Job Seekers Reveal Their Biggest “Icks” When It Comes to Job Hunting

Job seekers have shared some of their biggest icks when it comes to job ads and applications, and their list of red flags is quite unsurprising. From stingy leave policies to the lack of transparency, here are some of the top details job seekers dislike seeing in their job hunt.

Recruiters and employers typically have a list of red flags that cause them to turn a candidate away the second they show up, but job seekers also have a fair share of “icks” that sour their impression of an employer. While these applicants may still continue with their application for the sake of finding a job, coming across these flaws makes them less likely to be flexible about the job opportunity on offer.

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Job Seekers Share Their Biggest Icks When It Comes to the Job Hunt

Somewhere out there, there is likely an extremely lengthy list of annoying details in job ads that continue to turn job applicants away, however, a survey by StandOut CV was able to narrow down some of the top complaints that these aspiring candidates had about their current and future employers.

Starting from the most commonly disliked factor, job seekers claimed that their biggest icks were seeing minimal leave allowance in a job advert. Over 65% of respondents pointed to this as their biggest red flag and the numbers are not surprising. When an organization provides the bare minimum in terms of leaves and benefits, employees are often left feeling like the employer isn’t keen on looking out for their interests.

Job Seekers Point to Flaws in the Job Advert

Job seekers’ top most disliked details also included the pressure to engage with the company’s social media content and the absence of salary details in the job advert. These factors may not sound as central to the job search experience, but when they are encountered repeatedly, they can affect the employees’ spirit. 

Clarity about the job role, benefits, and pay is critical to any job posting, and organizations that play coy with such details risk missing out on talented candidates who prefer a more straightforward approach.

Over 53% of applicants also point to recruitment procedures that are excessively time-consuming, claiming that they are likely to withdraw their application after three or four interview rounds. If an organization has an extremely lengthy hiring process, it shows candidates that they are either disorganized or unserious about hiring someone for their organization. 

Job Seekers Also Share their Red Flags with Reference to their Interviewers

An interviewee’s hygiene is always brought into question during interviews but what about the hygiene and professional appearance of the interviewer? According to the study, for 76.8% of the respondents, a smelly interviewer is one of the biggest icks. 

No one likes an interviewer who isn’t prepared, but worse still is an interviewer who misidentifies the candidate. For 68.1% of respondents, being called the wrong name is one of the biggest red flags they’ve encountered, showing them that the interviewer wasn’t fully mentally present during the interview. 

Interviewees also expressed their dislike for group interviews, which is something known but often ignored in favor of saving time or assessing candidates in a group setting. Organizations that prefer conducting group interviews can benefit from reviewing the hiring process to determine whether they can make improvements to the procedure if not eliminate it. 

An Interviewer’s Behavior During the Interviews Is Just as Important as That of the Job Seeker

There is also the matter of the terminology and language used during the interview. Most candidates are advised to stay away from generic phrases in their resumes and interview responses, but interviewers often forget to apply the same logic to their roles as well. Through the survey, “Winner’s mindset,” “hustle,” and “work hard, play hard” were highlighted as some of the most off-putting things that a recruiter could say during the interview or in their job advertisement. 

Additionally, interviewers need to be careful about what they say and pay attention to how they present themselves during their interviews and other interactions with the applicants. Job seekers are put off by behaviors like the interviewer talking to other people off-camera or seeing family or other people walk into the background during the interview. While such incidents are unavoidable every once in a while, interviewers need to be just as careful as the candidates they are interviewing, in order to create a good first impression. 

From these survey results, it is obvious that interviews are not just a way for an organization to assess and recruit a candidate—the evaluation works the opposite way as well. Job seekers who are looking to commit the majority of their time and energy to an organization for the next few years prefer to make the commitment to a company that they will enjoy working at, so recruiters and interviewees need to focus on making a good first impression as well. 

Looking at the list of the job seekers’ biggest icks and making a change starting today could provide employers with key insight on what to address while training the recruitment team—it’s never too late to start.

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