Red flags for jobs

[reenasunshine]

I'm job hunting after a disastrous last job which I had to quit, and looking back on that, it took them ages to process my onboarding and they seemed very disorganised, which only went on to get worse. I've been offered an interview somewhere else which I'm worried could be similar. This has made me think, are there 'red flags' when looking out for a new job, which I can use to look out for? Don't want to make the same mistake again.

No asleep in adverts, we will tell you at interview. How you supposed to know whether you can afford it?

salary not asleep

Tbh the biggest thing I try and look out for is some sort of clues as to the culture of the company. I don’t want to ever work anywhere again that want you to forget you have a home life as soon as you walk through the door. But I’m not sure what the red flags are for that, it’s just trying to get a sense of these thing.

salary not asleep

True, because you've then got to ask the salary at interview which is awkward

Tbh the biggest thing I try and look out for is some sort of clues as to the culture of the company. I don’t want to ever work anywhere again that want you to forget you have a home life as soon as you walk through the door.

Thanks, that's the worry, will I get a sense of it beforehand or is it just luck. The last job, the boss seemed lovely and charming at interview so I thought it'd be a friendly place to work, then as soon as I was in he turned out to be moody and awful and the workplace was the worst bitchiest place I've ever been! Also it was part time but there were no boundaries and it felt like they expected me to be available 24/7 and the boss would send Whastapp messages all the time.

bump

I never apply for jobs if:

They list 28 days holiday (including bank holidays) as a perk. That's a legal requirement, not a perk.

They list staff socials as a benefit. That's team building to benefit the company, not me.

They take the staff on holiday together. Just no.

They say the company culture is like 'a big family.'

There is something in the job advert along the lines of 'the company is going through some exciting changes'. Those 'exciting changes' are probably due to something unstable and that's probably why they're having to recruit...

True, because you've then got to ask the salary at interview which is awkward

its not so much that it’s awkward, but that it could a complete waste of time if I wouldn’t work for what they want to pay. Why hide something as important as the wages?

At an interview, a huge red flag is when they can't give you some concrete examples of what the job involves, especially if it's a new position. If they say they want you be "proactive" and "make it your own" it's usually because there isn't anywhere near as much work to do as they think, and they'll end up blaming you for not doing anything.

Also be wary of anyone who spends the entire interview going on and on and on and on and on and on and on about how amazing the person who's leaving is. You'll never be able to match up to them. That happened to me once and thank goodness they didn't offer me the job. It was advertised again a few months later.

Thanks to you all Very helpful and lots here I hadn't considered.