How to Spot a Bad Boss During an Interview?

Do you have a bad experience dealing with an incompetent leader/manager? Did you leave the job due to an unhealthy workplace relationship with your senior manager? Are you troubled by bad impressions from your previous work? Is there anyway you can help avoid hopeless bosses? Perhaps, No.

At some point of time in your professional career, you might run into a toxic boss, who pushes you to the limit. Dealing with such kind of bosses often makes you want to quit and go home at once.

Managers are undoubtedly one of the main reason for employee turnover.  Gallup report in 2015 revealed that, managers account for up to 70 percent of variance in engagement. This highlights the importance of a manager’s role in winning over employees to stay longer in their jobs.

While nobody wants to deal with a bad boss, can you really spot their existence during an interview? Below are several hacks revealing the tell-tale signs of a bad boss, before you accept the job offer:

They do not appreciate punctuality

As a good candidate, you do your best to not arrive late for the interview session. Sometimes you even manage to arrive 30-minutes earlier than the designated time, to allow more preparation time for yourself. You wait patiently for hours, in front of the hiring manager’s office. An hour passes by, but nobody invites you to come to the interview room soon.

When someone finally approaches you, they just ask you to come in without offering any apology for making you wait so long. If you experience this situation, do not bother continuing the recruitment process. If they cannot value your time, how will they value your contributions in the future?

They have bad word choice and tone

Do you feel uneasy when having conversations with your boss? Is there something strange in the way they communicate their opinions? Do you think that they are hiding something from you?

Pay attention to how hiring managers choose their words and use the tonality during communication. If you sense discomfort or feel intimidated by their statements, then there must be something wrong with the boss’ personality. Identify if they are willing to make an effort to engage in the conversation, to know you personally and professionally.  

They are self-absorbed people

People who are too self-absorbed have a tendency to look only at themselves and do not care about others’ opinion. This kind of person is not flexible and open to new ideas as they think that they are always right.

If the hiring manager keeps interrupting your words or telling you that your idea is wrong, during the interview, then it is a red-flag signalling that they will be difficult to work with.

They distrust others

A bad boss shows a sense of distrust to candidates even during the early interview rounds. They are not only difficult to deal with, but also have a tendency to blame others for particular problems.

If you do not want to waste your time dealing with such a toxic person, then you might need to retreat from the job.

They are highly disorganised

Pay attention to every detail, right from your first arrival to your way to the interview room. If you spot messy desks and unorganised files spread everywhere, or mountains of paperwork piling up towards the corner of the room, then these are indicators of an incompetent manager.

It could only get worse when it turns out, that they do not have a copy of your resume to conduct the interview rounds smoothly. If you are stuck in such a scenario, then you might need to reconsider your candidacy.

They are disrespectful

A good boss always want to know potential candidates personally, and not just as mere worker or contributor for business growth. They are willing to initiate meaningful conversations to know the future hire’s personality better. If they do not respect you at the beginning, how could they manage to do it towards the end?

These tell-tale signs of a bad boss, should help you decide better if you still want to join the company for an employer brand or you would like to choose an employer with whom you would be happy working for? Decide right and choose wise.

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