“Let me know if you are interested.”
That was the subject line. The email came from a recruiter I have been working with. I read the job description and burst out laughing.
We all know the universal red flags by now. The company that calls itself a “family,” the job that promises you’ll “work hard and play hard.” Those have been discussed to death.
The job description in question was for a Controller role. I received the email on Thursday. According to the recruiter’s email, the Controller had given notice the previous Friday, and her last day was going to be the following Tuesday.
Red flag number one.
The two weeks’ notice is standard. This person was just three days shy of that mark. This was the equivalent of holding your middle finger on your way out.
Someone who is happy with their current job but simply moving for better opportunities doesn’t do this.
Also, even though two weeks is considered standard, as you go up the ladder the expectation grows.
A President of an international division would probably be expected to give more than two weeks’ notice. Some transitions may last months. It is understood and an expected courtesy.
A Controller is not an executive, but it is the position in charge of the entire accounting function. In this case, the person was also guiding the company through an audit.
Someone in this position would be expected to give at least two weeks’ notice and maybe even offer to consult to help with the changeover.
Neither of these things happened.
The other, more important, red flag was that someone wrote it didn’t matter that there was not going to be any handover of responsibilities because the work was “easy.”
This one connects to a hard lesson I learned early on. No job is easy. Every job requires know-how and care. Especially if you want to achieve excellence.
What the hiring manager is really saying when calling a job “easy” is that the job is not respected or valued. Even if you outperform and deliver great results, those won’t count in your favor because, as an early employer told me, this is a job that “any monkey off the street can do.”
“Easy” is a toxic way to describe any job. Just run.
The red flags don’t stop at the job description.
A friend of mine was rushing to get a job ahead of a planned layoff. She finally got a verbal offer. As a professional, she did what she was supposed to do: negotiate the initial offer. The HR representative responded with a firm “no.”
The negotiation ended before it even started. The company pretty much told my friend: take it or leave it.
This was especially surprising after several rounds of interviews. The company used hours of my friend’s time. And the time of dozens of people already working in the organization. Yet they were willing to risk all of that on the bet that my friend needed the job too badly to walk away.
My friend took the job. I understand why, but this doesn’t show great promise.
My advice to her? It is okay to continue to look while you settle into the new role.
The hiring process is the ultimate red flag to never ignore. It provides a window into how working with the company is going to be. I’ve yet to meet a company where a chaotic, disrespectful hiring process opens the door to a disciplined and generous company.
Still, red flags are not an automatic rejection. I once interviewed at a company where a colleague described working until nearly 11 PM on New Year’s Eve the previous year. I still took that job. I made the calculation, and the long hours were outweighed by other aspects of the job and the company.
But always pay attention to red flags. And learn from them. Which ones are a dealbreaker for you?
For me, this role had too many unforgivable flags, and I’m in a position to wait, so I chose to wait for a possible green flag.
