You just went on your dream job interview? Or was
it for your dream job or your nightmare job? How
can you even tell these days so in this video, I'm
going to be breaking down the seven red flags in a
job interview. And at the very end of the video,
I'm going to tell you what to do. If you know that
there's enough red flags that you just can't
continue without having to sit through and suffer
the rest of that job interview. If that sounds
good to you tap that like button and let's jump
straight in the first red flag is that they're not
trying to sell you on the opportunity. You know,
those companies that are just like, oh, you would
be so lucky if we offer you a job to work with us.
And you just know that they're not really going to
pay you or appreciate you or give you any career
growth opportunities once you get in. that's who
we're trying to avoid. Here. The most important
thing to keep in mind any job interview is that
it's bi directional. It's going both ways, my
friends. So as much as they are learning about
you, asking you questions and trying to understand
your experience, because they're gauging against
the role that they have open, you should be
interviewing them just as much as they are
interviewing you. You're trying to figure out if
this is the next right step in your career, you
want to make sure that you're learning in a job
that you are valued, that is fulfilling, and is
helping you achieve your professional goals. And
you can assess any of that if they don't let you
ask any questions. No, if you haven't been asking
questions in a job interview, you absolutely need
to I actually have a video with a few suggested
questions that you can ask, I will leave that in
the description down below so that you can check
it out after this one to amplify this red flag,
there's a new extreme that some toxic companies
might actually go to. And not only do they think
that you should just be so gracious for the
potential opportunity to work for them, they
actually take the opportunity in the interview
would undermine and undervalue the experience and
the value that you bring to the organization. And
really, this is so shady when it happens. And I've
seen this happen more than once. Unfortunately,
for example, you tell them about absolutely
crushing one of your KPIs. And the hiring manager
or interviewer says, Well, that's not really a big
deal. That's just a normal day around here. If
they're trying to sell you that your most
exceptional accomplishments are just really,
really average, then it begs the question, why
would they even offer you a job in the first
place, and these people are going to offer you a
job. The reason why they're doing that is because
they don't want you to feel really secure so that
maybe you take a lowball job offer and maybe
you'll just be so insecure that you'll stay in the
world for a while, especially in today's job
market with a labor shortage on the fact that
there is more opportunities open than there are
qualified people to fill them. Any company that
you're interviewing with, absolutely needs to be
selling you on this being the opportunity for you.
However, there is a flip side to this that you
need to watch out for. And that brings us into our
second red flag in a job interview. And that my
friends, is love bombing. Have you heard of love
bombing before just in case you have it? Here's a
real quick introduction to the concept often used
by narcissist. It is the practice of finding and
cooing and praising and building someone up just
so that you can later tear them down. What would
this look like in a job interview? Well, perhaps
the hiring manager is really gloating about your
accomplishments. And what a big deal you are in
this industry and how absurdly lucky they are that
you're even considering the opportunity of working
for such a lonely organization such as this one
okay, maybe not that far, but you get the picture
and I just said that they should be hyping you up
and selling you the opportunity and that is
absolutely true but it needs to be within reason.
For example if they are really bringing this to
new levels like this is the biggest deal that you
agree to interview with us and unless you're an
industry expert like I'm talking levels of you
have books, your published in journals, you are
legitimately the go to expert in your industry,
this could be a signal that they are setting you
up to later tear you down they know it's necessary
in order for you to take the job and to keep you
in the job for just a little bit but this dynamic
I promise you does reverse and one day that
compliment train is going to turn and they will
start to tear you down. Now I'm actually really
curious if any of you have experienced love
bombing in a job interview, let me know in the
comments down below. Okay, let's get into the next
red flag and this one is gonna need some context
because the next red flag is they don't have their
ish together. Now Honestly, I kind of feel like a
jerk saying this one because I know a lot of
companies are hiring for a lot of roles and
recruiters are really stretched thin. However, if
through the interview process, there was a lot of
miscommunications and staff foods like they didn't
send you the interview link or they didn't tell
you who you were going to be in touch with or how
to get in touch with them. Or maybe they mess up
on the day and time and you show up and no There,
you're told it's like supposed to be the next day,
or even worse, it was the day before, this is
something that you need to watch out for. Now, of
course, it goes beyond the recruitment team, it
goes right into the hiring team, my friends.
Another way that this red flag might show up in a
job interview to alert you that this might not be
your dream employer is that they have really
unreasonable expectations about the role about
what you'll be doing, or they're just totally
unclear about what the job actually is. And how am
I supposed to take jobs if they don't even know
what it is I really, this is one I just don't
follow. I also feel like this is common in the
startup industry, and really, in any small
business where hiring managers aren't necessarily
used to hiring and they don't really know what
they're doing in terms of team growth. But Wow,
have I heard the full gamut of stories in this
regard? I've heard of people that in the interview
uncovered that they were really hiring for like a
senior leader level position, but they were hiring
an entry role because they didn't have budget,
they just expected the person to get paid for the
entry level role, while they did the senior level
role, or if you start asking about things like key
performance indicators in the role, and they just
have no idea how they're going to measure success.
