Five Red Flags In A Job Interview - Signs of a Bad Employer

if you're watching this video chances are you had a recent interview and maybe you're not getting the warm and fuzzies about whether or not they're going to be a good fit for you and you should be wary as i talked about on this channel before solid employees should be very selective in the roles that they take after all one bad employer can set you back years in your career and as a corporate recruiter i'm going to share with you five major red flags in interviews that should send you running actually you know what make that seven red flags as you do any level of interviewing chances are you're going to encounter poor quality jobs and poor quality employers so it pays literally to know how to spot those bad jobs and poor employers before you ever even get to the interview and if you take your career seriously knowing how to spot those bad employers is going to pay dividends throughout the rest of your career after all you should be interviewing the employer as much if not more than the employer is interviewing you because if you're going to be considered a superstar candidate you need to be in the driver's seat in fact interviewing the very best candidates in my career it did feel like they were interviewing me more than the other way around if you're struggling in your job search that's something that i specialize in i've got a website called a lifeafterlayoff.com it is loaded with tips and tricks on how to land your dream job it's all from an insider's perspective i've also got a training called the ultimate layoff boot camp it takes you from cradle to grave through an entire corporate hiring process this is all from the recruiter's perspective i teach you how to ace each step of the process and ultimately land your dream job something to consider i'll leave a link below so let's talk about some of those major red flags that you should be keeping your eyes on for when you're in an interview red flag number one is pretty obvious it's asking illegal questions there are certain questions that are completely off limits in an interview setting anything related to race gender sex creed color any of that stuff but what does that actually mean in an interviewing setting so in the course of an interview if an employer asks you are you planning to start a family that's actually a discriminatory question and why is that a discriminatory question because that has no bearing on how you can do your job what they're essentially trying to dig for is whether or not they're going to have to pay for maternity or paternity leave they might also assume that by leaving on maternity or paternity that you're not going to have long-term commitment to the role so essentially it's just assumptions you also can't be asked about things like religion so say you're arabian descent and the interviewer assumes that you must be muslim if they start asking you questions about whether or not you're going to need time off each day to go and pray that is actually illegal as well again those questions need to be job-specific and related to your ability to perform the job another question that's commonly brought up in interviews that actually is illegal in a lot of states is the question around compensation specifically what your last compensation was you see a lot of states have now legislated that you can't ask that question in an interview and the reason being is that you should be paid what the job is worth and what value you bring to the table not what you were previously paid by an employer if you are unfortunate enough to get stuck in a low-paying job you shouldn't be tarnished with that and have that follow you throughout the rest of your career and while it's true that a majority of hiring managers have very limited interview training it doesn't excuse the illegal questions even if they simply didn't know it was illegal it's still not appropriate so if an employer asks you any of these illegal questions that's considered a major red flag the second red flag is the job doesn't match the description so maybe you applied to a particular position and you read the job description and it sounded like a really great fit then when you get into the actual interview and you start talking to the hiring manager all of a sudden the job seems to have shifted to something completely different or maybe in the beginning of that role they envision you working on something that's completely unrelated to what the job title is and then they promise you if you work here for six months or nine months we're going to shift you into the job that you actually apply for any of those things are considered major red flags the chances of you actually moving into the job that was advertised is very slim because poor quality employers typically use that bait and switch tactic to get people in the door and if there's an obvious disconnect between what the hiring manager is expecting and what the external job advertisement says then you're going to be running into a lot more problems if you take that job because low quality employers tend to hide the undesirable aspects of the job or maybe sugar coat them but either way it's a bad job and you don't want it red flag number three is expectations not aligning with the compensation this one is quite common unfortunately when you read the job description they're asking for a level of experience or responsibility that is far beyond what they're willing to truly pay for and it often is accompanied by unrealistic expectations of what's achievable in order to meet the expectations of the job your work-life balance is going to completely suffer say for example you're interviewing for a manager's level role you've done that role in the past in a small department and a large corporation they're asking you to run a department that's twice as big and has even more responsibility but when you actually get down to the compensation piece they're actually trying to pay you thirty thousand dollars less than what you should be earning you see low quality employers are low quality for a reason they aren't willing to pay fair market wage and they're often expecting too much in return for sub-par compensation and benefits oftentimes they're going to dangle a carrot just in front of you that you'll never reasonably achieve maybe their trips to exotic locations maybe it's a company car that you can earn or maybe a large bonus that's promised to you if you reach certain milestones but they know and you know that it's realistically never going to be achieved or if it is it's a very small percentage of people that