What would be the one thing that put you off hiring someone?

[greyrabbits]

Of all the things that would put you off giving someone a job, what’s the one thing that’s a definite no thanks.

When I asked a question & the reply was directed at my DH !

Stating their pronouns.

Not knowing anything about our company.

Being late without a good reason.

I mean this very truthfully- if you are a hiring manager, I hope you get fired.

Voting Reform.

Back in the day when you could ask such questions, one boss I had used to ask what newspaper the candidate read?

Women could give any answer and be OK. Any bloke who replied "Daily Mail" had automatically failed his interview.

Surely that poster meant visible tattoos? In what way could covered tattoos offend a potential client / patient / customer? That’s like saying “How do you know I haven’t dyed my pubic hair blue?”

Illiterate CV. Knowing nothing about the role. Once worked for an organisation where we were interviewing for three different roles (needing a few people for each) on the same day on the same site. Three different buildings, three sets of people doing the interviewing. Found some bloke looking lost and offered to help. Said he was here for an interview so asked for which role so I could show him to the right place. Said he didn't know. Still didn't know after telling him what the three possibilities were. He wasn't young either. Made sure the interviewers knew that.

No it isn’t.

If we're being picky "Gender" isn't, but Gender Reassignment and Sex are.

So ask before the interview.

this is a thread about what puts interviewers off candidates

not a thread about what’s important to candidates.

I get that things like annual leave are important. They are important to me too.

my. advice (as someone who has interviewed 100s over the years) stands. of course you don’t need to take it.

Use the interview for questions about the role and culture and deal with t&cs either in advance or at negotiation stage.

Pronouns on the CV wouldn’t even make it to interview.

How likely is that going to come up in an interview?

If I had 2 equal candidates I would take:

• non smoker over the smoker
• non political over gobby, whether that be left/right/gender ideology/vegan whatever. Don't care if they are any of these things, as long as they don't go on about it at work. It makes others uncomfortable.
• non offensive over offensive whether that be stinky BO or breath, racist, sexist, ablist etc.

I don't care about appearance unless a client facing role.

I absolutely care that the person is not racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, stinking of BO or cigarettes or weed etc and will not be a major disruption to the team.
I'd rather a "transphobic" person than a
gender ideoligist who polices everyone's language constantly.

But rarely are candidates equal.

A friend of mine was hiring for a security
job

A chap showed up for interview and started banging on about the fact he'd been on the Jeremy kyle show

My poor friend got chapter and verse about how this lad was the father but 'its ok,I don't see the sprog and i font see why i should pay'

My friend turned him down,telling him to leave the Jeremy kyle part out of any interviews going forward and got threatened by the lad

At my work,they interviewed a lad who told them that they where doing 'a shit job' and that 'the company will fall apart without me'

We are that short staffed,they hired him and hes been an insufferable pain in the arse since-I've been doing my job since he was in primary school,if he tells me one more time how to do my job,I will strangle him

And the manager who did hire him left as soon as he started so doesn't have to suffer like the rest of us

Is that for real? Would it be the same if someone was wearing lots of diamonds?

I’ve never heard anyone claim this before. Where I work you would absolutely not get hired if you had a visible tattoo. I imagine a lot of work places are the same. There are still so many stuffy corporate organisations in 2025 (I work at one).

Generic answer to a generic question - obviously, exceptions happen - but unexplained gaps in the CV, or frequent job changes are a red flag. In my experience, both indicate unreliability or a sense of denial around personal responsibility.

Finding out he has been done for possessing images of CSA on his computer.

I once interviewed someone who disclosed that he'd need an afternoon off each week to meet with his probation officer. Which might have been ok (I believe in potential for rehabilitation). But when I googled him I discovered he had a very recent conviction for possession of (vast quantities of) child porn.

Nope nope nope.

Zero passion.

Absolutely this. I had the misfortune of working alongside somebody like this in the nhs. She spent more time arguing about not doing this or that and never helped out colleagues despite being helped by others.

I think poor personal hygiene might have been preferable in some ways, awful as it is!

Spooky cross -post!

Over confidence
Criticising past employer
Being overly familiar
Being unprepared
Stating pronouns
Identifying as trans
Blue hair
Face tattoos
Face piercings
Obesity

It’s not being picky, it’s being accurate. Half the mess we’re in on this front is people not understanding what the protected characteristics actually are. Or thinking that gender and sex are just interchangeable words for the same thing.

Somebody who has pronouns……give me strength.

This definitely for me.