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The US unemployment rate went up to 3.7% in August, a bump that surprised economists who had expected it to remain at July's 3.5%.

One of the main reasons for this increase was the fact that more people were actively looking for work—labor force participation rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 62.4%.

While the figure is still a full percentage point lower than it was before the pandemic in February 2020, it could be the first glimmer of hope that there might be some relief ahead when it comes to the tight supply of workers.

However, when they're in such high demand, people shouldn't sign on the dotted line before exploring all of their options. To help everyone do this, we thought it would be useful to find a way to narrow the selection.

And there's a Reddit thread that might do the trick. Created by user CurrentlyCurious, there's a post that asked, "What's a red flag when looking for a job?" The 12.9K comments it has received so far have plenty of suggestions!

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags “You’ll wear different hats in this role.”
First of all, this is a stupid phrase. Secondly, you just mean you’re going to make me do six different jobs and underpay me for them all.

literary_jacks , Edmond Dantès Report

Final score:
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Centu Rionick
Centu Rionick
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It means we actually do not have a clear position and just want to be able to stuff you with all kinda crappy tasks that nobody else wants to do and you'll not be in the position to decline.

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#2

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags If you ask them what the pay is and they start off with what you COULD be making after so much time and they start rambling about the raise process, run the other way

MAVERICKRICARDO , cottonbro Report

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#3

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags Any job that requires an upfront cost. This is a telltale sign that you are getting wrapped up into a MLM pyramid scheme.

FistFullOfQuarters , Windows Report

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The Other Guest
The Other Guest
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup. A real job pays YOU, not the other way around. EDIT TO ADD - Also, your pay shouldn't be dependent on how much your "downline" works.

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#4

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags I turned down a second interview for a position in which the interviewer said something to the effect of "If your boss Emails you on a Friday night, you don't have to respond, but you know how that looks...."

Made it pretty clear that they expect work to be your first priority.

VoijaRisa , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know exactly how it looks, like I've got a life of my own and I am maintaining my work/leisure ratio as intended.

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#5

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags I got a call from a subway I applied to telling me my interview was in ten minutes. That was the first I heard from them after submitting my application

cumrag6942069 , restaurantguru Report

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iblewsheep
iblewsheep
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

probably means someone walked out in the middle of a shift five minutes earlier

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#6

Here is a way to find a red flag.

Go into the interview with actual questions. (See some below) if the interview/s can't or won't answer them, thank them for their time and leave.

Sample questions:
What is the turnover rate?
How do pay increases work?
Are promotions internal? And are they based on performance or seniority?
How long have you worked here?
Do you offer and pay for external training?
What is the overtime policy?
How do you handle conflict in the workplace?
If I need help who do I ask, what does "the chain of command" chart look like

These are just a few. But the idea is to ask the questions that you wish you would have known the answers to before taking you last crappy job.

could_use_a_snack Report

Final score:
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Mariaf
Mariaf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

for your future boss if he is part of the interview process "what is the most average day in this position?". If they start to wave around the answer or give torpes like "there is no typical / average day" it means either they don't have a clear job in mind, they have no set procedures on how to handle work tasks and you will and up doing 100 different things or you will be the fireman asked to put out fires all the time. Even for actual firemen have a number of standardised tasks they have to do every day.

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#7

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags Initially unpaid, but will result in full time offer upon completion of XYZ

todorooo , Yan Krukov Report

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#8

Interviewer for an shift manager job at wendy's asked me to quit college, said I needed to always be available to them if they needed me. Never mind that HE was over an hour late to MY interview.


NO...I will not quit college for 9 dollars an hour

whereismymind86 Report

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Lisa H
Lisa H
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Similarly, I have had to work two jobs and one of them said I needed to choose between the two. After saying that, the decision wasn't hard. The job I chose to keep was full time with benefits anyway. If your employees have to work multiple jobs, look at yourself and see how you can be doing better, don't see them as a traitor for needing the extra money.

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#9

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags If you are expected to work right off without sufficient training. It reflects poorly on the company's management and likely also means that they don't care about the employees

Naweezy , Kampus Production Report

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Rico Mendez
Rico Mendez
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just started a job with a new Behavioral Health company after leaving my last one. They thought because of my experience that they didn't have to train me, so I was thrown into it almost right away. Every company is different, even if it's the same position, that's why it's called 'training' so you can get used to it their way, not your previous company's way. I found out that they didn't do it to just me, they also did it to this young girl that is brand new to the field. In other words, they just do it to everyone.

