Having a good resume is only half the battle to landing a good job. Like most people, you probably want to have a secure and fulfilling career, and for that to happen, you can’t just work for any company that will have you. You will come across a wide range of companies during your job search. Some will be better than others. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one that is the perfect match for you. But if you’re not careful, you might end up signing a contract with the kind of company you should have avoided entirely.
That’s why it’s important to learn how to spot the types of companies you should never work for. No matter how desperate you are to get a job or how much you want to quit your current one, you’re essentially choosing a place where you will spend most of your waking hours, and you want it to be at least bearable.
Taking a job with the wrong kind of employer won’t just make you miserable. It will also sabotage your chances at a successful career. Even if the role seems great and the money is good, you need to dig a little deeper.
So, how can you know which companies to avoid? Keep reading, and you’ll find out.

The Revolving Door
You’ll obviously want to steer clear of companies with high turnover rates, and that’s why we’re putting them on the top of our list. Who wants to spend all that time sending out resumes, writing cover letters, and going to interview only to have to do it all over again in a few months?
But how do you spot them? Well, if they’re always advertising the same jobs on their website and other platforms, that’s a big red flag. People don’t leave jobs because they enjoy them so much. There must be a reason.
In this case, the reason is usually that the company doesn’t deliver on its promises during the interview process. No matter how appealing the interviewers make the company seem, you should at least look for reviews and use platforms like LinkedIn to find former employees who can tell you what it’s like to work there.
The high turnover rate could also be a sign of a toxic company culture where employee wellbeing is disregarded to maximize profit.


Companies with Poor Culture
You go online to read some company reviews and only find bad comments, one-star ratings, and complaints from former employees. Maybe you even find someone in your network who worked there, and they tell you it was a nightmare.
Now, having a couple of bad reviews isn’t that big of a red flag. Any company can have a couple of disgruntled employees, but if it’s more than a couple, they didn’t just come out of the blue.
We already emphasized the importance of company culture, and we’re going to do it again because it’s something people tend to overlook. It may not seem like a deal-breaker, but it shows that the company does not value its employees. Maybe they expect them to constantly work overtime without getting paid, don’t acknowledge their contribution, or don’t respect their input.
There are a lot of factors that contribute to poor company culture – poor communication, micromanaging, bullying, hyper-competition, just to name a few. But we don’t need to go through all of them. The point is, do you really want to take a job with a company that employees hate so much they’d be willing to go online and write negative reviews about it?
Just imagine the level of frustration you have to reach. We’re sure that you’ve had jobs in the past that you were less than enthusiastic about, but when you finally quit, did you feel the need to write a bad review? Probably not. That’s why bad reviews are such a strong indicator that this is a company you should never work for.

Companies with No Clear Direction
The company seems promising, but you can’t get a sense of its mission and long-term plans during the interview. The answers are brief and generic. This is another red flag many people overlook. It may not seem like a big deal, but it could be a sign of poor leadership, organizational instability, and high turnaround in executive roles.
This means that as an employee, you will have to deal with constantly changing expectations from management. Plus, working for a company with no clear direction is not only frustrating. You’d be putting your financial stability at risk. In the worst case, you’ll be looking for another job soon. But even if it doesn’t come to that, when you work for a company that doesn’t know where it’s going, the chances for bonuses and promotions are pretty slim.

Companies That Don’t Give You Room for Growth
Career counselors always preach about the importance of taking initiative at work and expanding your professional skills, but some companies don’t offer much in terms of learning and growth.
Let’s say you got a job offer for a position that sounds really good. You like the pay, and your coworkers seem like nice people you see yourself grabbing a beer with once in a while. But if you asked the hiring manager about opportunities for career advancement and they evaded your questions, you’ll want to reconsider. You could be about to accept a dead-end job.
Even if you make enough money and your coworkers are friendly, taking a dead-end job isn’t good for your long-term career goals. You’ll be doing the same thing day after day, so you won’t have a chance to develop new skills. At some point, you’ll want to make more money than this job currently pays, and then you’ll see that you don’t have much leverage to negotiate. Looking for a different position will be difficult because your skillset could use an update, and potential employers will wonder why that is and assume that you lack drive and initiative. Then you’ll realize why so many people get stuck in dead-end jobs.