How are they going to know you're successful in
the role? And how are you going to know that
you're successful in the role? And what if they
say one thing, but it's not quantified, and they
end up moving the goalposts or just interpreting
things strangely, you have no idea. So this can be
a really big red flag. Again, it's one that I know
can be common in certain types of companies. But
it still doesn't make it not a red flag, it's
still a red flag in my back. Now, honestly, the
funniest way this shows up is when their
expectations are just completely out of whack. In
fact, I'll tell you guys a quick story about one
interview that I went to early in my career for
New York City startup, I was in the final stages
of interviews. And at this point, I already knew I
wasn't accepting the job. I just didn't know that
I could walk out of a job interview at that time,
because there was already so many red flags. And
I'm going to come back to some of those in just a
minute. But in the interview, I was sitting with a
senior executive at the company and all he did for
the entire time in the meeting was not ask me any
questions. It was just telling me that if he
decided to offer me a job that I just needed to be
really thankful and I needed to commit at least my
next five years, in order for him to get ROI. Bear
in mind, the job that they were hiring for was
also seriously under titled, and let's be clear,
probably underpaid. No five years of the company
might not seem wild to some of you. But if you're
in a tech startup, that's like your entire career,
okay, maybe not your entire career, but it's a
really long time. So if you're talking to the
interviewer, and they're communicating any kind of
lack of clarity or crazy expectations about your
job, what you're going to be able to accomplish,
or really what you're expected to give the company
see that for the red flag that it is, and actually
on that cringy note, I need to go into the next
job interview red flag because this one who it's a
doozy and unless you've been through it, you're
going to be like no one does this, but I promise
you this happens. The fourth job interview red
flag is inappropriate conduct or questions from
your interviewer. And yes, this still happens in
2021. No, first of all, there are things that your
job interviewer cannot ask. Now that list criteria
might be different in different places, because I
know you guys are kind of watching from all over
the globe. But for example, one question that in
the US, employers cannot ask you your age, it is
an illegal question. Not allowed to ask you your
age or things that are going to infer your age.
However, I know that if you're in Europe, you
probably have your date of birth on your CV, it's
really obvious there. So do keep in mind these
considerations. Now, other questions that are best
inappropriate and probably illegal, include
questions about things like your salary history,
if you are in a state or location where that is
prohibited by law, questions about your family
planning, which is actual questions that I know a
lot of women here. So really, when they're getting
all personal up in your business, maybe it's
inappropriate, but it's maybe illegal. And because
I can't give you a full list of questions that you
cannot be asked in an interview because there's so
many of you in so many different places. A quick
tip for you to make sure that you know what they
are, what you can do is you can hop over to
Google, and you can just pop into the search bar,
illegal questions in a job interview followed by
your locations, your state or your country,
whichever level that the laws are at. And that
actually should yield some hits for you to get a
solid idea about questions that you should not be
asked through the course of a job interview. Now
maybe some of these questions aren't illegal, but
they're extremely inappropriate. So going back to
work life boundaries, which we all know I love
talking about at this point. This The mere fact
that they're asking questions that are so far
beyond the work life boundaries is a major red
flag. After all, you are going to be working with
your interviewer either there, the recruiter is
someone who's going to be on your team or your
future manager. And if they just have zero
boundaries, and that is the culture and it is
acceptable enough to be asked any job interview,
you have to interpret that as a red flag. So for
example, another interview that I was on because
apparently I have the worst job interviewers ever
noticed my wedding ring and asked me why I still
continue to work when I was married, not an
appropriate question. No, of course, the
inappropriateness doesn't always limit itself to
questions. No, no, that wouldn't be fun. Sometimes
this might come up with remarks or commentary from
your interviewer, which is very uncomfortable. So
for example, if your interviewer says something
along the lines of well, this is convenient, we
need more women on the team, that would be a job
interview, red flag, my friend. And of course
there's also just people who have no common sense
on make racist, homophobic massage. And as you
know phobic a lot like all of the discriminatory
comments, like literally in a job interview. Now,
this is really unfortunate when it happens. But
the silver lining is they're showing you who you
are before you actually sign an employment
contract and have financial dependency. So if any
of those kind of extreme things come up in the job
interview thing, goodness, they threw up that red
flag, so that you can just remove yourself, not
only from the running, but you can also remove
yourself from the job interview. And that actually
brings us to our fifth job interview red flag. And
that is to watch the way that people are
interacting with each other. Now I will say this
is a lot easier. If you are in an on site
interview, you're going to see how the person
working at the front desk is you're going to see
how people interact with each other. You can Loki
observe how people are interacting in the office,
as you're waiting for your interview, to start to
pay close attention to how they interact with each
other, how they speak to each other, how they talk
about each other in a job interview,
this is actually giving you a really good insight
into the work environment that it is, and can
actually throw up a lot of red flags for a toxic
work environment. if everyone's talking poorly
about each other. If they're speaking
appropriately to each other, they're just not
conducting themselves professionally within the
team, then you need to really question if that's
the team that you want to be a part of, I mean, no
judgment, maybe that's your style, like so maybe
some conduct that I think is a red flag, he isn't
roughly for you. But what you're looking for here,
again, is alignment with like, how you want to be
at work and what that and your value is versus
what you're actually seeing and experiencing
through the course of the job interview. And if
those are not aligned for you, that is a red flag.
