Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To this day I mull over the level of desparation I was in to just land a job, The RED FLAGS were flying brilliantly one time! The Lady smugly said, "I refuse to hire an assistant that wears sloppy foot ware". I said, what is sloppy footware? She said, Clogs, loafers. I happen to have my Dansko clogs on. She slowly looked down and saw them, I simply said, I suppose I'm not on your list then.
Forgot about this one, but missed a bullet on this job.
Travel-required, medium-term job in downstate Virginia. At the time I lived in New England. Made it clear in the first couple of interviews that the job would need to cover travel expenses on a separate stipend (to the tune of $500 per week or so) plus my billable rate, and that I would be onsite half time (usually two weeks on, two weeks WFH). Everyone agreed.
Literally about to sign the agreement and the recruiter says, oh you still need to speak with Joe. I said, who's Joe? -- well turns out he is the direct line manager. The other dudes were colleagues in the department. That was red flag number one, that they had misrepresented the management team (I think on purpose, because Joe was such a hothead).
Joe, it turns out, has a real bee in his bonnet about travel. He wants his people on-site 5x8, every week. Mind you, this is in a small city with minimal IT talent. Red flag number two.
Then, Joe starts carping about the rate. This had already been typed and signed -- by their own recruiter -- in a contract that I was looking at while talking with Joe. He wants it reduced. Significantly. Red flag number three. I politely told Joe I was no longer interested, and he absolutely blew up. Threatening statements, "wasting their time" etc. Thank God I hadn't signed anything.
This wasn't exactly a job interview but a meeting when I was an electrical contractor. I got an e mail from a general contractor that they needed electricians for projects in the area. I called and spoke with a rep. He set me up to meet with him at 9 the following morning. He called as I was driving in, postponing to 10. Called again to postpone to 11. I hung out in a cafe nearby and went in at 11. He was called & took 30 minutes to come out. He said "If it looks like we're in chaos, it's because we are.". At least he was honest.
Normally, I would have walked out without talking with him. But I was just starting out, with no regular customers, in a bad economy. They offered minimal pay but some security in project numbers. They wanted me to cover a huge area with no travel pay at all. I refused and told them I would only cover the towns I normally went to. I wound up doing about 10 jobs for them and I was almost the only contractor who started and finished a job all through. They went through contractors like flies. Projects were never as they appeared and nearly all the customers regretted using them. I did get a few callbacks from 2 customers that liked my work.
Red flags there:
Can't even stick to an interview time.
Totally skewed procedures for the business engaged in. Disorganization on steroids.
3 years ago, I went to an electrical contactor's office with a resume. Receptionist told me I needed to call a person in Massachusetts before she could give me an application. Never saw such a thing. I called and talked with a woman who spoke almost in a computer voice. She told me to go back in for an application and come back tomorrow for an interview.
Next day, came in for interview, handed receptionist my application and resume. She gave me a questionnaire for electrical work. I completed that and she took me to an office manager. We went to his office and got on speaker phone with the woman from before. He had emailed her my application. She asked me a lot of questions that further proved she was clueless about our trade. The office guy said little, though he seemed to know the trade. Woman asked about who had supervised my previous work, that my references didn't mention it. She didn't understand that my references were customers I had worked for and that former employers were the only ones who had supervised my work. The man asked something and I said it was on my resume. He didn't have it. I went out to front desk and the receptionist said she had not given it to him. I walked out.
The most obvious red flag to me is when the workers look miserable at the place you're interviewing.
If you know a place where a lot of the employees eat lunch or stop for drinks after work, maybe good to hang out there a few days and eavesdrop on conversations. Might hear something useful.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
