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* Nobody is chatting in the office. Everyone is heads down, working.
* They demand your salary range, but refuse to tell you theirs. (power trippes)
* They say there is no salary range - they're lying. Finance won't approve a blank check for any role
* They chuckle when you mention work-life balance (workaholic alert!)
Biggest ones I've seen are out of control HR, jerking around candidates and pushing all kinds of junk science like those awful psychometric tests or various trendy/gimmicky interviewing techniques or the worst I've seen giving candidates' assignments to do which have nothing to do with job duties. I've abandoned several hiring processes due to off leash HR bimbos.
There were signs of that at my current job but my last job was so awful I wasn't too picky and overlooked it. The HR department is absolutely insufferable with the junk science they buy from Korn Ferry and then inflict on the workers. I've used PTO to get out of some, and try to go through the motions to do the minimum to comply but they are by far the number one stressor at work.
There’s high turnover for a specific position or positions and you’re given vague explanations about why. Big red flag, it’s always a poor working environment or unrealistic performance expectations.
"Fast paced" = One of three things: Sorely understaffed, chaotic workflow, or a sales team that always overpromises. Or maybe a toxic combination of all three.
"We're more like a family" = Uh oh. That means you're going to have to go above and beyond without any reasonable expectation of commensurate pay out of some mysterious, almost feudal code of family honor. The CEO will make all kinds of boneheaded decisions that everybody has to live with. It also means that you'll have to endlessly socialize with other staff members. And, by the way, your mom and dad aren't going to fire you from the family.
"Visionary leadership" = You have a CEO with severe ADHD who is constantly pulling random stuff out of his ass at 3:30 pm on Friday, wanting to see it on his desk by 9 a.m. Monday.
"We have a [basketball court/pinball machine in the breakroom/other random amenities]" = If you're ever actually caught using those before 8 pm at night, you'll hear about it in your next employee review.
"Start up opportunity" = Not only are we starved for cash, but the owner was too stupid to ask the bank for a decent line of credit when asking for the small business loan.
"We are looking for committed individuals" = Hope you like working weekends.
"In six months, you'll see opportunities open up for promotion" = You will die at the same oars that were issued to you the day you boarded this slave ship.
"You are empowered to make your own decisions" = In other words, we are throwing all responsibility in your lap and will endlessly nitpick your decisions, even if it was the right one
"Close-knit office" = The president is banging half the women who work there.
"We like to support our community'" = You will be shanghaied into building houses for Habitat for Humanity at least 2-3 weekends a year.
"We are a faith-based company" = Hoo boy. First, every single word you say will be parsed to see how it measures up to someone's inner moral code. You'll start staff meetings with prayers and face relentless pressure to attend Bible study on your lunch hour. In conversations by the water cooler, you'll be asked about where you go to church as if it's their damned business. And, if it isn't whatever fundamentalist Church of What's Happening Now your boss and his minions attend, you'll always be on the outside looking in. Speaking of, buoyed by his sense of self-preening righteousness, the CEO will make decisions regarding pay and benefits that would make Ebeneezer Scrooge look up and say, "Damn, that's cold." Yet, he'll periodically have to take his laptop off to get debugged from whatever porn site he likes to visit when the doors are closed to his office.
"The customer is always right" = "We desperately need your business and we'll suck your d*ck to get it."
Absolutely nailed it!!!
My one job had every one of those scenarios, I still raised an eyebrow when they said "we are like family", I seriously was thinking- Like what? The Manson Family??
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.
I agree that culture shouldn't be top-down defined. I've seen so many places where HR tried to define the culture, never seeming to realize that you can't make the company fit your marketing pitch, it's the other way around. A good culture is usually self-evident in your interactions with your interviewers.
A messy office is a red flag for me too--I don't mean one desk I mean the whole office. When the room you interview in feels like a hoarder's delight, I've found it's a sign that the whole company is in disarray.
A company that is constantly advertising open jobs is not good. It doesn't mean they are in growth mode, it means they are in churn mode.
Agreed. One of the best companies I ever worked for never had a "mission statement." The mission was obvious -- hire well qualified employees, train and treat them well.
"Fast paced" = One of three things: Sorely understaffed, chaotic workflow, or a sales team that always overpromises. Or maybe a toxic combination of all three.
"We're more like a family" = Uh oh. That means you're going to have to go above and beyond without any reasonable expectation of commensurate pay out of some mysterious, almost feudal code of family honor. The CEO will make all kinds of boneheaded decisions that everybody has to live with. It also means that you'll have to endlessly socialize with other staff members. And, by the way, your mom and dad aren't going to fire you from the family.
