Shawnee Love   •  
September 5, 2012

This blog kicks off a four part series on candidate signs and signals that should send you running the other way, or at least not making further contact with the candidate.

Let’s start with the obvious red (and orange) flags.

Red Flags

Basic info missing from the application or resume

Omitting an address or phone number for example usually means the candidate doesn’t want their location to be identifiable. The only reason candidates don’t want their location to be known or guesstimated is because they live way far away. Like Bangladesh or Swaziland.  You decide whether you want to go through the hassles of immigration and relocation.  If not, stick to applicants who provide complete contact information. Furthermore, any obvious omissions during the recruitment process should be a red flag since candidates want to showcase their best stuff.  It is pretty safe to assume if they aren’t showcasing it, it is completely absent or doesn’t show well.

Requiring multiple follow ups to make contact

I have made the mistake of following up with really strong candidates multiple times because I kindly worried that they didn’t get the message.  In this era of personal communication devices, there is no need for someone to miss a call or email, and if they want the job, the candidates should be looking for contact from you.  If a candidate doesn’t call or email you back, chances are s/he is either:

• Not interested,
• In the process of negotiating a better offer, or
• Simply bad at following up.

All three cases are not worth wasting time on.

Sending you texts

In “The Abuse of Texting” I rant about candidates texting hiring managers. Call me old school, but texting in this circumstance indicates a series lack of judgment and no knowledge of text-iquette. Texting is for brief messaging between people who know each other, but a complete turn off during the recruitment process.  Not only does the hiring manager not know the candidate and thus the text comes from a stranger, but using a text makes it seem like the job isn’t important enough to warrant a proper call or email. At best you can assume the candidate is immature and at worst you can assume unprofessional, poor judgment and laziness. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hire any of those qualities.

Orange Flag

Circumventing the application process

Candidates that ignore or go around the application process are typically doing it deliberately. If they simply are blundering, I can’t hire them because I need people who pay attention to details and respect the goals and processes of the company.  However, to rise above the crowd, candidates will:

• Call when you request no phone calls,
• Come in to drop off their application despite being asked to submit applications online,
• Fax, call, email, and text daily in order to ensure their “application was received”, and
• Skip steps of the process (e.g., They submit their application to the President’s email).

I admire persistence and creativity and occasionally a candidate really will set himself apart from the hundreds of other candidates through his extra efforts and you will end up with a passionate, motivated, resourceful superstar.  However, hiring candidates who exhibit this behaviour can also seriously backfire.

1. It is a good indicator of how the candidate handles other obstacles, so hiring manager beware.  You may be setting yourself up for the same kind of behaviour when the candidate wants a raise, promotion, or simply a new project.
2. The dark side of this persistence can be aggression, rudeness and a sense of entitlement, qualities to be avoided.
3. I had one candidate recently who upon receiving the email letting him know he was not shortlisted, sent an email to the owners of the company complaining that his application was ignored and no one returned his calls. Trying to make the recruiter look bad speaks to the candidate’s poor ethics, and inability to work in a team.  Proceed at your peril.
   

That about sums up the basic flags to be aware of. Come back over the next three weeks to learn about specific red flags in:

1. Resumes
2. Interviews
3. Reference Checks

And if you have a red flag to add or a question, please leave a comment.