In a tight job market, job applicants and employers need to be aware of warning signs during the interview process, Fortune reported.
Hiring managers and candidates are sizing one another up, which means that both sides are looking for behaviors or actions that provide clues to the future of the relationship. Such behaviors or actions include arriving late to an interview, being rude, or dodging questions.
“The interview can often be the first experience of the internal workings of a company for a potential employee, and it should present the best version of the business, just as the candidate will be showing the best version of themselves,” Lucinda Pullinger, managing director U.K. at workplace advisory firm the Instant Group, told Fortune. “Hiring can be an arduous, long, and costly process, and it would be a shame to have found the right candidate, only for the interview to make them think twice before signing their contract.”
Recruiting managers would be wise to avoid the following 15 phrases and gestures—complied by the Instant Group, based on interview posts on Reddit—which could be “red flags” for job seekers:
1) Bad Glassdoor reviews
2) Poor answers to questions
3) “You’ll be wearing many hats”
4) Clothing with the company logo
5) Suggesting you sign the contract immediately
6) Saying their employees like overtime
7) “Work hard, play hard”
8) Dodging questions about pay
9) Asking “what clients you can bring?”
10) Undercutting salary offer
11) Suggesting work over weekends
12) Condescending tone
13) “We’re like family here”
14) Poor explanations of the training process
15) Asking bad questions
While a bad Glassdoor review tops the list for job seekers, pressuring a candidate to sign a contract immediately, which placed in the top five, is also a concern; it could indicate a high churn rate or other issues that could compel a hiring manager to make an instant offer.
“It’s nice to be wanted,” the Instant Group said, but “employees are wisely wary of a company that seems desperate.”
Aside from avoiding phrases that hint at overworking, such as “you’ll be wearing many hats” and “work hard, play hard,” employers should be honest about the possibility of working overtime, according to one expert.
“Some roles are high-pressure and stressful, and to imply that they aren’t will only mean new hires are either ill-equipped to perform in the role or consider leaving soon after joining,” Miranda Kyte, career trends expert at Glassdoor, told Fortune. In the end, “omitting less favorable aspects of a job may lead to more applications, but this practice is unlikely to deliver the right candidates.”