Hiring Managers Share The Biggest Red Flags They've Ever Seen During An Applicant's Interview
Interviews are a vital part of the hiring process.
Not only do they give you a chance to learn what the office environment is like, it gives the office time to get to know if you're a good fit. That's a huge part of a hiring managers job.
One Reddit user asked:
Hiring managers of Reddit, what are some red flags you've gotten during an interview/on a resume?
So I've bombed some interviews, but I have never ever in my life pulled any of this. The dog licking guy ... just ... what?!
Lick Every Last Drop Of Sweat
We interviewed a guy once for an engineering position. We Asked the typical, " what do you like to do in your free time?" He said he really enjoyed taking his dog with him on a long run to decompress (so far so good)
—then he went into excruciating detail of how his dog likes to lick every last drop of sweat off his body as he undresses for the shower. It was cringey!
We figured if he didn't have the innate judgement to keep that Info to himself in an interview, that he likely wouldn't exercise good judgment with our customers.
Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory
I was hiring for a field technician position and brought three equally qualified candidates in for interviews. They all had sufficient experience with other contractors so all I really cared about was how they presented themselves and how they spoke to someone in a position of authority.
First two candidates were excellent. I figured it was going to be a super tough choice between the two of them at least. Then the third candidate completely blows away the other two in how he presents himself. He's clearly very gifted and is super ambitious and I'm about ten seconds away from telling him he'll receive and offer before the end of the week.
He starts telling me he's excited for this opportunity because he feels his current employer is going under because of some poor business decisions over the last year. Signing contracts that they can't complete and things like that.
I ask an open ended question like "how would you do it better?" And this fella tells me something to the effect of:
"Well, I don't know much about business but one time I was working on interac (credit card) machines and found a way to add my personal bank account information to the machine. So I did that to help boost my personal income because I figured it wouldn't be easy to trace. But don't worry I cleared it all up with the cops and had to pay all the money back. Oh and that's what the company should have done - find a way to generate passive income until something more profitable came along."
I was floored. I just stared at him. I couldn't even respond. He just confessed to a felony and flat out told me he believed companies should do the same thing.
He asked me straight up how that story would affect his chances. I told him I had other candidates that probably fit the role a little better but would keep him in consideration for future opportunities.
- anonymat
School Days
Had a guy come in wearing his HS wrestling medals. I don't recall exactly how old he was, but minimum age for the job was 21 so he was at least that.
I did similar. Had an interview for a mobile phone shop and brought in my rowing trophies from university. I was 22 and still cringe at that.
My defense is I'd been applying for loads of different jobs and not getting anywhere so thought I'd go more visual.
There is a local lawyer that has a commercial about how he was good at football so that's why he should be on your "team". How does being good at football translate to being a great legal mind? And no its not in Texas.
- fied1k
"I Hate The Truth"
I was interviewing a candidate for a technical position ( electronic design )
I handed them a dry erase marker and asked them to draw ( this particular easy circuit) on the white board and explain how it works.
The candidate stood in front of the white board looking uncomfortable and I heard them say under their breath "I hate the truth"
"Is It A Flesh Colored T-shirt?"
My boss had a zoom interview with a dude who didn't bother to put on a shirt. He didn't get the job.
It was for a job as a baker in Ontario. Apparently he looked like he just rolled out of bed. No shirt. My boss barely remembered his interview answers because she spent the whole time thinking "why isn't he wearing a shirt? is it a flesh coloured t-shirt. Nope."
Punching Proficiency
This one kid was very proud of the fact that he got so mad one time, he punched a couple windows on a bus and broke them. Somehow he thought this was a good story to tell us in the interview.
Maybe that's why I've struggled with getting interviews previously... I have failed to list my punching proficiency on my resume.
Yes, anger management and destruction of proper is exactly what we look for in an employee.
Having A Meeting About Not Hiring Them EVER
The building was key card access, so everyone else had to sign in with security. Because we work with special needs populations, certain things are simply not allowed in the building. All of this is explained when they get the interview.
Security asks me to come talk to this guy because he has a chain wallet, a key ring with a pill holder and a pepper spray bottle - all of which is banned. He is refusing to leave at security to come in for his interview. I tell him those are the rules.
Interview goes acceptably until I ask how he would handle a client offering him money or favors in return for privileges or contraband. He laughed and asked how cute they were.
The job he was applying for would have had him on a ward with teenagers. I literally had a meeting about how we were not hiring this person EVER later that day with others just in case he tried to interview again with another manager.
Wardrobe Change
Some years ago (my early 20s) when I was first promoted to a supervisory position, my manager was demonstrating interview techniques. He asked me to collect the lady coming in from reception so I could get a first impression.
She was smartly dressed in a trouser suit and carrying quite a large bag, I would guess age around 50. She asked who would be doing the interview so I gave the job title and she asked to clarify if it was male or female, so I confirmed it was male. This was when it got weird.
She asked to use the bathroom on the way to the interview meeting room, so I showed her where it was and waited outside for her.
10 minutes later (and now late for the interview)she came out, total change of outfit. Now it was mini skirt, very low top, high heels and hair down. We carried on to the meeting room for the interview and I sat and watched my managers interview technique dissipate.
She was constantly crossing and uncrossing legs, leaning forwards and playing with her hair. The interview lasted 15 minutes and I ended up showing her out. She didn't get the job but it gave us a helluva laugh.
Media Matters
I was managing a sushi restaurant owned by an Asian family who are actually Chinese not Japanese, this will be an important fact in a moment.
We were hiring and a guy came in to hand in his resume. He had a full length leather jacket on and slicked back long black hair.
He handed me his resume and told me he was fluent in Japanese from watching anime. Safe to say, this was not an important skill at a restaurant owned by a Chinese family in a mainly white town. I did not call him for an interview.
- Rule34FF
We had someone claim to be bilingual in English and Spanish (a requirement for the position). When the Spanish speaking manager began asking questions, the applicant revealed she only knew what she had picked up from watching telenovelas.
That was just one portion of her highly entertaining interview. Another highlight was when she tried to hide her grocery bags in our lobby plants while she was waiting.
Trying To Hide My Expression
I wasn't the manager, but was part of the hiring process.
My boss would walk over with the interviewee, who was supposed to sit with me so I could show them about a half hour of "a day in the life". I was also the laid back part of the interview to see if they said something incredibly stupid.
This time, when I looked up, I very quickly had to hide my expression. It was someone that I had worked with previously, and had absolutely hated.
Not only would she have been a bad fit personality wise, but her work ethic was god awful. The interviewee automatically assumed she had it in the bag, and dropped her veneer of professionalism.
She sat back, leaned back in the chair, and told me that I didn't need to show her anything, she was sure she would get the hang of the job "sooner or later" and since I was there, I would absolutely get her in.
My boss came back to get her, and I walked into her boss' office and sat down. When my boss walked back in, she asked what the look on my face was for when she brought the interviewee over. She knew something was up, but couldn't tell what.
I explained what it was like working with her before (unprofessional, uncoachable, played by whatever rules she decided she wanted to follow), and then what she had done in this interview.
My boss and her boss then called the agency and said that they needed new candidates.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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