🚩 Red flags that companies look out for
You might not think twice, but companies don't like them.
As a jobseeker, we just want to present the best version of ourselves. But what we think are the best versions, companies look at them from a completely different perspective. After all, mis-hires (when you hire the wrong person and have to let them go) are worse than not hiring anyone.
When I started working as a recruiter, I learned to read applications from the company’s perspective. In this issue, I’ll list out all the common red flags that companies look for in a candidate, and rank them from 🚩 to 🚩 🚩 🚩 🚩 🚩. Then I’ll explain why.
Application Review Stage
Buzzword dump: 🚩
Oftentimes, jobseekers want to dump a ton of buzzwords on their CV and make sure they cover everything that the screening software might filter for (which, is a myth — most startups don’t receive enough job applications for them to need a screening software). In reality, a human recruiter or hiring manager will read your CV. A CV with a buzzword dump not only is hard to read for our human eyes, but also makes us wonder how much of each skill are you actually capable of. This can come across as “you don’t really know what this job needs”.
What a buzzword dump looks like
Source: vault.com
Not that I doubt this person’s skill, but this for example is a mix of technical skills, interpersonal skills, awards, certifications. They are very different things! Why not split them up into separate sections to make them easier to read?
Secondly, some of these don’t make sense. “Ability to meet deadlines” is a very basic expectation for probably any employee. What type of deadlines are we talking about? “Publish 1 blogpost within 1 week” is a very different deadline from “build a whole blog by tomorrow”. This piece of information does not help me make a decision as a recruiter.
Short jobs: 🚩 🚩 🚩
This usually refers to work experiences that are shorter than a year. I personally don’t think it means anything; I have friends who were just unlucky to have worked at a few companies that all went bust one after the other. Besides, we’re going through a pandemic!
Unfortunately, when companies see short jobs, they first think “if they become an employee, they’ll leave us soon too”. A few ways to go about this:
Do nothing. If a company’s top concern is employee loyalty, maybe it means they don’t know how to retain employees. You might be dodging a bullet.
Explain why you left each job. Leave a short line at the end of the experience description. It could be an external factor, like a COVID-19 layoff, or company restructuring, or taking time off for your family. It could also be “joined the next company to specialize in X in my career”, or “took on the next role to lead a team, which was not possible in this role”.
Only write the year when you worked there, not the month. For example “Company A — 2019-2020”. This is a sneaky move that I’ve seen some people pull and it works. By removing a minor piece of information, they’re leading me to focus on the more important things on the CV, which are their actual experiences and skills. I also wrote about CV tips more in-depth in a previous issue.
Interview Stage
Empty talk: 🚩 🚩 🚩🚩
This one can feel like a speech version of the “buzzword dump” we talked about before. It’s when the candidate’s response feels very fluffy or full of BS. It could be that the candidate knows what the interviewer is asking for, but doesn’t answer the question directly or with concrete examples. It might sound something like this:
Interviewer: What’s your approach to leading a team?
Candidate: I believe it’s extremely important to be a good leader in my team. I’m always reading up leadership or management books and principles in my free time. I make sure to stay close to my team through agile meeting structures and regular 1-on-1s. I believe a good leader should be highly strategic and visionary, and lead while following the company’s mission and vision for the future.
This candidate has said a lot, but so far has to us nothing about their leadership approach. Agile meetings and 1-on-1s are very common practices for team leads that every startup probably already use. Same with “strategic” “visionary” and “following the company’s mission” — anyone can throw these words around. But what is YOUR unique approach? What makes you different and a better leader that we should hire you? Define it clearly, then back with examples.
No questions to the company: 🚩 🚩 🚩🚩
This one I get — you don’t want to come across as demanding or take too much of the interviewer’s time. But if given time to ask questions to the interviewers, you should always ask at least 3 (better if more) very specific questions. This shows your genuine curiosity for the company. It shows that you have standards and expectations for your ideal employer. Not asking any questions can seem like you’re ok with taking a job from any company, which, to the interviewers, could mean that you can be easily headhunter by other companies even when you’re hired.
Generic motivation: 🚩 🚩 🚩🚩 🚩
Whenever companies ask questions along the lines of “Why our company?”, be as specific as possible. One good way of testing if your answer’s specific or not:
Showing genuine motivation is probably the most important thing you can do to increase your chances. I also wrote about this in-depth in a previous issue, How to prepare for first interviews.
Non-committal: 🚩 🚩
Before giving any offer, the company wants to know that the offer will very likely be accepted. If the offer is not accepted, they’re wasting their time. To increase the chance of offer acceptance, the company will want to make sure every step of the way that you’ll say yes to the offer. Being non-committal as a candidate might make the company look for other options in other candidates, in case it doesn’t work out with you. Give the company some indication that you’re very interested in them.
Tell them you want them
Commitment, motivation, interest, being specific… There’s a common thread among almost all the red flags a company looks out for (this is why they say hiring is a lot like dating). They want to know that you really, really want to work with them. They know that a highly motivated person will be able to learn faster, do better, and achieve more. That’s the type of person they want building their company.
Was this helpful? Which ones are new to you? If you want to know some of my *worst* interview experiences, leave a comment and I’ll reply!