Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
A 20 year career in several different industries stands behind me, and I’ve worked in three countries too. Across the globe, I’ve worked in some pretty amazing companies and some incredibly toxic ones.
What I’ve learned is that there were a lot of warning signs that something was “off” or plain “not right” about a given company.
From pre-interview to the post-interview office tour, here are some of the signs that indicate that your next company might make Chernobyl look pleasant:
1. Pre interview: HR does NOT have it together
Human resources is the marketing arm of the company to potential new hires. They set the mood and the tone of everything that is to follow. The most obvious signs that there are problems at this point are communications based including:
- No follow up or confirmations:
The interview was confirmed verbally on the phone, but I never got the confirmation email they promised to send. - Your application has gotten lost:
Yes. This has happened to me once. They had no record of my application or the interview I had in their office, despite giving them the names of my interviewers. - When the company ghosts you:
Halfway through the recruitment process, your emails are not answered and your phone calls are never picked up. - My ultimate favourite:
You arrive for the interview and are confused because they filled the position you are applying for last week.
At this point, you probably dodged a bullet by not getting the interview and, by extension, the job.
2. On interview day, they’re fine with keeping you waiting
It is understandable and forgivable for an interviewer to be a few minutes late to meet and greet you down in the lobby. It is equally forgivable for you to be kept waiting in an office or conference room for a little while, maybe up to 15 minutes.
But when that waiting period extends to half an hour, that’s a serious warning sign, especially if nobody informs you of the delay and you’re just expected to sit there and put down roots like a potato.
If you are expected to just shut-up-and-bear-it, you won’t be able to bear working in this place for very long before leaving.
3. The pre-interview personality tests
Before getting to the interview, some places give you an aptitude test or a personality profile test. These things can take up to an hour and in my opinion a warning sign.
Many places that make you do these tests on interview day will probably be relying on those test results to “get to know you” and see if you can “fit in” with the rest of the company.
This overreliance on so-called standardised testing might indicate that the HR side of things isn’t too interested in the person but just in getting the required skill set.
Why couldn’t you have done this test in the comfort and privacy of home in the first place? Making people do these tests in the office is also frustrating as these are generally mentally draining, leaving you already somewhat tired and fatigued when you get to your interview.
What’s most frustrating is that if you fail this tick-the-boxes exercise, you have to suffer through an interview where both sides know you are not going to be offered a second interview or a job.
4. Job assessments: “Whatsapp me when you’re done”
It’s one thing to be set on a skills assessment or even some sort of Myer Briggs personality profile test. But they should be checking in on you every so often so you don’t wind up sitting there and staring at the walls waiting for things to happen.
This is absolutely a red flag during the hiring process because it seems like HR isn’t all together interested or bothered with you or your application. It’s a total lack of basic respect and courtesy, and you’re being treated like this before you even work there.
Do you still want to work at this particular company?
5. During the interview: negative body language
Negative body language is in my experience a combination of several big things and a lot of little things. The most obvious of these so-called big things would be the head-to-toe scan.
This normally occurs right at the start of the interview when the interviewer enters the room and you greet them. Then they give you a slow, measured look, from the top of your head right down to your shoes. This is designed to intimidate and is, frankly, a little creepy, especially if you’re receiving it from a man as a woman.
When the interview takes place, while you’re engaged and trying to build a rapport with the interviewer, these particular behaviours might be warning signs: crossed arms, tapping fingers, inability to maintain eye contact, tapping feet, fidgeting with a pen, rustling of papers for no reason and even checking their phone.
These small behaviours are perhaps the biggest tell, especially if they are constantly present throughout the interview. Commonly these are used to intimidate candidates. You’ll see most of these when they ask you a question, but if you’ve noticed some suspicious body language already, you can expect the paper rustling and phone checking to take place when you ask or answer a question.
6. The interviewer: weird mood and pacing
Did it start upbeat and then freeze over? Or did it start frozen and then warm up? Or was it somewhere rather lukewarm the whole time?
No matter how cheerful, positive, and pleasant you are, an interviewer whose mind is simply not on the interview will make for a very awkward, unpleasant and one-sided conversation.
What sets the mood and pace is the interviewer’s attitude towards you. If you find yourself getting cut off mid-sentence, being told that your answers are “wrong,” and they act condescending to you, this is a major red flag. It’s best for you to end the interview politely and get out of there.
7. The office tour: communication
Observe the employees and how they interact with each other. Do they smile? Any casual chit chat, maybe a laugh or two?
See if you can spot how managers and supervisors talk to and interact with each other and employees. Does the leadership or management level talk easily to each other?
If there doesn’t seem to be any face-to-face communication, and everything seems very hierarchical and everyone needs approval before they can do anything, watch out. This indicates a culture of poor communication, and that is always a warning sign.
8. The office tour: inter-office tension
This one you can feel the moment you walk through the place: the silence dominates, people are on edge, irritable and tense. Communicate is stilted and monosyllabic. Whenever someone looks at you, it feels like you’re caught in a predator’s sightlines.
Source: malay mail
Inter-office tension makes for a very awkward workplace as there is a lot of drama that you’ll discover behind the scenes. Some people are okay with that, but personally I’m at my workplace to work and not to participate in my very own telenovela.
9. The office tour: the office environment sucks
Are desks and workspaces clean and tidy? Does the air have a funny smell to it? Is the lighting too bright or not bright enough?
These are all the little things that can affect the overall work environment. Take note of them when you get the tour, and ask if this is normal. I mean, it is possible on the day your interview that the power is out or something, but you don’t want to work long-term in an office that has an uncomfortable atmosphere.
10. The office tour: the toilets
In fact, visit the toilets if you can. Check if soap dispensers and the hand dryers work, and whether or not there is toilet paper available. I’ve found that the condition of the bathroom is a great indicator to the overall health and hygiene of the workplace.
Besides that, if you suddenly get a stomach ache or your period at work, it’s nice to know that the toilets are a comfortable place to relieve yourself.
Take note of any warning signs the moment they occur
The signs of a toxic work environment are many and varied, and these are some of the ones I’ve seen over the course of 20 years in three very different industries. Tragically, the signs are almost the same everywhere.
It is always possible that one or two of these signs are visible in even the best of offices and environments. It could be due to somebody having an off day, somebody out sick, or some genuine crisis going on that day.
But if the signs are stacking up from before the interview right through to the interview itself, then these are the biggest red flags that the job will not get any better than the unpleasant interview you just went through.
More than one talented individual has ignored them, and been broken by the “work experience”.
For more stories like this, read: I Got COVID-19 And All My Malaysian Boss Cared About Was Whether I Could Work, How To Let Your Boss Screw Himself Out Of RM45,000, and Is Your Favourite Local Small Business Taking Advantage Of Their Workers?.
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