#a red flag job interview

[fulesthefirst]

Today, I interviewed at a high-up, official government place. If I get the job, I would have to go through a very serious national security screening.

Basically, I would be observed for a month, and there would be a long questionnaire about me where they would already know the correct answers, they just want to check if I'm lying. I asked for an example question, and I kid you not, the HR person chose to say this, "Well, for example, they will ask if you're gay or not". And then they tried to correct themselves by saying, "They don't care if you're gay, they just want to know if you're lying about it." 

Yeah, I still don't understand why this particular info would be relevant in a national security interrogation...

So I might actually get a government agent who has to look through my Tumblr for real. Good luck to them, I guess... Maybe they will get an eye-opening experience out of this.

[uaiwis]

Red Flags

Now we get to talk about red flags!

Red flags for a potential hire: You have a LOT of jobs listed in your job history, or you've never stayed at a job long-term. This is one of those times you may not want to list all your jobs, just the most recent few. Be prepared to speak to this - if you've been doing contract/gig work while looking for something steady, say so. If you've just been flighty or been fired a lot, make sure you're ready to spin it. 'I've been looking for a company where I can grow and in my previous position's I've gained valuable skills but found they didn't allow for any long-term growth or career planning. I'd like to change that.'

Gaps in employment history: Again, be prepared to explain this. 'I was caring for an ill loved one/family member.' 'I left the workforce while my children were young to focus on family and am excited to begin again.' 'I had an opportunity to travel, study, volunteer (although if you have a big work history gap, volunteer work could go on your resume). I feel I've learned some great skills during that time (communication, organization, time management) and look forward to putting these into use in the workforce now.'

Answers to questions that don't seem to apply to the job at hand or that dodge the question: Sometimes people do this because they don't know how to answer, and some people genuinely think that they're so smart they can outtalk a question, and an interviewer won't notice the lack of answer. Rarely is this accurate. Honesty is usually the best policy. If you don't know, make that clear, but make sure that you bring it around to a willingness to learn and it may not hurt to indicate that you're a quick learner. That said, if you're applying for something and don't know a majority of the skills/programs/requirements, you're unlikely to get the job, especially if you implied on your resume that you had those skills.

Being late or underdressed: Job interviews are a meeting, be punctual. In the same way most employers don't want you to be late for work, being late for the interview sets a bad tone for how you respect their time. Unexpected accident or something came up? Call, apologize, and be clear that you're very interested and will be just a little late or try to reschedule. Don’t babble and make a dozen excuses, being concise makes you sound more genuine. ‘I apologize, but I needed to take a friend to the emergency room. I’m very interested in this position, is it possible to reschedule?’ ‘There has been a major accident on highway XX. I apologize, but I may be a few minutes late.’ Do this as soon as you realize you'll be late or can't make it. Also, try and leave extra time for small incidents when you leave. For most jobs, an interview is fairly formal time to meet someone. Some jobs will have different expectations of what this means - some might be more fashion forward, some might be more casual or more conservative. Match the tone. If you don't know, err on the side of caution. What's acceptable or expected for a job at a fashion magazine is likely very different than a bank. A lot of first interviews are now on Zoom or a similar platform. This is still the same. If you are in a wife beater with Cheeto stains, it doesn't look like you've put in an effort or that you care. Also, for the love of everything, wear pants. I don't care if you don't think your bottom half will be on camera, when your toddler throws open the door and runs in and you go to grab them, or you reach a little farther than you expected for something or knock your computer/phone and the angle shifts - no interviewer wants to see your underwear. (I hope.) This hasn’t happened to anyone I know during an interview, but I’ve had numerous people tell me it’s happened on a zoom or video call at their work. It really isn’t worth the comfort – these types of meetings are generally short, you can change (or remove) clothes after them.

