We gotta get up and get to work, that is the fact of life for most of us. Finding a job can be difficult for various reasons, and discouraging job searches are more common than we like to think. While we are eager to find a job, be it for the career progression or to get that bread (or both), it is important to remember than the potential employer is not only interviewing you - you are also interviewing them!

Do not pander or accept nonsense. While they may be in the position of power for the most part, there are some red flags to watch out for when you’re interviewing with potential employers. These are important indicators of the kind of place/person you’ll be joining, especially if good relations and/or culture at work are important to you.

Liner has experienced many terrible interviews with red flags, and I have had the (mis)fortune of having experienced several of those red flags in a single interview. Other than objective things you’d curate when considering a job (benefits, pay, how they describe the culture, etc.), these are some red flags in interviewers that we feel are important, in no particular order. This could be especially meaningful if your direct boss or primary colleague(s) are interviewing you.

1. “We have another candidate who…”

I understand that employers are actively comparing candidates but they should really keep it to themselves. This isn’t the damn Hunger Games, your interviewer shouldn’t be pitting you against an unknown candidate by actively comparing you negatively. If your interviewer tells you about how another candidate is more favourable over you, that’s just unnecessary. “Oh, another candidate did this better.” "Oh, another candidate is perfect for this job actually.” If they’re so impressed with the other candidate, hire them! Why waste your time?

Nothing can come of telling you that another candidate was better, other than hurting your confidence. Perhaps some people see it as a motivation to do better, which is entirely possible, but I would think that motivation rarely comes without the sting. I think it’s just mean.

2. They expect you to know everything about their company

You’re expected to do some preliminary research on the company, at the very least to know if you’re even interested in being their employee. It would be good to find out about their corporate structure or how successful they are or their niche areas. However, I don’t think it should be something that necessitates competition. You shouldn’t have to be able to recite the year they set up in your country and the intimate details of their intangible assets. That’s what the interview is for! So you can learn more about them, too! It’s even worse when they tell you how “another candidate” did that in-depth research. *rolls eyes*

3. They make you do work for free at the interview

There’s a line between ‘testing’ your capabilities and making you do work for them for free. An examiner doesn’t ask you a question when they don’t have the answer. Sometimes it becomes clear from situation that they are just getting free advice/work from you! I know someone who basically gave free legal advice in an interview because they clearly did not know what they were doing anyway. In one of my interviews, I was also asked to solve something, and later learned (when I went home and checked) that they hadn’t been able to solve it for themselves either! They were using candidates to help solve what they couldn’t, and under the guise of ‘testing’ capabilities. Not cool, man.

4. They expect you to know something specific to the one specialised role

I guess this is more applicable to those who are less experienced in the specialised area for which you’re interviewing - like if you’re new to the working world or doing a career switch. If they have a special software, for example, that is only ever used for their specific use in their specific industry, used only by people in this specific role, and then they give you shit for not being proficient in it… fuck ‘em. It’s clear from your resume that you’ve obviously never worked in that specific role before or done something that required learning the software. it’s ridiculous to be shocked. It’s not like you won’t be able to learn on the job - they knew what they were getting when they called you down for the interview.

5. They question your childhood grades

Personally, I think this is extremely unnecessary and irrelevant. If I have a Bachelors and Masters, why the fuck do they care if I got an A1 or an A2 in English for my GCSE ‘O’ Levels a decade ago? No, literally. My interviewer asked why my GCSE results weren’t with the things I gave and I was confused because, you know, I have 2 fuckin’ degrees why do you care. So he asked for my results anyway, which I could barely remember. Asking for an A or B is one thing, but I said “A“ and he literally asked “A1 or A2?” IT DOES NOT FUCKING MATTER. Yeah, steer clear from these places. It doesn’t even matter if it was the interviewer’s bullshit or if it was HR policy - in fact all the more egregious if it’s the HR policy isn’t it? Why work for a company like that?

These are the key red flags that I feel can apply less subjectively to other candidates out there. There are many other things I personally found fucked up, but these are probably far more subjective and specific to my own circumstances. I’ll share a bit anyway lest there’s someone out there in a similar position. I’ll put this as a 6th red flag.

6. They are assholes

My Bachelors and Masters degrees are completely unrelated. In my career, I started from the bottom (lack of relevant qualification & experience) - I began as a secretary. I’m in the midst of working my way up. My interviewer held these things against me and I didn’t know why he bothered to call me down for an interview (maybe to see if I could solve their open problem?) and waste both our time. He questioned the switch between Bachelors and Masters (17yo and 25yo - a lot can happen in those years, man, these are years of rapid self-growth) and appeared to take some issue with it and accused me of not knowing what I wanted and said I was all over the place, also referencing some other certifications I had accumulated over the many years. I was honestly offended because I know what I want, and everything after my Bachelors went in the same general trajectory. He was also quick to tell me “this is what you do every day in this industry” whenever there was anything that might potentially be difficult for me or that I didn’t have additional academic achievements to support me. What kind of shitty intimidation tactic is that?

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I was a shitty candidate (again, why call me down? I took leave for this shit). Maybe I’m just sensitive.

Either way, these red flags made up a collection of terrible interview experiences Liner and I have gone through. If you do have the luxury of choice, don’t settle for a company/boss who shows any of these red flags. A job is not worth your self-confidence and self-respect.