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#10

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags It's common in my industry for you to be interviewed separately by 3 or 4 different people. They will typically all be people that you will be working with or for (e.g.: the hiring manager and two teammates). I've taken to asking each of them to describe what they see as the day-to-day duties and priorities of the role. If they don't align, it's a warning sign that no one knows exactly what they're hiring for.

jaschac , Los Muertos Crew Report

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Felice Coles
Felice Coles
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or that each person wants you to take over some of their work, so that you get a bunch of stuff to do that helps the others but not you.

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#11

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags "Family owned and operated". The family members will not be held to the same standards as you.

anon , Alena Darmel Report

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David H
David H
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

not always true, I have seen businesses that advertise that and are willing to fire their own children or parents

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#12

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags If the job description has about 20 items of which one is "sales" your job is going to be sales.

Clapperoth , RODNAE Productions Report

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Centu Rionick
Centu Rionick
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So... it wasnt clear that you were responsible of sales and if you dont hit the targets you'll be in trouble?

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#13

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags This was a red flag I had during an interview process once. I was doing a phone interview for an IT position and the person I was interviewing with basically changed the details of the job during the interview. Instead of the first shift hours the position promised, he immediately went into saying it would be 6+ months before the opportunity for first shift would even be a possibility.

Also, he was big into asking how dedicated I was to jobs. The idea of weekend shifts (again, not in the original description) kept coming up and how everyone had to be a team player and help out on weekends when needed. The kicker was when he started talking about how many hours he worked. He was bragging that he was up at 6am everyday working, then he'd go into the office for the day, come home to see his family for dinner, and get right back to work until 10-11pm every night.

I had never been turned off from a job faster in my life. He asked me to think things over and he'd send me some paperwork via email. Needless to say, I called him the next morning and declined the job. It was the worst interview process I'd ever been in.

Sttommyboy , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

Final score:
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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That person conducting the interview needs to wake up and realize what he's doing with his life.

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#14

I was recently (roughly two months ago) given a job offer from a company I was really interested in. The job sounded great, was in a career path I was originally hoping for when graduating, and was back in my home town so I could see some old friends and family regularly.

When they made me an offer, it was a pretty big pay cut from what I'm currently making. Actual salary would have been flat-out even. I hate my current job, so that would have been ok by me. However, I would be losing a week of vacation, a week a paid sick time, getting slightly worse benefits, and half of what my current company offers in 401k matching.

When I asked what was available for negotiation, they got mad at me. In fact, they expected me to make this life-altering decision in 24 hours with little to no questions asked... and got even more mad that I wanted to negotiate *my life* instead of just say yes or no.

So... I ended up just walking away. I hate my current bosses, but not enough to walk away from 4 weeks of vacation and an extra week of sick leave. And especially not for, given the signs, people who will treat me the exact same way as my bosses.

DemSumBigAssRidges Report

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Felice Coles
Felice Coles
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"But but but... wE'rE dOiNg YoU a FaVor! You get to work with US!" Yeah, nope.

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#15

Arrived for an interview not to long ago. Showed up 15 minutes early and had all my certs to prove training. Waited over 20 minutes before the secretary led me to a conference room. Waited another 40 minutes and got fed up. Quality manager walked in as I was getting up to leave. He was very offended when I told him he had wasted my time and i would never accept a position after being left to wait almost an hour while having an appointment.

Tantric819 Report

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Paul Macdonell
Paul Macdonell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why is it so hard for these arrogant managers to just say "I apologize for making you wait".

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#16

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags When looking at compensation figures, bear in mind that "up to X" includes the number zero.

anon , Emil Kalibradov Report

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Fat Harry
Fat Harry
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This happened to us. My partner's son got a new job and was going on about how he'd be earning £10 / hour. I asked "Have you had that confirmed?". "Well, no, but the advert said up to £10 / hour". I pointed out the "up to" and that "up to" included everything from zero to £3.50 and beyond. His response was "Well they're not exactly going to pay £3.50 because that's below the minimum wage!". Of course I was just using that to make a point. So what was his starting pay? £7.49 / hour. Nowhere near the £10 he assumed he'd be making.

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#17

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags A former coworker shared this tidbit with me years ago and it works wonders.

Try to schedule your in person interview as late in the afternoon as possible, relevant to your position. If you're expecting a 9-5 job, schedule your interview for 4:00 or 4:30. You probably discussed after hours work etc during the interview, when you are done, you should be able to look around - are people still working? Is the parking lot empty? You can match up the evidence with what was claimed during the interview and from that, judge how realistic the entire job description is based on how they treated the after hours work.

