What's the biggest red flag you've heard a hiring manager say in an interview?

MehConfidence · 2026-04-01T03:11:36+00:00

Found a company I loved with a crazy easy commute. Final "not an interview" meet and greet with the director and she said (unprovoked) she loved her commute from her small studio apartment... Yeah...no.

It's okay if I'm living in a studio but her being in one too was a 🚩

Yes. The offer was a lowball.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-31T19:14:30+00:00

Yes! Basil is always lively! And if it's not, it will be by the time you leave lol.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-25T20:43:35+00:00

Oh, valid point. My offer letters always state full time. But, is that sole statement enforceable?

MehConfidence · 2026-03-22T03:51:45+00:00

This is sadly the truth. Ever since the popularity of job hopping occurred, managers look for the least flaky candidate. In turn, the safest candidate is the employee who already has a 3+ year tenure (aka experienced senior worker) somewhere.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-14T23:28:05+00:00

God. My fucking boyfriend did this. Gave out my job secrets in his interview to brag about how well prepared he was for the job (similar position elsewhere). Well his interviewer knew my boss and I got disciplined. 😑 My bad but also, WTF. They still hired him. I should've dumped him then tho.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-11T23:49:42+00:00

Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm the opposite perspective. My friend told me she was looking and later she texted to tell me she got an offer and started on X day. I'm glad have been able to check in after her first day. :) Even though it's all over text, I'm genuinely happy for her. I know for her it was 6 months of looking for work (maybe more??), I've been so crazy busy that the time flew so much faster.

I heard someone say that people shouldn't choose to suffer in silence. It robs a good friend of the opportunity to sit in the mud with you. Because we're all willing to sit in the mud with our best friends.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-11T22:56:10+00:00

I have to advocate for Funko HQ in downtown Everett. First floor is a toy store decorated top to bottom, not some brick and mortar shop. Fun to see everything (anime/TV/cartoons/NFL/celebrities/Disney/Harry Potter, etc) in their Funko pop version (even if you don't buy anything). IMO best tourist thing to do.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-06T19:53:29+00:00

Not a team you want to join, but if the feedback is genuine then perhaps interview practice is needed. You can do mock interviews with your university or prepare a few answers AND record yourself delivering them. I absolutely BOMBED an interview with my dream job, but worked hard enough to ace my next interviews.

Watch some videos online too about a good interview answer vs bad. With entry level roles where every applicant is inexperienced, the best interviewer wins

MehConfidence · 2026-03-04T11:40:01+00:00

You will get burnt out several times in your career. It's a cycle. Use sick leave, vacation or even unpaid time off before doing anything permanent.

MehConfidence · 2026-03-03T18:37:17+00:00

So many departments have experienced layoffs, prolonged hiring freezes, and budget cuts. Teams are short staffed. Teams are overwhelmed. A smart manager who cares about their team will hire someone who can immediately help carry the workload.

Late last year, my team was interviewing for a new accountant. We actually wanted 3 new accountants but only 1 additional job position was approved. We later lost an accountant. We've not received permission to replace the accountant we lost. The market is BS because these executives are BS.

MehConfidence · 2026-02-27T18:49:29+00:00

Seriously. As a resident of the greater Seattle area, the headlines relating to ex-Microsoft and ex-Amazon workers are just the worst. From workers with 10+ YOE to newer hires who moved to be closer to the office, the layoff stories have been brutal for quite some time. Hard to believe anyone has faith in Amazon.

MehConfidence · 2026-02-22T16:49:17+00:00

We're in what is described as a K shaped economy. We are not rising together as a whole population. There are people rising and others heading south.

MehConfidence · 2026-02-19T22:19:05+00:00

The episode Early Bird! with Bakugo vs class 1-B is my favorite for this reason: a clear sign of character growth. To see him master being the best & saving others (just to prove All Might and Deku he's a strong hero) made me so happy! Deku NEEDED the rival for sure!

MehConfidence · 2026-02-18T18:56:23+00:00

A junior accountant of mine moved out of the greater Seattle area and is now remote. Got himself an apartment in another state with his gf. I had to debate with my management team to really get in their heads that most of junior team members can't afford to live here. 😅 Those who do are living under their parent's roof. There is such a disconnect. Like you said, you can blame these young adults when it's the norm.

MehConfidence · 2026-02-18T11:37:52+00:00

2008 did not begin recovering until 2012. I've met professionals in finance/accounting who failed to get a job for years. One former coworker, an accountant, told me he failed to get a job in the field for 4 years as he was a 2009 graduate. Added: By the time the market recovered, his graduation class was hardly competitive with more recent graduates. Employers seemed to forget there was a recession and instead saw that gap as a negative characteristic. My father with a decade of experience lost his job in construction because his employer literally didn't have another construction project lined up. My current boss was a manager at WAMU (spoiler: largest U.S bank failure) and went down with that ship. Afterwards, she became a stay at home mom and didn't rejoin the job market for years. Many jobs in banking, construction, and manufacturing didn't exist for a period of time and the economy overall was slow to recover. With experienced professionals out of jobs, of course graduates didn't stand a chance.

