Employees are the foundation for any business. If you have a rotten apple in your employee basket, you may be putting some important things on the line. Productivity, sales, reputation, loyalty – these are all factors that you want to preserve.
What’s the solution? It’s simple. We must keep rotten apples at bay by tossing them out during the interview process. Below are several job cardinate red flags that you should always be looking for.
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Late For An Interview
Everyone has good and bad days, we get that. But, being late to an important interview suggests that the candidate doesn’t have the best time management skills. If hired, this candidate might often be late to work and cause workflow disruptions in the office.
Be particularly alert of candidates that show up late and don’t acknowledge their lateness. This means that the candidate won’t respect you or your team’s time in a real work setting.
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Talking Bad About Their Previous Boss
If a candidate is talking bad about their previous boss, you might be their target in the future. Some bosses are bad, sure, but complaining is an indicator of the candidate’s character. These candidates crumble under stress and have a tendency to blame others. They are unflexibility and likely to clash with your current team.
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They Don’t Ask Questions
“Do you have any questions for me?” shouldn’t just be a formality. A candidate’s response to this question can be very telling of how prepared they are. If they don’t ask questions, it gives the impression that they would take any job that they were offered. This, of course, is a red flag because you want employees that are prepared, motivated, and actually interested in your company.
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They Can’t Provide Supervisor Referrals
Co-worker and friend referrals are good, but what you really want is a candidate’s supervisor referral. A supervisor will have hands-on experience with the candidate and their work. If a candidate is not able to provide a supervisor referral or can only provide one from years ago, this suggests that things may have ended poorly with previous jobs.
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They Struggle to Answer Behavioral Questions
Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone unlike yourself? Or, describe an example of you showing great communication skills. These are examples of behavioral questions. Behavioral questions are harder to answer, but they’re a great tool to learn more about a candidate beyond their resume. If candidates struggle to answer behavioral questions, they might actually not have the skills they claim to possess.