5 Red Flags Recruiters Should Heed — and 3 They Should Retire

When you’ve got a long list of applicants to interview, it can be helpful to look for signs that you are zeroing in on the best candidates. Some signs are positive, such as the realization that a candidate has each skill that the position calls for. Others are warning signs — red flags that alert you to qualities that suggest a candidate isn’t a good fit for your organization.

However, sometimes what looks like a red flag is simply a sign that a candidate is different. They may have a background or be part of a culture that is different than that of most applicants you see, so they respond differently in an interview setting. Yet their skill set may be exactly what the position calls for.

Being able to differentiate between a genuine red flag and a signal of diversity is a skill that recruiters can’t afford to overlook. Here are five red flags that should make recruiters and anyone else conducting job interviews wary — and three that often get a bad rap.

Genuine red flags provide some insight into a candidate’s skill set

Red flags will typically pop up around someone’s soft skills. For example, a red flag may show that a candidate won’t show initiative on their own or that a candidate can’t manage their time. It could also show that a candidate isn’t insightful or doesn’t learn from past mistakes. These five red flags all point to a candidate’s inability or unwillingness to grow: 

1. An inability to acknowledge weaknesses and failure

While it’s natural for job applicants to want to show off past successes, you can often learn more about a candidate from their failures.

Charlene Li, an author, speaker, and coach, recalls a conversation she had with John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco Systems and current CEO of JC2 Ventures. “He’s interviewed countless executives, and although they always spoke about their past professional successes, John really wanted to uncover the moments they failed and what they learned from them,” Charlene says. When a candidate couldn’t come up with any failures, John would consider it a red flag and so eventually did Charlene.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” she says. “Everyone fails. Why would you want to hire someone unwilling to admit they failed? How can they be trusted to come forward when things aren’t working? How can they address potential failures if their ego is so fragile that they can’t talk about past mistakes?” 

2. Placing blame on others

Some candidates who can’t acknowledge failure take things a step further by blaming others for situations that didn’t go well. The sales numbers at their last company were low because the product was priced wrong. The project they oversaw went over budget because another manager submitted the wrong numbers. While others’ shortcomings may have contributed to a professional setback, a candidate who always looks to place the blame on somebody else isn’t showing a willingness to learn from their past missteps.

Not only that, but blame can be contagious and in workplaces where employees take part in the blame game, some may even hide their mistakes rather than use them as opportunities to solve problems and stretch their skill set. If a candidate starts off by deflecting their weaknesses onto others, that’s a reason to pause.

3. Badmouthing a past employer

Executive and career transition coach John Tarnoff says everyone has a 

“quitting story” — the explanation candidates give (to themselves or others) about why they parted ways with a previous employer. A positive quitting story might be that the candidate outgrew their role or was ready to explore a new skill set. A negative quitting story might be that their manager treated them unfairly or somebody stood in the way of their success.

While there are certainly cases when a negative quitting story is accurate, “trash-talking travels fast and there’s no benefit you can gain from it; most likely it will turn against you and harm your reputation rather than help it,” John says.

If a candidate comes to an interview criticizing a past employer, at the very least you can surmise that they are still more focused on their dissatisfaction with that employer than on the excitement of a potential role with your organization. And it’s not far-fetched to think they may be bad-mouthing your organization one day if you hire them. 

4. Showing ignorance about your organization

In this day of information overload it’s easier than ever to learn about a company. If a candidate hasn’t taken the initiative to check your organization’s web site or even do a quick Google search it’s not a stretch to surmise that they may fail to show initiative when working on tasks related to their role once they are hired. 

When a candidate is particularly thorough in their research and able to rattle off insights about your organization’s competitors, for example, it gives off an air of confidence, says Joe Amarel, a technology recruiter based in Merced, California. 

On the flip side, a failure to research the organization shows a disinterest in what your company actually stands for. 

“No hiring manager wants to beg a worker, they want someone genuinely interested in working for the company,” says Peter Messana, CEO of technology company Centage. “One should be interested enough to do basic research on the company, the culture, the role itself. . . . So, when you get asked this question, you can articulate why you want this job.”

5. Showing up late for the interview 

Legendary Green Bay Packer football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “If you’re five minutes early, you’re already 15 minutes late.” The premise behind the quote: Being on time is not enough. You show initiative and respect for the person you’re meeting with by arriving early. 

There are many reasons a candidate could arrive late — many of them providing valuable insight into how they would fit into your organization. It could be as simple as a lack of time management skills. Or they could be disorganized, they could be disrespectful of your time, or they could be self-important. 

Of course, emergencies do happen, as candidates are juggling everything from caregiving responsibilities to financial stress. If a candidate lets you know in advance that they are going to be late and they have a good reason, give them the benefit of the doubt. But someone who arrives late to an interview and barely bats an eye is probably a candidate you’d want to think twice about. 

False red flags point out differences among applicants that are more reflective of personality or comfort level than skill set

Not everyone is a good interviewer. Some people get extremely nervous during interviews. Others have had bad experiences with interviews and fear they will be unfairly judged. False red flags assign meaning to genuine discomfort or fail to take into consideration cultural and other differences. These examples of false red flags penalize candidates for qualities that aren’t necessarily reflective of the work they can do. 

1. Failing to engage in small talk or displaying awkward body language

Some recruitment experts suggest that awkward body language and an inability to engage in small talk should be viewed as red flags because they show that a candidate is uncomfortable or not passionate about the job. 

Yet body language is often influenced by such factors as culture, gender, age, and sexual orientation, says talent management thought leader Dr. John Sullivan. “A female candidate can lose body language points when their expected body action (like a genuine smile) doesn’t occur,” John writes. “The female candidate’s culture/religion may have taught this woman not to smile in front of those with power.”

A talent for small talk should also be kept in perspective. As Lauren Van Duyn, a recruitment manager at Workhuman, puts it: “Many recruiters equate a lack of [social] energy with a lack of interest, when all it really means is that the candidate may be quieter and more reserved in interviews.”

Introverts are often overlooked because the hiring process tends to favor extroverts, who gain energy from social interactions and can often think of responses quickly. Introverts, on the other hand, like to take their time when processing information, and they may not be able to come up with a witty answer during the interview (though they’ll likely think of the perfect response when they’re driving home).

By focusing on how comfortable someone appears during the interview, you could be missing out on a stellar employee.

2. Failing to make eye contact 

Another commonly touted red flag is making eye contact. The assumption is that someone who fails to make eye contact is being dishonest and hiding something. 

However, research suggests that might not always be the case. In one study on nonverbal behavior researchers studied the behavior of both Black and white college students in employment interviews. White subjects were more likely to make eye contact than Black subjects. And when Black candidates did make eye contact, they held the gaze for a shorter period of time. 

Also, not every culture views eye contact as a measure of confidence; some Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, view avoiding eye contact as a sign of respect. 

3. Arriving to an interview “ungroomed”

This one is tricky. While it’s important for candidates to dress professionally and to practice good grooming policies, it’s equally important that they aren’t judged unfairly for cultural norms. Many companies consider the natural hair of Black men and women to be a violation of their grooming policies. In such an environment, a woman showing up for an interview with natural hair might be taken out of contention for the role because her hair was perceived as a red flag. 

Final thoughts 

Recognizing red flags when interviewing is a good way for recruiters to weed through candidates and zero in on the best applicants for a specific role. However, it’s important to differentiate between red flags that reflect upon a potential candidate’s performance and those that simply reflect upon a candidate’s personality or culture. If you fail to do that correctly, you could be missing out on the candidate you’ve been waiting for.