Identifying Scam Jobs

Identifying Scam Jobs

--Zeenib Younis

• The advertisement is written very poorly

When you find uncertainty in the job’s description, such as very vague job duties, sentences that don’t make sense or inconsistencies, you can bet that it's a job scam.

• Receiving emails from a non-business address

An official hiring manager will have the company’s name as the end of his/her email address. However, if a potential employer contacts you from emails such as Aol Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo, right away you should believe that it's a scam job. They cannot use their personal email to reach out to you—only the business one.

• Company contacts you at odd hours

Remember, work emails can only be sent and answered during the normal business hours. Therefore, getting an email 2’o clock in the morning is another sign of a scam job.

• You are receiving emails from an Employer, Job Recruiter, or Job Board

Be careful of employers who find your resume on Monster, Careerbuilder or their company's website, especially if they think you’re the “best candidate” without speaking with you.

• No experience needed

While some entry-level jobs exist in retail, customer service, or day camps,

the vast majority of jobs require some type of experience. Even if you graduated from high school or college, you often still have to provide some sort of experience, such as a previous job or an internship.

 

 

• Salary is too high

Jobs that do not require experience or education do not start off with a high salary.  If you find a very high salary job and your qualification is not even equivalent to an associate's degree, that’s totally bogus. You should never believe in such offers.

•  Getting a job right away

No one can be hired right away, especially online. Even if you have higher degrees, there’s a whole process that could take a while until you’re officially hired. Also try to avoid an online or instant message interview, because that’s another way you can be scammed. 

• Sharing personal financial info

Never provide your personal information such as social security, bank account, or routing number. Keep in mind that the employer can give you fake reasons why they need to view your personal info—for example to run a credit check or to deposit initials funds into your account.  However, there is no reason for a potential employer to ask such personal financial info about you.