But in general, you want to make sure that people
are respectful, professional and courteous with
each other, that's just probably going to be a
more positive work environment than if everyone is
swearing and calling each other names, especially
in a job interview, which is when they're actually
trying to impress you so that you want to work for
them right. The next red flag in a job interview
is how they respond to your questions, and
especially questions that you have about any
concerns that you uncovered when you were
preparing for the job interview. Now in my next
video, I'm going to dive in how to conduct
research on a company in a little bit more detail.
So if you're interested in that, do make sure that
you're subscribed. But there's a lot of questions
that you might ask about the company growth path
career opportunities, dodgy Glassdoor reviews that
you uncovered in your preparation. Now, are they
being a little bit dodgy when they answer do they
get visibly frustrated when you ask them about
those negative Glassdoor reviews? Do they give you
ambivalent answers? When you talk about career
growth and career opportunities when you're
actually at the company? Or if you ask why they
like working there, and they give you some random
bs answer, you need to read that as the right a
flag that is in the job interview. Now again, this
does depend on you asking questions, and doing
your research before you go into that job
interview. And this is really important for your
success in the job interview for you to be able to
appropriately find those red flags, and most
importantly, to save yourself from landing in a
toxic workplace. But there is another flag that we
need to discuss. And this one is really, really
important. And honestly I think this is a job
interview red flag that people will most quickly
write off, but it's actually the most important
one. The seventh red flag in a job interview is
the vibe that you're picking up. So what is this
vibe? Well, this is where it actually becomes
really hard to put your finger on it. Does
something just feel off in the conversation? Do
you feel uncomfortable? Do you feel unnecessarily
uneasy? Are they making you uncomfortable in the
job interview? Going back to my nightmare job
interview one thing that they did part of the
interview process was actually doing a
presentation and they decided to sabotage my
presentation. To see how I would react to test me.
Now not only was that in itself a job interview
red flag that probably should have made the list,
I just know that not everyone has those, the vibe
that they gave off as they were doing this, their
comfort and willingness to sabotage someone in a
job interview setting, which is inherently
stressful, inherently has a lot of pressure. And
let's face it is not your normal situation. So it
wasn't a direct world simulation to see how I
would react it was how I would react in a job
interview, I just wasn't into working for someone
who would test me like that. One of the things
that I've noticed speaking to people that ended up
in bad work environments, or even toxic work
environments, is there was always that, you know,
there was something off in the job interview
process. Now, if something is off, it doesn't mean
that you need to immediately withdraw yourself.
Again, loop it back into the questions that you're
asking the research that you do, and the due
diligence that you do, maybe you don't remove
yourself as a candidate right away, but it gives
you something to really dig into when you get to
that job offer. And again, that's topic of my next
video, make sure you're subscribed. Now as a
bonus, I wanted to talk about what to do if one of
these red flags arises. Especially if it's an
extreme red flag, you know, there is no way that
you are going to pursue this opportunity after
this. For example, the interviewer makes a lewd
remark about you and what you're wearing, you
know, you're not going back because you don't want
to work for that person, okay? Or they're making
you really uncomfortable, or the entire vibe is
just so off because they are so diluted about how
important they are, and how much you need this
opportunity. There's something that you can do.
And I'm telling you this because I wish in my
super weird job interview that I knew you can
dismiss yourself from a job interview at any point
in time. And there is a way to do it that isn't
going to damage your professional reputation or
make you look really bad. For example, you don't
want to tell the person that they're a jerk and
stormed out of the room that even though they're
the ones being unprofessional, they're going to be
the ones that are being loud about you walking out
of the job interview because they have to
rationalize their bad behavior. So
they're going to make it a you problem. However,
what you can do at the point that something
happens that you're like, no, this is an obvious
deal breaker for me, I am not comfortable
proceeding with this opportunity. I know that is
my decision. I know I will be emailing the
recruiter immediately following the interview to
tell them never to contact me again. There is
something that you can say you can simply say as
we're having a conversation I don't feel like I'm
the best candidate for you and I don't want to
waste any of your time. So I would like to thank
you for taking the time to have this conversation
and consider me and I wish you the best of luck in
filling the role and you can end it right there
just like that. Hopefully you never need to do
that. And hopefully these job interview red flags
aren't popping up all over the place. But now you
know what to do if they do and you don't need to
suffer through an inappropriate or super awkward
job interview if there's never the red flags
available. Now I'd love to hear from you. What job
interview red flags would you add to this list?
Have you experienced any of these in a job
interview that you've been to? Let me know in the
comments down below. Now if you're watching this
because you are preparing for an interview we need
to make sure that you're going to say that
interview so go ahead and watch this video right
now and it has some super helpful tips. But before
you go if this helps you out if it helps you see
some red flags in a job interview, give it a
thumbs up really helps my channel makes you my
favorite career. bestie win win situation. As
always my friend thank you so much for watching. I
will see you in the next video. Bye for now.