3 red flags recruiters look out for in job candidates: They're how you ‘get blacklisted,’ says ex-Amazon recruiter

A majority of people, 95%, intend to look for a new job this year, according to a January 2024 survey by jobsite Monster. And many anticipate it will be challenging. More than half, 68% say they think it will be difficult to find one given the state of the economy.

While finding work opportunities can be challenging, there are ways to conduct yourself that could make doing so even harder.

"There's something called validation seeking behavior, aka desperation," says Lindsay Mustain, a former Amazon recruiter and current CEO of career coaching company Talent Paradigm. She adds that "it's that 'pick me' energy that actually repels the opportunity."

Here's how to avoid giving it off.

First, avoid applying to jobs in the company over and over again, especially in a short period of time.

If Mustain sees that "you've applied 20 times in the last two years and we've never hired you once," she says, that's a red flag. She immediately thinks, "something's wrong with that candidate for them to have not been hired by this point."

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Regardless of how much of a fit you might be for the job, a recruiter's likely not going to take the time to investigate your candidacy further.

"This is how you can kind of get blacklisted," she says. Try to limit your internal applications to a maximum of five roles that you closely align with in the company.

Another red flag for a recruiter: the "open to work" banner on LinkedIn.

Just by putting up that one signal on the site, "we already know that you need something," says Mustain. It means that you might not be as picky when it comes to your job opportunities, that you might not be moving your career forward in a measured