David Royce has hired many people over the course of his two-decade career. The serial entrepreneur has founded or co-founded three companies in the pest control industry, including his most recent, Aptive Environmental, which he co-founded in 2015 and now has locations in more than 5,000 cities, according to LinkedIn. A private equity firm acquired a major stake in the company in 2024 and Royce is currently taking a sabbatical year to consider what he wants to do next.

When it comes to interviewing job candidates, Royce considers characteristics like “are they compelling?” he says. “Can they be passionate? And can they transfer that energy to motivate me to want to be around that person?”

There are also a couple of red flags he looks out for. Here’s what makes him question a candidate’s viability.

But there’s a limit to how many short stints a candidate can exhibit.

“If every job only lasts six to 12 months” in their past, he says, that’s too much. It makes him wonder if this person gets bored easily or if they never jell with their teammates. It also makes him wonder how long that person will last in his own company.

“You probably can expect about that same amount of longevity with your own firm,” he says, which will mean having to go through the interview process again soon thereafter.

Royce also pays attention to how candidates talk about their previous employers.

“It’s totally okay to have both positive and negative things” to say about an employer, he says. But if the candidate is emphatically leaning into the negative aspects of their previous jobs “then the problem is likely the employee,” he says.  

Those kinds of people can bring down the morale of the whole team. They can “spoil your culture and then potentially force out the best talent,” he says.

When hiring, “I want to make sure somebody is generally positive,” he says, “looking for opportunities or ways to improve.” That’s the kind of employee that can succeed and help the company move forward.

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