There Are No Green Flags in Interviews
Play It Safe
Summary: There are no green or checkered flags when interviewing, so play it safe.
We all know about the “red flags” in a job interview; you as a candidate can say something that immediately disqualifies you from the whole interviewing process.
Think about this question from a recruiter on a first call: “why are you looking to move from your current job?” (Incidentally I think this is a terrible question but that’s for another article) and let’s say that it’s because your boss is an impossible person to work with or toxic or you have a fundamental disagreement about how to do your job.
If explained properly, some people may see the answer as a positive, as in you were honest and tried to work within a difficult situation or whatever.
But the thing is, even if they see it as a positive, this answer to this question by itself won’t guarantee you a job offer. There are no specific answers that are “checkered flags” (meaning you say it and the job is yours).
On the contrary, some people may see your answer as a red flag and after going through the motions, they just won’t call you back.
Even if assuming that the likelihood of people red-flagging a particular answer may be small, the total risk = impact * probability is huge since the effect is failing the process right away.
So the logical strategy is to give a safe answer. If recruiters want to complain about canned answers, then don’t ask canned questions.
It’s Good to Stand Out
This is a bit of a counterpart to the previous section (but not really).
If an interview process goes typically: recruiter call -> filter technical interview -> on-site, then the candidate’s objective for the initial recruiter call and filter call is to pass them (they are pass/fail) and go to the “on-site” interviews (assuming after the recruiter call you are still interested).
Once in the on-site interviews, you not only have to “pass” to qualify as a possible candidate to get the offer; you have to do better than the other candidates.
Interviewers like candidates that standout in a positive way; they are agreeable and the call felt like a conversation. So it’s good for you to say things that are a bit “risky” or opinionated in order to stand out from the bland crowds. You don’t have to say anything that can go into red flag territory but stick to technical opinions that look somehow controversial but really are not that controversial.
Job interviews are a bit like those tv shows where contestants do cooking/decorating/whatever and in every episode they send home one or two of them. The optimal strategy is to play safe the first episodes, where they send home people that didn’t follow instructions or made big mistakes. Once the field is thinned and it’s down to a few contestants, they have to take some risks and stand out in order to win.