We've had dating red flags, how about JOB red flags?

[uniglowooljumper]

The two worst jobs I ever had, I should never have taken up after the interview.

In both interviews, it was very clear that the supervisors/bosses did not want the person whose job I was interviewing for to go. In both second interviews, the person who held the position was there and in both cases the person was promoted.

There was lots of talk about how the boss/team hated to see 'Susan' or 'Wendy' go, how super Susan and Wendy were, staff would say things like 'You have big shoes to fill' and there was constant comparisons to Susan and Wendy.

I ended up quitting both after a month or two.

Now, any interview like this is the dating equivalent of talking about exes or saying your ex was psycho. I don't go any further.

Do you have any job red flags that make you nope out immediately?

I had an interview for a shop once and there were two women interviewing me. They asked why I wanted to work in the shop and I said I was a regular customer and always thought the staff were so friendly. They looked at each other like then both burst out laughing. Not sure why but I stayed for the rest of the interview already knowing I wouldn’t be taking a job if offered.

Feeling interrogated in the interview - always led to working with aggressive/micro-managey people I couldn't stand

I once did an interview at a college where it was obvious that they'd decided weeks before to give the job to an ex-student of theirs, & they were only going through the motions.

They'd managed to lose two applicants who just didn't turn up on the day, presumably because HR had included requirements for another job entirely in the letter they sent out, which made the interview process sound a lot scarier/ more taxing than it actually was. I checked the ridiculous-sounding bits in advance & knew they didn't apply to us.

So I turned up & slowly came to realise what was actually going on, watching the other woman being lionised & given preferential treatment while I heard sarcastic stage whispers about myself, my cv & my performance.

I came to the opinion that the job wasn't as good as they'd made it sound; HR was a joke; the boss was poisonous; & the one nice person there seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown (seriously, I guess from the stress of working there).

I slept on it, then called the next day to withdraw my application. HR's response? "You can't do that. We have to tell you whether we want you or not."

Ha ha ha.

Just to say, it's not always a red flag if the offer you the job right then - it's happened to DH, but that was after a second interview lasting 6 hours including a technical test (normal in his field) so they had a fair idea what he was capable of.

The worst job I had, the interviewer didn't ask me any questions about myself, my motivation for applying, reasons for wanting to leave present job etc. It was just a series of 'what would you do if' situational questions.

I took the job out of desperation to leave the job I was in , and knew within a week it was a big mistake. It was basically really junior, I was just an assistant to the boss without any of my own work to do really.

I wanted to be free to go for other interviews (difficult in my line of work as most were regional with a head office down south) so I quit after a short time but it was incredibly stressful and I kicked myself many times for not trying to suss it out more before I said yes. I realised that the thrill of an offer is worth nothing if it turns out to be the wrong job. sometimes it is so easy to be flattered that you are the chosen one and that you have 'won' the interview process that you forget to look at the bigger picture.

When you interview for a specific role, say, in the accounting department, but they throw out they want flexibility and when you inquire what this means, they expect secretarial and reception duties as well. You take the job, and then a week or so into the job, you realise only the women are being charged with taking over those tasks. Fuck that!

Had another with a rota for cleaning the staff kitchen but only female names on it.

Weird questions, like 'if you could be a colour what would you be and why?' Really, what does that tell you about a person? One interviewer asked me if I would consider myself to be a narcissistic. That should have been a red flag right there. Turned out he was, and the deputy manager who was sleeping with him basically enabled his bullshit behaviour.

No job description. My last job I was approached informally and when I asked in the interview about when I could see the JD I was told that the organisation was going through change and so I would be able to shape the role. Turns out my boss didn't agree with most of my ideas about how the role should be helped and I was desperate to leave by the end having been really unhappy and frustrated there for a while.

Being told at the interview that the Christians and non Christians eat separately, and there is no uniform as such but that they like their young ladies ( myself at the time- only a few years ago though)
to wear a skirt.

Wish I'd taken the job then waited for a court case.....

It probably goes without saying but if you see a job advertised frequently over a short period of time it's bound to mean that there's a problem with keeping staff and it won't take long to find out what it is.

I've just started a new job after over 30 years in my old job and it's a completely different line of work.
I've established that my manager has a few issues but the main red flag is the fact that previous employees in my role have been mentioned and there have been LOADS!
I don't think they've been able to tolerate her behaviour.
I'm a bit torn as she's quite close to retirement and I quite fancy her job!!! 🙄

I would never answer if someone asked me why the last person left - that's personal information and I would say so. If I was being interviewed, and they gave me personal information about the last person in the job, that would be a red flag.

I had an interview for a temp admin position in a field that I was keen to get into but during the interview, the interviewer really slagged off one of her direct reports (she only had 2!) I am slightly ashamed to say I took the role as it was a reputable company.
The poor woman who was the victim left for her dream job a few months later. I was so pleased for her, she was treated horrendous.
I was offered her role permanently and, like a fool, took it. I was the next victim. I should have seen it coming from the first interview.

