How to Avoid/Spot Online Job Scams
Article by Better Job Search Team Member, Jacob Yothment
Best Practices For Detecting and Avoiding Job Scams
When you’re on the job hunt, one of the most frustrating things you can come across is a scam. Just when you think you might’ve found your next opportunity, you soon find out that you’d be soliciting your friends on Facebook to buy some non-FDA-approved weight-loss meds.
Yeah, it’s super annoying.
However, with a little bit of knowledge and research, it is avoid and spot online scams. Here are a few tips on how to do that!
1. Be Careful What You Say on Social Media
If you’re currently looking for a job, your friends and family on social media might be a great place to start looking. However, you should avoid what you say on social media or else you may get bombarded with scams.
Awhile back when I was looking for a job, I posted on LinkedIn that I was in the market.
Big mistake.
I had one friend reach out with an opportunity that was legitimate, and then I received countless requests to join an MLM scheme. If you think somebody can help you find a job, private message them directly to ask to meet with them for coffee or to call them.
2. Be Choosy About Who Follows You
It goes without saying that if you don’t know a person, you shouldn’t follow them or let them follow you. However, this sometimes gets muddled in the world of LinkedIn.
For example, an alumna from my alma mater requested to follow me on LinkedIn. Although I did not recognize her from my time in school, I accepted the request thinking that I just had a lapse in memory. Within a few minutes she sent me an inquiry to be part of her MLM.
Although LinkedIn is a great source of knowledge, and one of the best job search sites out there, make sure that the only people you let follow you are people you know.
3. Research Everyone and Every Company
Ah yes, another article where we are going to sing the praises of Glassdoor. In case you didn’t know, Glassdoor is a website where people post ratings and reviews of the places where they have worked. For EACH AND EVERY company that you consider interviewing with, research them first on Glassdoor.
Scroll straight to the one-star reviews and looks for words like “scam,” “scheme” and “MLM.” You’ll be able to find testimonies from the people that worked there, and you can see what they did to them.
Don’t be distracted by high volumes of five-star reviews. Many scammers are aware that people are going to do research on Glassdoor, so they review bomb their company with fake reviews that say nothing but good things. If you see a few reviews that say the company is a total scam, that’s all the information that you need.
If someone on Facebook tried to get you to join their company, look at their profile. I each and every thing they say is about their company. It’s a bad sign. You might also notice that their profile picture and cover photo also correspond with their business. In their bio, they may call themself an “entrepreneur” or “self-made.” Words like this in a vacuum are okay, but when you see them all together, it’s a red flag.
4. Common Things Scammers Say/Do
One of the good things about scammers is that they can be predictable. Many of them use the same framing and terminology when they reach out to you.
When scammers reach out to you, they’re going to try a few different tricks. The first thing they are going to want to do is get you on the phone to talk to you about their company/the opportunity. This is the first red flag: this person wants you to join their company, which is supposedly thriving, but they know next to nothing about you nor have they seen your resume.
No respectable company reaches out to complete strangers and asks them to work with them.
Another thing that you’ll hear is people asking for personal information. Don’t give information such as your social security number, bank statements, your birth certificate, your driver’s license or your address. Pretty much the only time you would ever need to show any of these things is so the company can process your payment information, and even then you would give it to someone from human resources, not a random stranger online.
Finally, scammers are going to talk a big game about their company. They will tell you that they are making money hand-over-fist and that the company even performs well even during economic crises. They might even send you or show you pictures and screenshots of their bank account or Venmo payments.
Here’s the thing, no legitimate company pays their employees with a money app like Venmo. Secondly, no respectable businessperson flaunts their wealth in the face of people they want to work with them.
Common terms/phrases:
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Additional income stream
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Keeping your options open
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Developing content across social media…
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Supplemental income
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Would you be interested in a challenge
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There is training available
5. No Decent Job Requires You to Give Them Money
Under no circumstances should you give a company any money. This includes a credit/debit card number.
For many pyramid schemes and MLM schemes, the company will ask you to pay money for a starter’s kit or to attend a course that’s a few months long. Every respectable job that you will ever have will pay for whatever training you need, and whatever starting supplies you need. Also, there are next to no circumstances where a company will hire somebody that requires them to first undergo several months worth of training beforehand.
6. Your Friends And Family Members May Become Victims of Scams
We’ve all seen friends and family members fall victim to MLM scams as they try to sell products on Facebook and try to get people to partner with them.
Although you may be sympathetic to their plight, it’s important that you don’t join them in this fruitless endeavor. Instead, you should keep your distance from their professional life. If they ever come to you, simply tell them that you are not interested, and leave it at that. If they ask you for help with getting out of the scam, you can help them, but avoid getting your own finances in danger.
7. What is the Worst That Could Happen?
Horror stories about what scams can do to you and your image are all over the internet.
You can see firsthand online just how scams and MLM schemes can leave you financially destitute and tarnish your professional name. That’s right, aside from all of the financial ruin it can put you in, it can also make you non-hirable by legitimate companies.
If you are having trouble finding work, it could be that you need a professional resume. Check out our online scheduler, and get a free consultation to meet with a resume writing professional! All services can be rendered professionally!
Originally published at https://www.quora.com.
