'Don't talk s**t' about your previous job if you want to get hired, says Deloitte executive

• Deloitte's Leo Alexandru said candidates who "don't talk s**t about their previous job" stand out.
• He listed 9 other tips in a Twitter thread to help people do well in job interviews.
• Alexandru also said he doesn't want "mindless robots" or a "yes man" on his team.

A Deloitte executive said candidates who "don't talk s**t about their previous job" stood out to him in interviews.

Leo Alexandru, a Romania-based CTO, said workers changed roles for reasons including higher pay, better opportunities for development, or their boss: "Sometimes, it's just not the right fit. This doesn't mean you should discredit a company just because you want to leave it."

He posted a series of tweets on Friday offering 10 tips to help candidates stand out in job interviews. His comments come amid mass layoffs in the tech sector that have left tens of thousands of workers looking for new roles. 

Twitter axed more than half its workforce after Elon Musk took over in late October. Less than a week later, Meta laid off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its staff, while DoorDash also made 1,250 job cuts in November.

According to data from job site Indeed, Deloitte had the highest number of new tech job postings between November 18 to December 2, with 1,774 postings per 1 million jobs on the site.

—Leo Alexandru (@theleoalexandru) December 9, 2022

 

To boost the chances of getting hired, Alexandru offered tips from his experience of hiring more than 100 people during his career. He said he can tell "in the first 9 minutes" if an applicant "has what it takes." 

Alexandru said: "I don't want to hire mindless robots, but people who I can trust to get the right job done." In another tweet he added: "If you want to be on my team, I need you to solve things, not blame other people." 

Other qualities and characteristics he looked for included honesty, the right attitude, chemistry, communication, not being a "yes man", preparation, asking questions, passion and a proven track record.

The executive also said that he cared "less about skills and more about attitude" and that "skills can be taught, attitude is deep-rooted."

Deloitte did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.