I left myself a couple of months after.

15 years ago I was an interviewer and I was amazed that the interviewee took the role!

I was interviewing with my then boss. Interview was set to 2pm. At 12 boss said he was just nipping home (he had a 3 week old baby and only lived a couple of miles away) but would be back by 1:45 at the latest.

Interviewee turned up at 1:30pm like a good interviewee should. I welcomed him, said we weren’t quite ready and gave him some stuff to read. 1:45pm - no sign of boss. (This was before mobile phones were as common as now so although he presumably had one I didn’t have his number.) 2pm - no sign of boss. 2:05pm no sign of boss.

Explain situation to boss’s boss. Suggest I take interviewee up and do all the legal stuff (needed copy of passport, to do expenses, get interviewee drink etc) and then call down when done. If not back then then boss’s boss would do interview with me. If back then he would send boss up. Not ideal as boss’s boss had other meetings that afternoon but would work.

Took interviewee off, did all the legal stuff v e r y s l o w l y, decided he needed a coffee and that the best coffee machine was 2 floors away so we went and got him one. Chatted away about anything I could think of. Eventually accepted that this wasn’t going to happen and called down to boss’s boss.

2 minutes later a very red faced and perspiring boss raced in looking like he might have a coronary. It seems his car broke down so he had ran the two miles back to work. Boss was not a runner. Got boss a drink (From the nearest coffee machine - suddenly good enough after all) and told him to breathe a bit whilst I mentally tried to remember who was first aid trained in the building.

5 minutes later boss could speak again and we started the interview. 2 minutes after that boss made an expressive hand gesture and whacked a cup of coffee all over interviewee!

Any reference to being 'a family' or 'Team Workplace'- code for mandatory socialisation and guilt trips.

I went for a job where they asked me what I would do if I became friendly with a colleague and they told me they were going to throw a sicky from work.

I'm not a bull shitter so I said diplomatically as far as I'm concerned it's none of my business, my responsibilities are to be good at my job and I would avoid becoming involved with colleague's work issues and ask them to not tell me in future.

They were horrified I said that. It was like I'd failed basic interview performance. I could have lied and said I'd grass them up but I wouldn't want to work somewhere with that level of snooping and clearly a problem with staff bunking off.

I don't think the "correct" answer there was that you'd "grass" but I would expect to to counsel against Mike.

@FinnyStory they pretty much said my loyalty should always be with the company and you should inform them immediately. Urgh. They called me a couple of months later to see if I wanted the job.

So would you also turn a blind eye to a colleague stealing, essentially the same thing?

Stealing is different than a sicky.
They could literally wake up next day and ve genuinely sick.
I would have said i'd advise them not to but wouldn't grass them up. Snitches get stitches
Its up to the employer to monitor sick leave and make any necessary checks.

@MySweatyPie I had that Q a few months ago for a promotion that I went for - I said that I’d talk to the colleague about it, and if it transpired that they had wider emotional needs then I’d listen, empathise, ask how I could support them/encourage them to talk to their line manager to put support in place. Also that it would be a difficult balancing act but that company procedures for sickness would take over if it became frequent. It’s a really tricky Q and I understand why you gave that response as it can feel uncomfortable when someone makes you part of knowing something like that! Just in case you ever get asked again - although if they were saying that company loyalty overrides it then that would’ve been useless! My job is in nursing, so it worked well to discuss that someone had put their trust in me when they were feeling vulnerable and try to put support in place to help them before the situation escalated.

I went for a retail management job where the job person spec was all about wanting someone with a creative flair to inject new ideas in the store...

Went to the interview full of excitement and ideas how I could help push the store further.. to basically be told they want someone to keep the store exactly how it is as it already performs so well..

I also mentioned social media being used to reach further customers, promotion for the store and was told categorically their stores do not have social media.. except quite a few of their stores do have very good social media as I did my research, but didn't want to argue with the interviewer.

I didn't get the job, but was relieved as I don't think I wanted it after that.

Indeed reviews are a red flag to me, after I ignored sooo many bad ones about my previous employer, I had a bad feeling since the moment I read them but didn't listen to that feeling.

High staff turnover and frequently advertising the same roles should be a red flag too IMO.

I got offered a job at a car dealership as a service advisor. Everything appeared great at the interview, nice ppl, nice dealership

I was told the contract would be in the post. I had to ring twice to chase it up. That alone should have been a big enough alarm bell for me

Unfortunately I was looking for a new job in no more than a month. It was an awful place, the way customers were treated and kept in the dark/ignored was unbelievable. I think I ended up staying for around eight months, I was so relieved when I was offered another job. Ppl actually came up to me and said I don't blame you leaving, even the Sales manager!

Soon after I left the service manager and workshop controller were sacked and the other advisor quit through stress

Being interviewed by a manager who couldn’t raise his eyes from my breasts. I should have run a mile but I was young and so grateful I was offered the job. I left 2 months later, it was a dreadful place to work, and that manager was an arrogant wanker who was entirely up his own arse.