Red Flags For Interviewers
Red Flags For Interviewers?
From Career Tips, 2026 Volume 8, August
Earlier this year, I posed this question:
(As an interviewer) Is there a red flag that would cause you to
almost certainly rule out that candidate?
You provided a lot of good answers here and here. Job seekers should review these carefully to make sure they aren’t running afoul of any of these issues that could tank their candidacy!
Here’s the next installment.
- The biggest red flag would be a lack of honesty, accountability, or respect. If a candidate exaggerates, blames others, avoids responsibility, or treats people poorly during the process, I would be very reluctant to move forward. Skills can be developed, but trust and character are much harder to fix.
Other responses emphasized both honesty and rudeness, and this respondent added exaggeration, blaming others and avoiding responsibility.
If you tell the hiring manager that you were solely responsible for a particular outcome, and they doubt that, you will lose credibility for everything else you tell them. There may be other things for which you actually were solely responsible, but why should they believe you, once you’ve been caught out for one exaggeration?
Of course you want to present yourself and your accomplishments in the best possible light, but make sure that what you tout will at least sound plausible, and that you have a very solid case for it. Also make sure that if they were to reach out to a past boss or reference, they would fully back your statement. It’s the kiss of death for your candidacy if that third party says, “Well, I’m not sure I would give them full credit for that.”
It’s just as damaging if you start blaming others for issues you encountered, and show that you don’t accept responsibility for your actions. This is akin to another red flag I discussed previously, blaming a past employer.
- Antisemitic comments
Earlier I discussed the problems with racist or sexist comments. Add to that antisemitic comments, and even volunteering information about religion or politics, depending on the situation.
As with racist or sexist comments, sometimes the interviewer may go there or provide hints as to an attitude. Use the information to evaluate whether this is the environment in which you want to work, but resist going there yourself. You may be walking into a trap, or may find that the one interviewer’s attitudes don’t represent a consensus among the hiring team, and by leaning in with one, get yourself ruled out by others, either on the spot or when they get together later to discuss your candidacy.
Now if you are interviewing with a religious or political organization, religion or politics is fair game. But otherwise, those are dangerous areas to get into. Your particular positions may or may not be an issue with a hiring manager, depending on their own positions. But the fact that you make a point of bringing them up will suggest that you are outspoken about them, and they may now have concerns about whether you will be proselytizing and potentially alienating others in the organization.
- If they only talk about themselves and not anything about leadership and how they developed their teams / scaled through their teams.
There is an art to balancing your presentation of what you accomplished with what you helped others to do.
- Poor personal appearance or hygiene. If someone doesn’t take care of themselves, they won’t take care of my business. First impressions are everything.
And don’t forget about the image you may present via LinkedIn or other social media!
- If they say that an issue was related to them being unable to embrace change.
Same if you show disdain for ‘new technology’ or 'social media', talk about ‘how we used to do things at company x’, or anything else that suggests you may be slow to embrace new things.
- If they start the interview around the benefits of the position instead of how eager they are to contribute and make a positive difference for the employer.
Priorities, priorities. You are right to be concerned about what the job can do for you, and are definitely going to explore that over the course of the hiring process. But first you need the interviewer to see that you are (more) concerned about the benefits you will bring to them.
- I don't like them and they wouldn't fit in here.
So much comes down to establishing fit, and building rapport with the interviewer.
Next time I’ll get into the broader list of red flags that might not be automatically disqualifying, but will still cause an interviewer to pause. If you have thoughts on those, drop me a note or answer this two-question survey: surveymonkey.com/r/2NFTXT5 (opens in new tab)
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