"Visionary leadership" = You have a CEO with severe ADHD who is constantly pulling random stuff out of his ass at 3:30 pm on Friday, wanting to see it on his desk by 9 a.m. Monday.
"We have a [basketball court/pinball machine in the breakroom/other random amenities]" = If you're ever actually caught using those before 8 pm at night, you'll hear about it in your next employee review.
"Start up opportunity" = Not only are we starved for cash, but the owner was too stupid to ask the bank for a decent line of credit when asking for the small business loan.
"We are looking for committed individuals" = Hope you like working weekends.
"In six months, you'll see opportunities open up for promotion" = You will die at the same oars that were issued to you the day you boarded this slave ship.
"You are empowered to make your own decisions" = In other words, we are throwing all responsibility in your lap and will endlessly nitpick your decisions, even if it was the right one
"Close-knit office" = The president is banging half the women who work there.
"We like to support our community'" = You will be shanghaied into building houses for Habitat for Humanity at least 2-3 weekends a year.
"We are a faith-based company" = Hoo boy. First, every single word you say will be parsed to see how it measures up to someone's inner moral code. You'll start staff meetings with prayers and face relentless pressure to attend Bible study on your lunch hour. In conversations by the water cooler, you'll be asked about where you go to church as if it's their damned business. And, if it isn't whatever fundamentalist Church of What's Happening Now your boss and his minions attend, you'll always be on the outside looking in. Speaking of, buoyed by his sense of self-preening righteousness, the CEO will make decisions regarding pay and benefits that would make Ebeneezer Scrooge look up and say, "Damn, that's cold." Yet, he'll periodically have to take his laptop off to get debugged from whatever porn site he likes to visit when the doors are closed to his office.
"The customer is always right" = "We desperately need your business and we'll suck your d*ck to get it."
LOL! I always laugh at the ping-pong table and all of the like. It's there to collect dust. Yeah, it looks "cool" and hip that they are there, but like you said, if you're caught playing one of them you're screwed. If you have time to play it, the boss will think shouldn't you be using that time to work? All in all, it's just BS to try to attract people to suffer there.
* Nobody is chatting in the office. Everyone is heads down, working.
* They demand your salary range, but refuse to tell you theirs. (power trippes)
* They say there is no salary range - they're lying. Finance won't approve a blank check for any role
* They chuckle when you mention work-life balance (workaholic alert!)
I've been self-employed for thirty years. However, there have been a few times where I needed to work in my client's office for several weeks at a time.
The foolproof indicator is energy in the halls. If the atmosphere is lively, then okay. No workplace is perfect, but if people seem to be in reasonably good spirits, then it's a good indication of a company that actually cares about its employees. If, on the other hand, things are quiet and the employees have this vaguely hunted look about them, then you know it's a hellhole.
One other thing. You know things are going south in a marriage when one or both feel the need to talk constantly about how great their marriage is. It's essentially trying to convince themselves. If a company yaps on and on about its corporate culture, you know they are doing some serious overcompensating.
A red flag is when none of the interviews are actually in the office building. There is something there or a vibe they don't want you to see. I too agree on the "culture" thing. Any organization touting or pushing "culture" is wasting their time and yours. You either have culture or don't--it isn't something you can create. On the other hand, lack of culture is fine, as long as you don't need that. I have worked lots of jobs, and some have had a good natural culture, others have had a forced, unpleasant culture, and others have had no culture but were fine places to work. You went in, did your job, went home and lived your own culture. A big red flag is when they don't tell you anything about compensation up front or near the beginning of the process. I have wasted my time and theirs with quite a few job applications when it turned out the company wanted to pay less than the market rate for some particular job. One thing I really like in the nonprofit world is that many organizations state up front what the pay range is, and they are often very open about what everybody gets paid. Another red flag is how the communication is from the employer, and how they go about setting up the interview and follow ups. You can tell a lot about a company by how the office manager or the HR manager talks to you and how they interact with you. If you don't like the communication, be wary.
My one job had every one of those scenarios, I still raised an eyebrow when they said "we are like family", I seriously was thinking- Like what? The Manson Family??
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.
Sorry...but who wears clogs to any job interview where they honestly expect to make a good impression? Hate to tell you this, but when it comes to landing a great job, your appearance speaks loud and clear about you. You can have an impeccable resume, but not get past the initial phase because of the way you present yourself. You don’t have to agree with that or even like it, but it’s the truth.
I threw up red flags all over my interview, and STILL got the position! LOL!
Was there 5 years, then COVID...
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