“What’s The Biggest Red Flag You’ve Ever Seen In A Job Interview?” (36 Examples)

I did an interview few years ago. It went really well on my end. At the end, I got the opportunity to ask 3 questions. I asked 3 very simple questions about work and team. But the manager for the team I was interviewing for refused outright to answer my questions which was unbelievable. Another manager (higher) stepped and answered my 3 questions very easily. That was a major red flag. I took the job and it turned out the team manager that didn't answer questions proved difficult to work with and a complete control freak.

They called me at 20:00. I missed the call because I had no reception in that parking lot. They left a voicemail saying „Call us back.“

I called them back and they said, „Because you didn’t immediately answer your phone, we’ve decided not to continue with your application. We need people we can rely on.“ lol.

I asked if there would be formal training on their computer system, and the interviewer looked at me like I was an idiot. “Of course there will be training. There’s always training at a new job.” She said it so condescendingly.

The last two jobs I was at had no training. They just sat you next to someone to watch them work. I wanted to correct her assumption but didn’t waste my breath. This was obviously a place I would not want to work.

Went for a lead role and the manager wanted to pay me as a lead but not make official, I was to follow the current lead for a while to pick up all I could then they would fire her and then make me lead.

POS manager, POS company.

Got invited to an interview at a local branch location by the central corporate office. When I showed up there, noone at the branch knew anything about an interview and the manager wasn't even in that day. They told me to come back the next day when the manager would be in. When I arrived at the same time the next day, the manager told me she had just hired someone else for the position.

The whole team was so excited about bringing me on board! I thought that was a good thing until I saw the actual situation. Everyone was extremely overextended. The company has finally agreed to one new low level team member. However, what they needed were five more people, not one. They expected hiring one person would solve all the team's problems, and when I didn't I got s**t for it.

The lady told me about how employees can and should make comment cards about other employees when they do things we don’t like so they can have meetings to solve the issues. She said “it sounds like tattling but it’s not lol. Well a little lol but don’t look at it like that. Do you have any questions” “yeah, can you tell me what my job would entail?” Like I was f*****g shocked and grateful she dropped that comment card card thing on my right away. Literally before anything even about the job I was applying for lol.

There are just so many red flags in the recruitment process, but one thing I've been noticing lately is particularly concerning for remote positions: when they ask you to complete a test that requires creating a long piece of content. I've experienced this twice, and afterward, the recruiter simply disappeared. I feel that some recruiters may be using this tactic to collect free ideas, so I've decided not to participate in these types of assessments anymore.

Apart from this, other red flags include:

* They make you wait for a long time
* The office doesn't look good and the people don't look happy
* They are unfriendly in the interview
* They ask you stupid questions like "How do you see yourself 5 years from now?".

I had an interview at a coffee shop instead of the office. And they didn’t want to call it an “interview” but just getting to know each other (should’ve been my first clue).

Anyway the first day I saw the office was on my first day, it was over a cigar shop and my office smelt like cigars all day long that it started giving me regular headaches. It looked like they had just moved in with lights not working/nothing hung on the walls.

When I asked if they just moved in, they said no they’ve been there for years. Ended up being one of the most toxic environments I ever worked.

They were bothered I didn't have immediate access to high school transcripts while I pointed out I have a Masters degree.

He kept asking me when did I really f**k something up, what makes me explode at work, why me being organised would lead to issues (because of course it has to have something f****d up) basically was a whole hour of what's wrong with you. Felt like a very weird psychological evaluation. In the middle the scientific interviewer kept asking why I was in 2 programs that have woman in the title (digitalisation and mentoring programs) and why that must mean that I am a radical feminist and so on ...

I had an interview in another time zone so got up early to prepare, have coffee, have breakfast, go for a walk, review my notes, etc.

Show up on the zoom call early, nobody joins. Stay on for maybe 20-30 more minutes hoping that they were just running late. Still nothing. I had to find their HQ number and call in to request to talk to the HR person and they just forgot and had to reschedule.

I got the job and it ended up being disorganized (shocker), but one of the coolest jobs I've ever had, so no regrets.

I was told midway through an on-site (by someone in leadership) that I probably wasn’t getting the job. It seemed rude to just walk out so I figured I’d get some practice and finish out the day. Afterwards they sent me an offer. I think either one guy didn’t want to hire me and was trying to throw me off, or they say this to everyone to gauge their response.

Changing the role I was interviewing for half way through the interview should have been that red flag unfortunately It was right at the start of my career. The job changed every week I was there and they never followed through with any of their contractually agreed requirements including pay (they had a collective agreement that outlined pay scale quite clearly that was changed through union negotiations half way through my employment, they decided not to honour it. I decided to tell them to shove it)

I now work externally as a stakeholder in their business and see them regularly.

I had a supervisor tell people she "rubbed people the wrong way" in an interview. I left shortly after that. We were re-organized and put in her group and I couldn't even stand her for 2 months after being at the company 10 years.

I was doing a mock QBR, and one of the interviewers, who would have been my boss, started yelling objections, literally yelling, and abruptly left the Zoom in the middle of me talking. I was told it was a test because "that's how QBR's go.".