6 Warning Signs of a Toxic Workplace | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
What is a toxic workplace culture? How can we spot it? This is what I cover in today’s video.
Toxic workplace cultures are absolutely awful. If you’re not sure what one is, let me just quickly define it and give you some examples. The first one is what’s called “the hustle culture.” That is, you’re understaffed, under resourced, everyone, everything is falling behind. Work is piling up, and it’s on you to fix it.
Another way is, every man or woman for themselves, it’s that kind of a place. You work in recruiting, that can be the case in many offices. There are cliques where some people have power, some people are on the outside.Or there’s the authoritative culture, where it’s top down, we tell you what to do. Like, again, in recruiting. There was a situation I saw in a group on Facebook, where someone has been closing a lot of deals, but when they’re not able to do it, offers are coming in too low. And benefits aren’t really satisfactory. And basically, management says, “you know, sell the culture. You know, sell something else. You know, you can close these deals . . . ” and you really can’t. People aren’t stupid.
And lastly, there’s a fear-based component to them. So I’ll just simply say, those are some examples of what makes a toxic culture.
But the question is, when you’re interviewing, how can you avoid them? So the first way is, the interviewers, the managers criticize much too heavily the person who had the job previously, or the people you’ll be working with. They just dump on them relentlessly. And when you’re in a situation where you’re looking to join in, just remember, there’s going to be your time where you’re going to be that person too. So recognize that if they spend a lot of time being critical of your predecessor, that’s a problem. You can always ask, what do they do well? Anything that they did well, because you want to hear some of the positives. But they’re gonna immediately revert to the negative.
Next thing is, the corporate recruiters are going to be, shall we say, a little tricky about employment agreements you’ll need to sign when you start. Non-competes are one of those things that get sprung on people at the very end, and you’ve become invested in joining. And now, “SURPRISE!” We’ve got a non-compete agreement. And your first response would be, “Why didn’t you tell me about this at the beginning so I could ask and review it, it gives me the idea that you’re trying to put something over on me. Throw it back at them so they’re not blaming you and talking critically about you, because you wouldn’t sign it when they didn’t tell you about it, or let you have a lawyer review it.
Number three is, everyone seems to be in a bad mood, like all the time, and you just see it on their faces. They are depressed. They are angry. They are annoyed, you know, it’s a problem. And I don’t care if you’re doing this on Zoom or in person, you can see it on people’s faces that they’re in a bad mood.
The next thing is, the hiring manager doesn’t want you to talk to anyone on the team. And number five, interviewers refuse to admit that the company has any problems.
So with regard to the team, why do they . . . why do you think they’d want to separate you from the team. These are the people you’ll be working with. So the fact that they don’t want you to see that they’re in a bad mood, or they’re grouchy, or they have complaints about the workplace should be a signal to you. And in terms of the company, or shortcomings, every firm has problems, and that they’re not willing to disclose them. What are they hiding from you?
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And lastly, and this is a very common environmental thing. It’s cothroat there. “Dog eat dog. Every man or woman for themselves, and you can just feel it. So look for these kinds of signals that are going to suggest to you that maybe this isn’t the right place for you to go to work.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2100 episodes.
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