The tell-tale signs of a toxic workplace

The tell-tale signs of a toxic workplace

Recruiting new members of staff is always a two-way process. You are looking for the right potential employees and assessing their strengths and weaknesses, but they are also evaluating you. The best candidates will have other options available to them, so you need to avoid giving off any signs that they might regret coming to work for you.

There are many such warning signs that businesses can give off during the recruiting process, even as early as at the job description stage. Using insubstantial and vague phrases can be taken to imply that there is a lack of clarity either about the role or within the company in general.

When it comes to the interview stage, this lack of clarity can come through in the way that process is managed. Did it take a long time to arrange the interview? Was the candidate met with confusion when they arrived? Did the interview not start on time? Were the interviewers unprepared and bluffing their way through the questions? All of these are major red flags.

A key part of a job interview is where the tables are turned and the candidate gets to ask their questions. This is a chance to assess their enthusiasm and curiosity of course, but it is also their big chance to find out if they are risking joining a toxic workplace. If they ask about the company’s values and the interviewer can’t describe them with any confidence, what does that say about how those values are embedded?

Even worse, if the interviewer’s answers are vague or evasive, that implies that they have something to hide about the role or the workplace culture. If you want to attract the very best talent, these are the warning signs you cannot afford to give in your recruiting process.

Find out more in this guide from Resume.io.

Authors

Taylor Tomita

Taylor Tomita is part of the promotion team at NeoMam Studios. When not promoting content, you can find Taylor collecting and talking about guitar pedals or eating pizza. You can find Taylor on Twitter here: @tvylortomitv