I remember starting a job with a company selling house maintenance products over the phone. I remember feeling really excited and ready to get stuck into one of my first jobs after college. The job asked for people with a ‘can-do’ attitude who were willing to be rewarded for hard work. I’d turned up, feeling that I was the person who could ‘hit the ground running’ and make some serious sales.
A couple of months in and the job was nothing like I thought. Rather than building relationships with new customers, we were pressured to follow a stiff script of phony phrases, had supervisors standing over us making inappropriate hand gestures and ridiculing staff in front of their colleagues if their targets weren’t met.
This was definitely one of the employers that had some serious red flags in its job posting that I didn’t realise at the time.
As well-intentional as recruiters mean to be, job vacancies often contain language or phrases that, reading between the lines, mean they could be a company you don’t want to work for.
A report by Revelio Labs reveals that there are certain phrases to be aware of that could be red flags in job postings.
Meaning you might not want to work for a certain employer.
These ‘red flaggers’ indicate that a job could either involve micro-managing, be very stressful or involve long hours – some of the aspects of a job many people wouldn’t welcome.
According to Revelio Lab’s report, most of the jobs advertising with these red flags are based in the marketing, sales and finance sectors.
Here are a handful of commonly-used phrases to be aware of and what they actually mean:
‘Fast-paced environment’
This is a common way of describing what an employer would be like to work for. This is a red flag in a job posting because it actually indicates that you’ll be under pressure.
A lot of pressure.
Maybe you’ll be set targets. While many people think this means there might be varied or interesting tasks, it could also mean people running around like blue-assed flies. It can indicate high expectations for staff to do a lot in a short time or be asked to do tasks quickly at the last minute.
‘Must be able to hit the ground running’
There’s nothing wrong with working on your own initiative and getting on with your work. These are good qualities to have. But, what this phrase in a job posting often means (from my experience and speaking with recruiters) is that you’ll be given lots to do, with minimal training. If any training at all! You’ll be expected to learn fast without having systems or processes explained to you. Or you’ll be shown a process once and expected to get it right away, without asking questions.
Ask yourself if you really want this type of pressure in your life.
‘Must meet deadlines without compromising on quality’
It goes without saying that deadlines are good in business and that, of course, a high quality of work is produced. Absolutely. But to state this in a job description can be a bit telling. Underlying this statement tells us that the employer may give unrealistic deadlines with no flexibility. This, coupled with high expectations, will be achieved only by people willing to quickly burn out.
‘Work hard and play hard’
This red flag phrase is more commonly seen in ads for roles in the marketing, recruitment and sales sectors. While it can sound appealing to some applicants for an employer to say they reward staff with team days out, dinners or nights out together, it can also mean this:
- Staff is expected to work overtime when needed without extra pay.
- Joining teams on days out, including on non-working days.
The new workforce of Gen Z is less interested in working long hours, working in the office or socialising with colleagues outside of work, according to a report.
Instead, they value other benefits, including staff well-being, free food and being paid a reasonable amount over the minimum wage and the ability to work autonomously.
The ‘work hard play hard’ concept was trendy at one point, but this is slowly starting to lose its shine and is almost always a red flag.
Bonus red flag – ‘competitive salary’
More often than not, when an employer mentions the salary is competitive – it isn’t! That’s the basic truth. It may be just over the minimum wage or based on commission, so look for clues around this. To the new generation coming into the workforce, as well as people looking to make a career change, pay is an important consideration. You need to know upfront what you’ll be paid – or at least given a guideline!
Have you come across any other red flags in job postings? Share them below.