JermStudDog , RODNAE Productions Report

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Bored Retsuko
Bored Retsuko
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't agree with this one. It depends very much on your individual position and tasks. Your being required to work longer in the afternoon (or not) may differ a lot from the person in the next room if the tasks are just slightly different.

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#18

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags I interviewed for a company that had a recruiter after me pretty hard. The company was just moving into my market and the reviews on Glassdoor definitely mentioned people being frustrated with the “bro culture“. All of my interviews were over facetime with the managers showing up in their pajamas from home and admitting that since the company is still growing the work load was pretty much 7 days a week until you got your new team hired and running - it just wasn’t very professional and it was obvious they didn’t have structure or care about people’s time.

I also don’t trust companies that brag about things like nerf gun fights around the office and constant Happy Hour events. Those perks are fun but it’s clear when that’s all they talk about in the job posting that they’re trying to distract you from other issues. I need to see that your company culture is enriching and creates success, not free lunches.

hail_to_the_beef , Ben Collins Report

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Geoffrey Hebel
Geoffrey Hebel
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perks don't pay your bills. That stuff is great but often used as a way to cover for garbage pay and murderous workloads

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#19

Always ask them why the person you are replacing left the job. The way they answer this could be a red flag.

PassMeCharger Report

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ispeak catanese
ispeak catanese
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They'll never tell the truth. I had a coworker quit without notice because our boss would not allow her to take time off with FMLA that HR had already approved. He would never in a million years admit that to any applicant who asked.

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#20

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags "We work hard and play hard", it actually means all work and for sure no play.

OldMork , Ron Lach Report

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#21

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags "Looking for rock stars" in the job description, unless of course the posting is in fact for a position to be a rock star!

finester39 , ANTONI SHKRABA Report

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#22

"Reaching out to potential clients" likely refers to cold calling. F that.

DJScrotum Report

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#23

Any job that forces you to watch videos, or has videos playing during the interview process that talk about how great it is to work there.

Amazon, Geico, Wal Mart, etc.

All have Soviet style Propaganda videos

anon Report

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#24

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags Making jokes about overtime and "crunch time". Guaranteed it's going to be a nights and weekends are optional (but not actually optional) place.

CollisionFactor , MART PRODUCTION Report

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Mikey Kliss
Mikey Kliss
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I worked in a warehouse for 4 months. When I got hired they said "we rarely do overtime" Everyday I worked those months were overtime

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#25

"if you're the kind of person who likes a 9-5 job this may not be right for you"

TimeToRedditToday Report

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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're the kind of person that doesn't appreciate being overworked, underpaid and underappreciated, this may not be right for you.

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#26

"Master's Degree Preferred" for an entry level job.

RonnieVanDan Report

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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I saw one recently "Laborer needed, with a Class 4 driver's license" Which is a lorry license...therefore they want a driver but at minimum wage.

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#27

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags Test task that looks like real work they need to be done

anon , Polina Zimmerman Report

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David H
David H
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually did a test task that was legit work for a job, but they paid me $65/hour for 25 hours to see my work, for a job that was paying 65K a year. Test tasks are fine, if they pay

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#28

I saw a job posting last eek in which one of the requirements was to keep your desk tidy.


If they're willing to put that in the ad, the office is run by control freaks. Stay away.

OccasionallyWright Report

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Michael Largey
Michael Largey
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My desk at work will always be immaculate if you let me work from home.

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#29

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags A employer who treats you like they are doing you a favor. With good servant leadership it should be the other way around. An unclear job description, or a job description that includes too many duties. Not being offered the opportunity to see the working areas or talk to people who would be your peers.

Just generally trying to feel out whether or not they have things under control or not. I don't want to walk into a s**t show.

theassholeofalabama , Edmond Dantès Report

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Mariaf
Mariaf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If the interviewer goes with "there are 1000 people waiting at the door" the proper answer is to laugh and walk out

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#30

30 People Share Things In Job Descriptions Or Interviews That Instantly Indicate Red Flags When they talk bad about previous employees. They're going to do it to you.

telestrial Report

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Michael Largey
Michael Largey
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was new to the area and looking for a job, I was offered a position that was filled by someone they were planning to replace. When I pointed out that the position might not open up since the current guy was working under a strong union contract, they just shrugged and said that didn't matter to them. Where I worked before, I had been the union president. I turned them down.

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