Look Out for These Red Flags When Interviewing

In this series, professionals share their hiring secrets. Read the stories here, then write your own (use #HowIHire somewhere in the body of your post).

If you’ve hired people at any time during your career, this may sound familiar: the candidate’s experience looks perfect for the role, complete with a great education and an impressive work history. On top of that, he or she has answered every technical question without hesitation. Then, you feel it. Something just doesn’t sit right.

Maybe it’s a bit of anxiety about something that was or wasn’t said in the interview. Maybe something’s off about the way a piece of work history was explained. There are many things which can raise a red flag about a candidate, and during my career I’ve seen many of them first hand – and ignored some as well. Given that building the best possible teams is a lifeblood component of any organization, it’s important to be sensitive to these warning signs.

Here’s what I look out for when considering a candidate:

Narrow range of work and life experience

While technical acumen and a solid work history are critical, you don’t want to see an overly narrow focus. At RBC, we often look for non-traditional disciplines and experience sets when considering our hires. For example, when hiring for customer service roles, we look for candidates with a great attitude and strong people skills first and foremost, because we know we can teach them the technical side of banking.

A broad set of life experiences and an exposure to a diversity of thought also shows that the candidate is willing to step outside his or her comfort zone to pursue interests and passions. That sort of natural curiosity and a thirst for learning brings huge value.

Low potential for high impact

You’d be hard-pressed to find a manager these days who doesn’t think about “cultural fit” before hiring a candidate. It’s true that you have to understand how an individual’s skills and experience would fit the role, whether their values align with the organization’s culture, and whether he or she can add value beyond their immediate job.

However, even if true fit is present, you still need to consider the impact that the individual will have on the broader team. Will the person simply just fit the job for which they’ve been hired, or will their passion and commitment help lift the team to a whole new level? When you’re looking to fill every role with a great candidate, the former is unacceptable, and the latter is a must. The one caveat here is that hiring managers must ensure the desire for fit isn’t a mask for unconscious bias.  Don’t let preconceptions around “cultural fit” lead to qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds being cast aside.  

Very few questions

So, you’ve just finished asking the last question, and you turn the table on the candidate by saying, “Is there anything you’d like to ask me about the job, or about our company?” The candidate responds only with: “No, I think you’ve covered it all.” This can be a red flag for a number of fairly significant reasons.

First, it’s possible – though probably unlikely – that during the course of the conversation to this point, the interviewer has spoken extensively about the company, as well as the industry, the vision and values, the community and social impact goals, and the potential for long-term career growth.

More likely, the absence of questions can signal a lack of passion about the role, or a lack of curiosity. There’s nothing wrong with that – not everyone will be passionate about every job they apply for – but it means there likely won’t be a good fit. On the other side of this coin, you don’t want the candidate to ask so many questions as to dominate the interview. Ideally, you’re looking for balanced and measured curiosity about more than just the job at hand.

A rush to judge

At RBC, we’ve seen promising, skilled and polished candidates lose the job because they jumped to conclusions about the role and how we do business, or they began listing all the things which, in their view, are wrong with our company and in need of urgent fixing.

I think it’s great when someone takes the initiative and tries to offer solutions in an interview, and discussing potential problem scenarios is a common interview practice which yields answers about a candidate’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. However, overstepping into assumption-filled judgment is a surefire way to dim your prospects of landing the role. Odds are, you’re being hired to help with a problem. However, to truly solve a challenge, you need to understand it first, and that requires a lot of listening.

When I’m hiring, I also always keep an eye out for my own unconscious bias. When you don’t think someone is right for a role but you can’t easily point to why, it’s good to ask whether you’re simply dismissing the candidate based on your own ingrained beliefs. Take a look at your recent hires. If most of them look and think like you, and come from similar backgrounds, it’s time to pause and ask yourself whether you’re truly adding the best talent available.

To sum up, I look for a breadth and depth of work and life experience, combined with curiosity, passion, initiative and a high potential for broad positive impact on the team when hiring. Even then, that’s just a good start, and if you cut corners when hiring, you will pay the price. The reality is that hiring well is difficult to do, and your intuition or “gut feel” for a candidate should also play a role. After all, your gut and your brain have been connected for a long time.