Employers spark debate after revealing their biggest hiring red flags: ‘That’s genius’

‘Asking for the salary range is not a red flag’

(Getty Images)

Employers have sparked a debate about the job application process, as they’ve revealed their biggest red flags when hiring new employees.

In a recent post shared in the popular Subreddit, Antiwork, a Reddit user who goes by the username u/fhetnz, posted a screenshot of a tweet, where one Twitter user asked: “What are your red flags when hiring?...I want your spiciest takes only.”

Responding to that question, another person via Twitter recalled an experience where one of his peers took their “sales candidates” out to eat, as a way of figuring out if they should get the job.

“A friend used to take sales candidates out for lunch,” the tweet reads. “Had [an] arrangement with his friend who owned the restaurant. Always had the candidate’s order screwed up. Noted how they dealt with it. Either graciously just eat the food or politely point it out, great. Any p***iness, no hire.”

In a second screenshot, another person responded to the question about hiring red flags and wrote: “A salad with fried chicken, bacon, and six oz of ranch and sweet tea on the side isn’t a healthy lunch.”

As another red flag, one Twitter user wrote: “Asking about the salary before we didn’t even start the interview.”

In the fourth screenshot of the tweet, one person noted how his friend used to ask his job candidates to show their “Uber rating” and name “the last five vice presidents” of the United States.

“Not sure if I like this or not but a friend told me he asks everyone he interviews to show him their Uber rating and to try to name the last five US Vice Presidents,” the post reads. “He’s in [private equity] and wants to get a sense of one, do they treat people well, two, do they know what’s going on in the world.”

As of 7 April, the Reddit post has more than 44,100 upvotes, with some readers in the comments noting the befits of taking job applicants out for lunch and messing up their order.

“It lets the employer know how you treat people who have less power than you, in a situation where they have inconvenienced you,” another Reddit user wrote. “There are a lot of jobs where you’re the bottom of the ladder and this won’t matter, but if the interviewee is in a managerial position, it will matter if they yell at people at the drop of a hat.”

“While I hate the idea of an employer purposefully doing this, I would not want to work with the type of person who would throw a tantrum and go into Karen mode if they got their order messed up,” one wrote.

Others noticed the importance of asking candidates about former vice presidents, as some jobs require having a sense of what’s going on in the world.

“In a lot of instances an employee needing to know a basic level of current events is very relevant to the job,” a comment reads. “I work in marketing and if I figured out a candidate didn’t have at least a basic grasp of current events I’d be very hesitant to hire them. I’ll say I don’t love that specific choice of question, but I get where their head is going.”

On the opposite side of the coin, many readers didn’t agree with the third red flag, expressing how important it can be to discuss salary even before the job interview.

“Asking the salary range is not a red flag to stop wasting time if the employer didn’t post that info in the job description,” a reader commented.

“I think asking about salary before an interview starts is kind of meh,” another commenter said. “You should ask that before an interview is even scheduled. If you forgot to do so, then don’t make it the first thing you say in an interview. Personally if the recruiter won’t discuss salary before an interview is scheduled, I’m not moving forward.”

The Independent has contacted u/fhetnz for comment.