Between 2014 and 2024, the number of Philippine tech companies has tripled, with the fintech and e-commerce sectors proudly leading the charge.
It’s no surprise then that tech talent in the Philippines continues to thrive—giving local and overseas companies several reasons to consider recruiting some of the best in the country.
But before you come rushing in to hire, it’s important to keep in mind a few hiring red flags. These can save you a lot of trouble and headaches along the way.
1. Vague or over-hyped experience
Ever spoken to someone who speaks in generalities about their past work and/or experience?
They may say things like, “I helped build an e-commerce platform,” but can’t discuss specific workflows in detail. Or, perhaps they’ve written big-sounding job titles in their CV that sound good but don’t line up well with their actual experience.
Resume inflation is common in competitive job markets. Think twice about hiring someone who says they led projects but can’t walk you through the thought process behind key decisions they made.
This also applies to those who list trending technologies as skills but can’t articulate or show how they put those skills into practice. Strong candidates can provide detailed examples and scenarios to show they can walk the talk.
2. Weak technical foundations
There can also be disconnect between purported experience and actual performance, especially when it comes to senior roles.
Consider a scenario where you interview a senior developer who has, at best, middling responses to these questions:
- Can you walk me through a time you refactored a legacy codebase? What trade-offs did you consider?
- How do you decide when to use composition over inheritance in object-oriented design?
- How do you handle performance bottlenecks — can you give an example where you optimized a system under load?
- What’s your process for debugging a flaky or intermittent issue in production?
A flashy resume with the right sprinkling of buzzwords can help a candidate get noticed. But if they perform poorly in skills assessment or have disappointing answers to technical questions, think twice before getting them onboard.
3. Poor communication skills
Technical brilliance without effective communication can create bottlenecks, especially in the highly collaborative world of tech and remote work environments.
While not an automatic deal breaker, poor communication skills can cause long-term problems if left unaddressed.
During the interview, pay attention to the words and imagery they invoke while talking about their work experience.
Additionally, try to find out how they communicated—if at all—with team members and non-technical stakeholders in their previous roles. Ask how they translated developer speak to language that the layperson can understand.
4. Overemphasis on employment perks
Watch out for candidates who focus the conversation excessively on benefits like remote work, stock options, flexible working hours, and a professional development budget—to name a few.
You may be potentially hiring someone who cares more about the perks rather than getting real work done.
If they’re not even curious about the day-to-day workflow and the people they’ll potentially work with, that’s a clear sign to move on to the next candidate.
Although companies nowadays need to offer more than just a paycheck, it’s still important to find someone who takes a genuine interest in your company’s mission and goals.
5. Job-hopping without growth
Tech professionals can move in and out of jobs just as fast as the industry itself. After all, over 80% of tech startups usually fail.
Refusing to hire someone solely because they’ve had a string of jobs in a hot minute may be unwise, but there are caveats. Look out for a trend of job-hopping without career growth.
In the interview, make sure to press further when they simply say “it wasn’t a good fit.” Ask them to elaborate further and describe the specific situation they were in. Be also mindful of candidates who play the blame game when explaining how they moved on from previous jobs.
If they jump ship at the first sign of trouble, who’s to say they’ll stick around with you when things get challenging?
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