After weeks of searching, applying and interviewing, you finally got the job offer you were hoping for. It’s an exciting moment and one you should acknowledge and celebrate.
But before you rush to accept a new role and close the door on other opportunities, it’s important to pause and examine your offer carefully.
Some red flags in a job offer aren’t always obvious at first glance, and overlooking them could leave you stuck in a role that’s not the right fit for you.
Madeline Mann, career coach and CEO of Self Made Millennial, warns that when considering a new job, you should avoid explaining away any red flags simply because you’re feeling optimistic about the opportunity.
Here are five common warning signs you shouldn’t ignore, and questions you should ask yourself before signing on the dotted line.
1. Volcano answers
Volcano answers, or surface-level responses, are something you shouldn’t ignore when vetting a new job opportunity.
For example, when you ask the interviewer a question and they provide a vague answer, leading you to believe there’s a lot more under the surface, this is a volcano answer, Mann explains.
Maybe you ask: “How do you like your manager?”
They then reply, “Oh… you know… we have different working styles but we figured it out…”
It’s important to remember that job interviewers represent the company, and they’re on their best behavior, too, not just the interviewee.
“When you hear a volcano answer… dig in deeper,” Mann says.
Ask, “‘What does that mean? What’s your work style? What’s her work style?’ Don’t ignore those volcano answers, because there’s usually a lot there,” she says.
2. Too many tasks
Another red flag to watch for is when a role combines too many responsibilities under one job title.
For example, if you’re in a job interview and they say, “We want you to handle all of the social media marketing, all of the graphic design, all of the video content, plus a bit of operations and project management,” be cautious.
“When you hear this, it’s usually a company that’s under-resourced, that also possibly has shaky leadership because they don’t really know how to design a team properly,” Mann says.
As a result, if you accept this type of role, expectations could feel like they’re through the roof, and being successful might often feel like an impossible feat.
Still, some people might like having a role with varying tasks, especially if they’re someone who thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where no two days are alike.
But before you sign on, Mann says to ask yourself, “What do I truly want in my next role? Am I looking for growth opportunities? Am I looking for learning opportunities?”
Either way, and maybe most importantly, make sure the workload you’re taking on is realistic and that you’re being compensated fairly for every hat they’re asking you to wear.
3. Too quick of a hiring process
While a quick hiring process might seem ideal, it can be a red flag if it’s moving too fast.
To be fair, some roles like retail, food service, or warehouse jobs might require fewer interviews, as they often prioritize availability, work ethic and the ability to quickly learn on the job over formal credentials or extended hiring processes.
But if it’s a more demanding role, like engineering, marketing, finance or software development—a hiring process that moves too quickly, without incorporating proper evaluation of your skills or discerning if you’re the right fit for the role, can be a red flag.
Mann says this could mean there’s a possibility that, “The role that they are ‘selling you on’ is undesirable.”
If this is the case, it could be a role with high turnover or burnout. In those instances, companies may focus more on selling the opportunity than truly vetting candidates. They’re just thinking, ‘All right, well, let’s just try to get more people through the door.’
That’s a red flag that you probably won’t want to take this job.
If you’re wondering if this is happening with a role you’re interviewing for, Mann says, ask yourself: “Did this feel too easy?” If so, it might be too good to be true.
4. Too pushy on signing quickly
Similarly, if a company offers you a job and pushes you to sign quickly, that can be cause for concern. Usually, a company will give you at least three days, or the weekend.
But if the company is rushing, this could look like the company saying, “We need to know by the end of the day,” or, “We need to know by tomorrow,” Mann explains.
“Most companies understand that you should hire slow, fire fast, and it really is showing a lack of good business acumen if they’re kind of rushing through the hiring process, because you’re likely to join a team of underperformers who are also rushed through the process and are not a good fit for their role,” she says.
Now, this could be different if the company has been communicative about why they need to fill the role quickly.
It might not be a red flag if you’ve been discussing the offer for a week, have hammered out all the details and all that’s left to do is sign, Mann explains.
But use caution: “If it’s a whirlwind hiring interview process, and then they go, ‘OK, but tell us by tomorrow,’ that’s a red flag that there’s a bit of some high-pressure tactics here,” she says.
If you suspect this to be true when you’re interviewing for a job, you might want to pause and ask yourself: Did they give me at least three days to understand what this role entails, so I can make an educated decision?
5. Unclear on your tasks
When interviewing for a job, if you notice that the role seems different from one interviewer to the next or if it doesn’t align with the job description, that’s a red flag.
When this happens, it could be a sign that the company doesn’t know what it wants.
“Success in the role could be a moving target,” Mann says.
This lack of clarity could also lead to you being terminated or laid off because they didn’t fully understand the role this position would play in the company when you were hired, she explains.
Eventually, leadership might think, “Oh, we’re not having you work on the right things. We’re not really using you properly,” and that can lead to a layoff.
If you’re in a job interview and feeling that your tasks seem unclear, ask yourself: Is this a role where I can thrive, or will the lack of clarity lead to frustration and uncertainty down the line?
Avoid falling into your own trap
If you already have a job, make sure you’re not missing any red flags when leaving one company for the next, especially if your current job is a toxic one.
“A lot of people who have a job will have this unnecessary optimism that the next job they will take will somehow fix their toxic situation, when really they’re just essentially repeating patterns of choosing the same type of company again, because that’s the easiest job to get,” Mann says.
“If that’s the case, especially if you’re running from a bad situation, you need to understand those patterns of the past and make sure you’re asking questions to unearth those things, make sure you’re not repeating it,” she explains.
To ensure you’re not leaving one toxic job for another, ask yourself, What are my values?
“Whatever your values, you need to get extremely straight on those. Have your top five and do not waver from those,” Mann says.
Knowing your values will help you determine if the new job is right for you.
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