Interview Red Flags

[Candycane]

After completing several interviews, I have had to review interview red flags to watch out for. Here are some that I had to remind myself about:

1-The interviewer talks in circles, seems scattered and leaves you feeling unsure or confused about very direct questions that you asked.

2-There isn’t a clear job description.

3-The interviewer doesn’t show up or is late and then doesn’t apologize.

4-The interviewer seems manipulative or shows predispositions to being overbearing (a bully).

What are some of yours?

[wrldtrvlr123]

For me, some of the red flags are things that you think would be positive:

They basically are telling you what your would be, rather than interviewing you to see if you are right for the position.

They seem like they are trying to sell you on the job/school/location...in the first interview.

They offer you the job on the spot...in the first interview.

Unless you are superteacher, are in a ridiculously high needs field and/or the school has an unimpeachable widely acknowledged reputation, I would feel more suspicious than flattered.

[marieh]

I agree with wrldtvlr123. The reason we took the job with our current boss was because he seemed genuine and didn't try to lie to us by telling us we were perfect fits (we weren't), that the school was perfect (it isn't), and that he was the best boss in the world (he actually might be, but we didn't know that at the time). I would stay far away from a school that tried too hard to sell itself.

[PsyGuy]

Too add to the list:

1) Interviewers who dont seem to understand how to do HR, interviews, or whose POV is entirely business corporate based. Essentially, recruiters who dont know anything about edu.

2) Recruiters who are rushed, which indicates to me a large amount of recruiting and thus a high level of attrition/maturation.

3) Recruiters who have uninspired questions that are little more then reading your resume back to them.

4) Recruiters that spend a disproportionate amount of time bragging about their IS and ownership and how awesome it is, when everyone knows its a third tier IS, and yet they have no problems, everything is perfect.

5) Recruiters that dont have my resume, or profile in front of them. It says they dont know anything about me and dont care, because any breathing body with a pulse could be in this seat and it wouldnt matter to them.

6) Recruiters who are not accepting of questions of the job or the IS.

7) Recruiters who have an answer to everything, especially when the answer is overly generic or not related to the question asked.

As for comments on the previous issues:

Fairs and recruiting can be hard and its exhausting, while its not the best sign of leadership in many cases the recruiter really isnt interested in answering questions, for them the interview process is entirely "pull" they need to reduce the applicant pool and make an appointment and if they offer you a position then they can reply in more depth, but if youre one of 30 people they are talking to they really havent prepped to answer questions because resolving their issues is the priority not engaging in a dialog. Its just one sided at that point for them.

Most recruiters and lesdership dont have a job description, as there really is only one job they are recruiting for and its being an IT. Descriptions dont generally change from department to department and if they do they are trivial changes in terminology. Stand in the front of the room do your song and monkey dance, complete your deliverables, show up on time, get along with others. Its not a fortune 100 company with hundreds of varrying job descriptions and differentiation in tasking.

Most leadership is pretty self absorbed and their is a clear power differential, while it may be a convention of the social contract the feeling is they are doing you a favor by interviewing you, and they dont owe you an apology. Some leadership actually use it as a test to determine how adaptive you are to adverse environments, an IT candidate that chafes at being late by a supervisor, is likely to be high maintenance.

Many leadership have something to prove, the difference between them and those they supervise is really very little if anything. Sure they ahve the power, but ITs and recruiting have a cost, replacing someone is expensive, and while everyone wants great super ITs there just arent anywhere close to enough, and many ITs have a very high opinion of themselves, it makes it difficult to manage. Managing ITs is a lot like managing computer scientist and engineers, they all think they are more indispensable and smarter than they are, but a lot more of them than average is closer to being right.

Yes some ISs just need warm bodies and to fill spaces on a schedule, they read your resume they know you can do some semblance of the job and their expectations are pretty low, any IT will basically do. Its just the reality of the situation sometimes.

[kangootraveller]

Interviewers who clearly haven't read your letter or resume and ask very general questions.
This happened to me a few years ago.
They also told me part way through the interview that the full time position had already gone (before the deadline) and I could take a part-time position. I told them I couldn't fly my family all the way to Bali on a part-time contract.

[shopaholic]

I interviewed with a director at a tier 1 European school at Search London. He asked me a specific question about how I would teach a particular element, then kept talking himself until he was on a completely different topic. He asked me another question and did the same. He was excited about the school, but he talked for most of the interview and didn't notice that he didn't give me a chance to answer any of his questions. I don't know why he made me an offer because he didn't let me complete a sentence at the interview. I turned that one down even though people are still telling me I was crazy to pass up that school. I don't want to work for someone who can't listen to his teachers. If this was his best behavior at an interview, it must be very frustrating to work with him.