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Vetting Against Job Search Scams

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OLIVIA JOHNSON

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Vetting Against Job Search Scams

Inspired by an Anonymous commenter, here are some tips on vetting against job search scams in your Job Search;

Be careful of scams. When doing job searches always Vet first! My rule of thumb is if you even second guess it then don't engage. Even if it's just a hunch, trust your gut.

Some tips on vetting opportunities and recruiters:

Look for misspellings, incorrect grammar, personal email accounts, anything unusual or that just doesn't make sense.

Research the company - Check out their website, LinkedIn profile, how many employees they have, where are the employees located, etc.

IF outreach from a Recruiter, research the Recruiter - How long have they been in business, have they worked with legit companies, etc.

Look at Reviews - Take a look at Glassdoor and see if there are any reviews from past or present employees.

Google IT - Google always works...Google for reviews or even just ask if the company or opportunity is a scam.

Here are some other indicators of scams;

Offering you the position without an interview! Though we would ALL love for this to happen, we are not in this kins of market. Not only are we not here, on average the current interview process as at least 2 rounds or more of interviews before being presented with an offer. This should be an automatic pass as tempting as it may be.

Sense of urgency for you to reply or act. Most companies, recruiters share the information needed and leave it in your hands on if you want to respond or not. IF being pushed to respond right away, especially if with a specific date/time, today, now, etc. this could be a scam.

Asking for money of payment for service. This one goes without saying but some scammers are crafty. In 2024, you DO NOT have to pay a Recruiter (unless you specifically choose to hire a Headhunter who specifically works to find you a job.).

I hope this sheds some light on some indicators of scams.

Hit the reply button and share any scams you have encountered to warn the FGB community!

Coach Olivia

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  1. Anonymous

    This is great advice and reminders for us all. Thank you so much for sharing your insights!

  2. So Busy

    Very helpful! Thank you.

  3. Anonymous

    Great tips! Several things I have found helpful if contacted by a recruiter are: 1) check that the email address looks legitimate and from a legitimate company (no gmail or personal email) 2) look up the recruiter on Linked In and also on the site of any company they say they work for. 3) Sometimes a scammer will pose as a recruiter for a legitimate company. You can always call the company and see if the recruiter works there. I did this once and discovered that the person was a scammer.

  4. Deb Allen

    True, I have been a corporate recruiter for years and have had my LI profile hacked in the past. Someone was using my name/profile picture, etc to recruit for my employer, but getting candidates to pay for their own background checks. This was prior to Covid so people thought WFH roles were unique and jumped all over the opportunities (unfortunately). Once they realized they were scammed they tried to force my employer to honor the "job offers" which was never going to work. Change your passwords often!!

  5. Anonymous

    Thank you for making this.

    For people facing redundancy we are very desperate for a job.

    However, we need to trust our gut and make sure we do not divulge any personal information to scam artists or pay for anything .

    No job will ask for your social security or ask you to pay for resources .

  6. OLIVIA JOHNSON

    Hi there! Definitely agree. There is no safeguard to complete protection from scammers but you can mitigate the risk but at least taking this additional step to see if there are any clear indicators or fraud, like only having 1 employee or having zero connections, etc. IF a scammer is really good there may be no way to catch it but at least this can weed out the ones that didn't even try to hard :). Thanks for adding some insights to this to expand on this further.

  7. OLIVIA JOHNSON

    Thanks for your reply! This would probably reduce scammers, but could also reduce potential employers. I would weigh the options and then decide.

  8. OLIVIA JOHNSON

    Update: Also just thought to include...if you go to the company page in LinkedIn, see if you have any connections in common that you can reach out to and ask about their experience.

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