New research has been released in response to the recent news about younger job applicants ghosting their employers, also known as “career catfishing”. This new research examines what makes job seekers turn down a job opportunity. It is easy to see the connection between these two.
StandOut CV is a great example of an online CV company that often conducts quirky studies. StandOut CV’s survey of 1,092 UK adults and US adults has revealed the most common red flags in job interviews and job advertisements. It’s often the dress sense of the candidate or their ability to come up with a reasonable answer that grabs attention. Who can forget the ‘demure’ job interview? It’s refreshing to turn the tables and ask the opposite question.
Candidates are reportedly most concerned about jobs that only offer the minimum amount of annual leave. This is the standard in the UK at 28 days. Candidates from the US, where employers set their own paid leave policies, must have skewed this result.
Let’s now move on to something else more interesting.
The second most popular choice was “being forced or encouraged to like the social media content of other employees”. This is a turn-off for 64.6% of candidates and they consider it “very icky”.
The thumbs-down came from 62.7% for a lack of diversity in a company’s “about us” section and a small mention of DEI.
Personnel Today’s office was on board for the next “ick-factor”. It was either a job advertisement or an interviewer who said “we’re a family”. The class of 2025 is not a fan of being patronised, and they can tell it from a distance. This does not apply, however, to candidates who are related to their prospective employers, as in the case of Succession wannabes.
Some of the buzzwords and phrases used in job adverts were deemed to be offensive. “Winner’s Mindset” was one such phrase that would make a third or more of the applicants into catfishers. Another large group was put off by “Work hard, play hard”.
The study found that interviewer body odor would be disastrous for firms looking to hire skills. Group interviews and interviewers who mispronounce names also caused a negative response from respondents.
It was up to speculation whether job applicants would rather not have a job than be interviewed with someone who spoke in “icky” terms or sounded a little whiffy.