achieve it and often what's accompanied with that is a high level of micromanaging poor work communication and a high level of stress and often what accompanies these players is the next red flag high turnover rates and it's pretty obvious a poor quality employer is going to have a tough time hanging on to good employees you can usually spot the high turnover by asking the simple question of why is this position open to begin with if they don't have a good valid reason for it or if they admit the people who are there before them were either terminated or they left on their own accord they have to explain why that was now you're also going to want to cross-reference with glassdoor because it's a great resource now keeping in mind that on glassdoor people tend to review when they're upset about something so you have to take a little bit of a grain of salt but what you're really looking for is a common thread throughout the glassdoor reviews they're always saying that you're highly micromanaged and you never receive your bonuses chances are that's a cultural thing and you need to make sure you're asking the right questions in the interview and if a company has a reputation for laying people off or firing people at a moment's notice that's something to think about as well finally if people are just leaving the company on their own accord because they say it's such a poor work culture or the pay is subpar that's also something to look at so read between the lines look at what the glass door says and ask the right questions in the interview to try to avoid a poor quality employer red flag number five is the company not being funded now one of the things you can look at is longevity of the company how long it's been around there might be some legitimate reasons why a company hasn't been around very long maybe it's a tech startup and they've got an exciting new product even reputable startups have the proper funding in order to pay their employees what they're worth because if they're bootstrapped for funding and they say hey we simply can't afford to pay you more than this then that's a red flag they're going to be bootstrapped on everything else and the chances of them succeeding as a business are going to be very slim and the company seems to have popped up overnight that's another thing to look at what does their website look like are there any press releases on there that you can track down is a little generic speak in stock photos does it have a legitimate business address does it have multiple locations that you can physically visit if it's in your area you might even want to drive by just to make sure that yeah there's actually people working in that office or does it look like they have the proper resources to go after the business markets that they're pursuing because if they're gonna ask you to provide your own equipment for the job that's a major red flag solid companies are gonna pay for your training your expenses your equipment your transportation and your software costs red flag number six is a company that has abnormally high response rates and you might think hey that's great they get back to a lot of their candidates but there's actually a red flag associated with that most major corporations in reputable major corporations have a very selective review process we may only call five percent or less of the applicants that apply for our positions so if you come across a company that responds to the 75 percent or more of the candidates that apply why is that those companies usually have to play a numbers game because they realize that their opportunity really isn't that solid and as we all know the throwing it at the wall approach to hiring only gets you desperate employees that won't stick around red flag number seven is being asked to do free work in most states doing free work is actually illegal everything from internships to contracted work you actually have to be paid or compensated a fair market wage for what you're providing so if an employer asks you to put together a presentation or solve a business case for them you need to ask the question of what is this going to do to help your business now if it's a generic case study they just want to see how you operate under certain high pressure situations that's one thing but if they're actually handing you legitimate business work that they need done that's another thing and that's a major red flag because particularly unscrupulous companies have been known to put people through interviewing processes and then ask them to put together a case study on a business situation that they're experiencing and once the interview is over they'll send you on your way but keep that work that you did so unless you're asked to prepare something that's non-value added to the company you really need to ask that question why are you asking me to do this and i personally know some people that have actually gone through processes that were legitimate they actually put together a business case study for how they would solve a generic business problem and it was actually a good exercise in the interviewing process but if you're being asked to do something like this and it's coupled with other red flags that you're seeing buyer beware as a job seeker it can be easy to fall into desperation mode and accept just any position that comes along but there are some positions out there that just need to be avoided and by approaching your career with strategy you're going to put yourself into a position where you're never going to have to accept a subpar job ever again hey if you found value in this video i'd appreciate a thumbs up that actually helps other people find the content that they need in their job search and while you're at it make sure you hit the subscribe button because i'm bringing out weekly content on how to land your dream job you're not going to want to miss a post i appreciate you watching and we will see you in the next one

Channel: A Life After Layoff

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Keywords: five red flags in a job interview, 5 red flags in interviews, hiring red flags, how to answer illegal interview questions, how to deal with micromanagers, illegal interview questions, illegal interview questions to watch out for, illegal questions in job interviews, interview red flags, job interview red flags, potential employer red flags, questions interviewers cant ask, red flags for job seekers, micromanaging boss, interview warning signs, signs of a bad employer

Id: 2seM0fahBx4

Length: 9min 41sec (581 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 09 2020