If you’re looking for a job, you won’t want for a lack of options. The internet holds thousands of jobs, and recruiters may directly reach out to you. But despite the ubiquitous seeming number of opportunities, they aren’t all your next career-in-waiting. An alarming number of scam jobs are out there, and you’ll need to learn how to identify these dubious options.
Remote jobs are especially vulnerable to fraudulent listings. Don’t let a strong need for a new role lower your guard. Learn to avoid scam jobs by looking for the reg flags.
Vague job descriptions
There’s an art to making an effective job description. You need to provide enough details that clearly explain the role but not enough to overwhelm a reader. Some hiring managers, and many third-party recruiters, need to keep some confidentiality about their clients but can offer more to a job seeker one-on-one. But if the description itself is vague and you can’t get more details, that should be a red flag.
There are plenty of reasons a role might not be publicly posted, but that’s mostly true for higher-level roles according to TopResume’s Amanda Augustine. There isn’t much of a good reason to withhold information otherwise, especially for potential candidates. It’s even more ominous when you can’t get basic details like the job title, role descriptions, location, or qualifications.
Lack of information
For any role you’re considering, you’ll want to do a deep dive with research to learn about the organization and the job itself. This can provide you with more details on the role, let you find updates about them in the news, and see if there’s a good cultural fit. If you hear about a job and can’t find any supporting details, that’s a good sign the role isn’t 100% real.
NerdWallet’s Kimberly Palmer says that even reputable job boards like LinkedIn can’t vet every job. Try to look for a verification from the company or the job poster on the website before engaging. FlexJob’s Jessica Howington also adds that some fraudulent roles will try to mimic a real company as much as possible, only being off on a few details. Look to make sure the company URL matches the real one, especially looking at hyphens and .com vs. .orgs. When in doubt, try to reach out directly to the company.
“Though job sites have measures in place to verify legitimate employers, scammers sometimes manage to get their listings posted. Other fake listings appear on social media profiles created expressly to deceive job seekers.” –Kate Palmquist, Indeed
Predatory practices
The reason scam jobs exist in the first place is because the scammers want something from you. They aren’t simply wasting your time for fun but rather are trying to feed on your need for a job and profit from you. If you find yourself being asked for things you wouldn’t normally provide a prospective employer, walk away.
While a recruiter might contact you via LinkedIn or Indeed, many direct emails or text messages are from scammers. You may be asked to provide sensitive information like your social security number or credit card information, or you may be asked to send in money for training or supplies. The Identity Theft Resource Center says it’s common for a scammer to keep trying to pry information from you and then ghost you and move on to a new target if you won’t provide it.
“Legitimate HR professionals respect job applicants’ data privacy and would not ask for Social Security numbers, bank account information or credit card numbers during the application process.” –Victoria Neal, HR knowledge advisor
Too good to be true
Based on the above knowledge, it’s pretty easy to vet a job to find out if it’s a legitimate offering. If you do your research, you’ll be able to identify the warning signs. If you’re even remotely skeptical, you can move on to other opportunities. This is why job scammers will try to make their roles look overly appealing. Whether it’s because they offer a fully remote environment, easy money, particularly flexible hours, or not needing particular experience, they’ll hope that the chance at such an “amazing” offer will make you overlook any red flags and quickly comply.
Forbes’ Rachel Wells says that being too good to be true is one of the biggest signs of a scam job. For example, if it’s a seemingly entry-level job offering an unbalancedly high salary not in line with similar roles, it’s a scam. “Too good to be true” is a common mantra for a reason.
“If a job offers exceptional pay for minimal work or without the necessary experience, it’s likely a scam.” –Cheryl Robinson, Forbes
Wrap up
By familiarizing yourself with common job scams, doing proper research, and being a savvy job seeker, you can avoid falling victim to the many fraudulent scams out there. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Keep your guard up!
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