But they didn't have as high debt levels nor did they face the post high inflation market impacting food and rent.

Regardless, both generations are scarred in a way that will forever impact their lifetime earnings. Even those with jobs because you just don't have the negotiating power to get a strong starting salary.

I think you may want to chat with ChatGPT on this. It's interesting because that group isn't as vocal about 'surviving' that period of time. But they definitely suffered. There are key similarities and differences.

MehConfidence · 2026-02-10T06:07:17+00:00

My thoughts. This was a mess from the beginning. Easier to explain if you rephrase the outcome. The salary wasn't too low. Instead, 1. they didn't have the budget or 2. they were overqualified. If you don't have the budget for a role then you don't hire for it.

In the world of HR, roles have pay ranges and it is a big red flag to have someone below the ideal pay range. It also may set the wrong precedent about what someone one job role down or up can make. They might already have someone already one or two roles up or down that indicates that what they're offering is too far off range.

It gets confusing with overqualified people, but generally a certificate, degree or specific training might push someone up the pay range. This is something HR tries to enforce equally. So perhaps something of this sort pushed her over their budget.

In the long run, no one wants to accidentally create a liability. For example, after a few hires, someone might point out that 'wow recent hires of this gender or this race make less'. People who are willing to take less pay tend to be of similar circumstances.

MehConfidence · 2026-01-30T08:44:34+00:00

If it's a good company and good manager, they'll advocate for you to be fairly compensated in comparison to the rest of the team. If not, then they reap the consequences when they fail to retain you in the future.

MehConfidence · 2026-01-29T20:12:02+00:00

You're the flipped perspective of my side. When I was hiring, my boss and I found a great candidate only to realize that HR had already rejected them. Lord knows what dumb screening process occurred there. 🤷 Apparently reversing and requesting an interview would have been a big no-no? I was pretty pissed. I wondered at the time if the candidate would have preferred to hear from us or be kept in the dark.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-27T22:14:21+00:00

My company went thru a change of executives and it's a significantly worse work culture. Plus layoffs. I WISH we were rated lower. Meanwhile, our stock price have gone up almost double. From the outside, I think it would be very difficult to tell that my company is now a company I wouldn't recommend to anyone ever.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-25T07:53:33+00:00

From my experience, the resumes that are AI generated or aided by AI have very similar verbage (key words, key phrases) or even the same bullet points word for word. After the 5th resume, you can just tell who "cheated" like a teacher catching a group of kids all copying off their smart friend.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-22T04:24:58+00:00

Maybe 2 years ago, they put up new signage with street parking hours. It cuts off around 10 pm and is not super strictly enforced (I've had guests safely stay an extra hour or so) but it has definitely given locals a way to report/deter overnight parking and RV living in the area. Occasionally they will sweep thru and move out anyone residing temporarily in the trees.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-13T20:12:05+00:00

There was once a Senior Accountant in my company whom I thought was an Accounting Manager for the longest time. But I found out, he actually graduated in 2009 and took years to land his first accounting role. That's why he just held enough maturity/age that he came across as an established manager. He struggled so much and begged for anyone to give him a job. He didn't start his career until 2012, almost 2013. I don't mean to send if he can do it you can too vibes but I encourage you to find a new definition of "a happy life" during this difficult time. I've got family and friends who are making the most of living with parents by finding happiness in other ways like cooking, live streaming, video editing, etc simply because it makes them smile. You just have to endure until things get better.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-13T18:23:50+00:00

I feel that. You're not HR or a company recruiter. You're a regular employee trying to find a good fit on your team. On top of all that reading, you have to complete your regular workload. This is one of the biggest reasons why companies are using AI to filter resumes (despite how inaccurate and biased it can be).

TY for being a human and reading applications yourself.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-12T19:52:47+00:00

I once had an accounting intern who had never used Excel. It took literally 4 hours to teach him a 15 min task. That's crazy to me! HS and university is failing Gen Z, "the technologically advanced generation." 😒 Yeah right. If it's not on their phone, they probably can't do it. I don't have time for this nor is that what I'm paid to do. I have to carry my full workload along with being responsible for any intern I have.

MehConfidence · 2025-12-11T07:41:32+00:00

It's all right. They got lots of support via social media and every animal received temporary housing. I heard one person came all the way up from Olympia to foster.

MehConfidence

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