Job interviewees that focus only on the negatives when discussing former employers are regarded as potential red flags, serial entrepreneur David Royce shares with CNBC Make It. He often asks the question, “tell me about your previous employer — what are some things that they could do to improve,” to gauge potential candidates. And the key to answering the question is by offering solutions. Instead of just complaining, Royce looks for responses that include constructive criticism, offer solutions, and examples. Those that focus primarily on complaints can affect the morale of the entire team, he adds.
Serial entrepreneur David Royce has been building companies for years. Royce founded or co-founded three companies in the pest control industry beginning in 2008, and owned a company in the industry before that. He is now on sabbatical as he figures out his next career move.
In his decades building businesses, Royce has identified some immediate red flags when interviewing job candidates. One is negative talk about former employers. “It’s totally okay to have both positive and negative things” to say about them, he says. But if a candidate focuses mostly on the negative, “then the problem is likely” that person.
As such, Royce has a question he likes to ask people he’s interviewing to suss out their disposition.