Interview Mistake: Trash Talking Co-Workers
Complaining about co-workers is an immature and dangerous temptation.
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I’ve seen these behaviors too many times.
Me: “So I see you’ve been at XYZ company for about 6 months now. Why are you thinking about leaving?”
Candidate: “Oh, because my boss is an idiot. This guy has no idea what he’s doing.”
Literally insulting past co-workers? Horrible. But not everyone is that blatant. Sometimes they try to subtly put a spotlight on others failures instead.
Me: “How did you decide which project was more important?”
Candidate: “My leadership didn't know how to prioritize. They could never decide what was important. They changed their minds every few days.”
Or similarly, they’d try to distinguish themselves by throwing their co-workers under a bus.
Me: "And what role did you play on that task?"
Candidate: "Honesty, I played all the roles. My co-workers rely heavily on me because I'm by far the best engineer. They don't have the strongest development skills. They'd be lost without me.”
What Are You Saying To Your Interviewer When You Complain?
The person interviewing you doesn’t know your current and past co-workers. When you say “my boss” - they picture your future boss at their company. When you say “my peer” - they’re picturing the nice woman on your future team. You picture your current co-workers, they picture you with theirs.
Now put yourselves in the shoes of a hiring manager. Are you more likely to want to hire someone if they say that they love their boss and strive to make them successful? Or perhaps if they say that their boss is an idiot?
It feels obvious when I say it like that, right? Because are you more excited to work with someone who might say nice things about you, or someone who might complain behind your back?
You have biases about your current team, but your future manager doesn’t know them. Instead, they’re going to form a bias based on how you talk. They’ll assume this is how you always talk. If you complain about your current boss, your future boss will assume you'll continue to do the same. If you complain about your current team members, there's no reason to believe that you'll stop in your new role.
What should you do instead?