Red Flags at a Company: They refuse to disclose salary, or the salary range is insanely broad: Either this job is commission based, which you need to decide if you’re okay with, or they know this level of position pays at the upper level of what’s listed but they also know they’ve managed to low-ball someone into doing it for cheap and now they don’t want to pay more than that. I think employers should disclose salary. Period. However I will put a caveat here, I don’t agree with the philosophy that everyone in X position should make $X. If the market says this position is worth a minimum, you shouldn’t be screwing people just because they lack experience or don’t realize they should be paid more. However, if you have two employees being hired for the same position, and one has lots of experience, additional qualifications, etc., I think it’s reasonable they may be hired in at a slightly higher salary. Additionally, a decent company rewards hard work. That means at raise time, if Rebecca comes in every day on time, does all her work without issue, and Julie shows up mostly on time, but spends half of her day texting, watching YouTube (or TikTok, or whatever. I’m not cool, and I don’t know what the current addictive app is), sleeping (all things I’ve seen people doing at jobs!) and is relying on the fact that Rebecca is efficient and will keep the work caught up, it’s not unreasonable to me that at raise time Julie doesn’t get as much as Rebecca, and over time, this could add up to a very different pay band. That said, if you find a coworker is making more than you, there’s no reason an employer shouldn’t be able to speak to why. If they can’t – HUGE red flag. I do want to note that they obviously can’t tell you what another employee is making, that’s an issue, but if you’ve discussed it and you know what someone else is making, you should be able to go to an employer and say ‘I’m aware that I’m at the lower end of the pay band within our department, and I’d like to know why and what actionable things I can do to change that.’ Don’t ask about anyone else, don’t bring up names, and don’t go in emotionally.

They continually talk about their ‘family’ atmosphere. A lot of places mention this as a way to be attractive and establish a connection, but places that hammer this are usually covering up with something or have a lot of nepotism.

They’ve asked you to do free work: Unless this is an internship (which I still believe should be paid, but no one is asking me) where you’ve come in with the expectation that you will be doing this work for the experience/college credit, there is no amount of work that should be unpaid. No training period, no ‘test’ work during the interview process. If they want samples, most people in an industry where this is the norm have samples of their work – they don’t need you to do a new piece for them. A small skills demonstration in an interview is different, but anything more in depth is a red flag.

The job description is extremely vague or wide reaching. Usually this means they have needs that should be filled by multiple people that they are trying to condense down to one person. In a very small company, this might be fine, but generally, this means you’re going to be overworked and pulled in a million directions on jobs that you don’t have the experience or knowledge for, but you will be expected to figure it out.

Their interviewer sounds bored, or worse, hostile: Everyone has a bad day, so it’s POSSIBLE this is just the worst timing for your interview. Generally though, this means that they don’t enjoy their job. If they don’t enjoy their job, then it’s almost a guarantee you won’t enjoy working with/for them.

[howdoirotatetextinmspaint]

interviewing at michael's today!! i applied on tuesday for 4 different positions and when they called yesterday to ask me to come in the person specified that the position they want me to interview for is the one i was by far the most interested in 🥹. trying not to get my hopes too high but the hopes are in the corner smoking a joint so i may have already lost on that front

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

Job interview tomorrow. Posting about this one because its at a cheesecake factory so I dont care if I dont get it like it'll be fine

[fairwinds-safetravels]

[lesbeid0u]

chat be real with me. yes or no would it be a dick move to quit this job i just started a week ago

[blotlcss]

My activity is all over the place lately and im so sorry 😭

[sampilled]

Just randomly got a job interview…. Yay?

[clochanamarch]

okay i'm waiting for my coffee to kick in and then i'll be HERE!!

[ilovethecolorpink]

2 job interviews next week :O

[expatiating]

I think when you start your full-time job the morning after the first interview, it’s kind of your own fault for the shit you see and experience there

[theclearblue]

I'm not gonna take the job I interviewed for yesterday even if they call me so...time to apply to more...

[heartbreakfeelsogood-moved]

i can’t decide if i should be concerned i was called for an interview five minutes after applying or not

[archaeopterxyz]

bro.

[celestial-tapir]

fortunately I realised that even though I'd like a permanent job I'm not too anxious about getting the actual job I have the homework task for tomorrow so that will hopefully prevent any pre-emptive stress and I can regard the whole thing as a bit of interesting practice