Interview Red Flags

Still More Interview Red Flags

From Career Tips, 2026 Volume 4, April

 

Last month I talked about this comment to my original post on Interview Red Flags:

 

“I always advise my clients not to have subordinates interview their potential bosses, because it rarely produces an objective assessment. Personally, if a company structure interviews that way, it’s a red flag for me and I usually reconsider moving forward with the opportunity.”

 

In the survey I set up, to date only one respondent felt that including a subordinate would be a serious red flag, while most considered it a positive development. Here’s the survey if you want to weigh in.

 

Here’s another red flag: Being asked ridiculous questions.

 

Here’s the situation one person faced:

 

I interviewed for a role perfectly matched to my experience and interests. Several interviews with high-level managers had gone very well, and the feedback was strongly positive. There was one last guy to interview.

 

His questions seemed ridiculous for the role; he kept asking me to derive, in my head, mathematical equations that one normally looks up in a book. I asked why that was important to him. His plan was to do custom work for each client – not just custom code, but even to derive all the equations from scratch like it was college midterms. I moved on. In the years since, I’ve learned much worse things about that company, so I guess that crazy guy saved me from bigger aggravation.

 

Being asked ridiculous questions tells you a lot about that person, and possibly the organization in general, since the company allows them to operate that way. This is a red flag that can help you dodge a potential bullet.

 

An analogous situation was brought up by someone at a workshop I was conducting yesterday. She had a good interview with the hiring manager, who said the next step would be with a set of technical experts. Instead of asking her questions to determine if she would be a good hire, they proceeded to tell her all the reasons she should not take the job.

 

That would tell me that there is something very wrong there. Either they are leveling with her about the problems, or they are actively trying to tank her candidacy – perhaps they see her as a potential threat? Whichever it is, I would be very hesitant about walking into that minefield!

 

Here’s another red flag:  

 

I don't apply to ads where the name of the company is not posted, not even for gig work. Transparency is a two-way street.

 

There are so many scams out there that this seems like a good practice. Even if not a scam, this will often represent a recruiter trolling for potential candidates to place, rather than an actual job opening. And recruiters who operate that way are generally not the ones you want to work with.

 

And another: Being scolded for asking a question during the interview instead of waiting for the end. An interview is a two-way street: they're evaluating you, you're evaluating them. So it should be a dialogue, NOT an interrogation.

 

This would be a very serious red flag for me. At the very least, it speaks to an operating style of the interviewer that would make them someone I would never want to work for.

 

An interviewer should welcome relevant questions throughout the conversation – that shows that the candidate is truly interested, engaged in the process, listens carefully, is able to generate a good dialogue, and has leadership qualities.

 

And one more red flag: 

 

When interviewers tell you that they have no questions for you.

 

This one blows my mind. How could an interview not have questions? Do they already have another candidate in mind, so they aren’t actually considering you? Or is this somehow a technique, where they expect you to figure out the right things to tell them?

 

This harks back to something that candidates should always keep in mind: Very few interviewers have actually been trained in how to conduct a good interview. For the most part, they’ve learned it on the job, and may not have adopted many best practices.

 

This can create a great opportunity for the savvy candidate. If you do a really good job of turning the interview into an enjoyable dialogue, and one that also communicates the key points the interviewer needs to hear to evaluate you, the interviewer will appreciate it. That will also raise the bar that other candidates need to hit, putting you that much higher on their list.

 

So put a lot of focus on asking good questions, particularly ones that get deep into the challenges faced by the interviewer and the operation. Get them talking about the things that really matter, and show the results you have brought in the past or will bring in the future related to those!

 

What do you think? (opens in new tab)

 

Sign up for Career Tips(opens in new tab) and receive more articles like this every month!