Every Recruiter is looking for a silver bullet. The "gotcha!" question that speaks multitudes about a candidate and helps you decide whether they're the type of person you can move along the cycle. While it's not fair to open a book in the middle and judge it by the page you land on, there are some giveaways that will speak volumes about your interviewee. Recently our Head of Talent, Vivek Reddy, took to Quora to explain something that always gives him pause when interviewing for sales roles:
The number one red flag I've noticed is throwing former co-workers under the bus. A candidate may have legitimate reasons to be displeased with their former company, but there's a way of mentioning this.Bad-mouthing former colleagues, managers or organizations immediately makes me wonder about a few things:
- Are they a team player? I've seen this come up a few times when sales reps bad-mouth their engineers or product teams for not making/fixing a product. I immediately question this type of person's willingness to work well with other people within a company.
- Are they the type that makes excuses? Again with sales reps as an example, is throwing others under the bus simply symptomatic of them making excuses for why they couldn't succeed? This is a big point of hesitation into the candidate's grittiness and ability to succeed, especially if it's a startup environment in which nothing is guaranteed.
- What's to say they won't think of us the same way? If a candidate can quickly turn on former colleagues like that, I really question why they wouldn't do that with us. This puts way more of a burden on the candidate to show me why that wouldn't be the case.
Professionally speaking, it's fair to say that previous performance is the best indicator of future results. If previous performance includes bad mouthing colleagues and passing the buck, you can expect that to continue.
Later in the thread, Microsoft Recruiter Paul Griffiths explains a red flag not necessarily unique to sales candidates:
As a recruiter speaking with a candidate, the first few interactions are really all about learning about each other and for the candidate, what is important to them. You should be managing and overcoming objections and concerns throughout the hiring process (not just at offer stage) to make sure every body gets the results they want at the last stage.
That being said, one of the red flags for me is commitment. If a candidate does not return my calls or if I am constantly chasing them then I do begin to question how interested they are in the position. Further questioning can help uncover how your opportunity compares to others they are considering and what their interest level is.
Typically, the onus will be upon you to get the candidate excited and interested in your role, but at a certain point, you just have to let go.
What other red flags have you noticed? Hit us up in the comments!
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