with no ringmaster.
A job interview is a negotiation among equals. I want you to hire me, so I hope that I have the skills and demeanor needed for the position I want. But you need to make coming to this place and doing this work worth my while. If we meet each other’s needs, then it looks like I have a job and you have a valuable resource.
Once signed up for an online job site, after browsing it for a bit decided it wasn’t for me and my cv/profile that I had filled out only had my name and title of my last position, nothing that would lead any employer to show an interest, within an hour I had an email inbox literally filled with offers for interviews and even a few actual employment offers some from big household name companies, I figure if a company doesn’t care who they employ they aren’t going to treat those employees well at all
