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Don\u2019t be fooled by something that is too good to be true.<\/strong><\/p>\n Searching for a new job or career is hard enough \u2014 and the last thing you need is to get duped by a job posting that looks amazing but is actually just a scam. It can take you from happy and optimistic to frustrated and dejected in no time.<\/p>\n The bad news? Job scams are out there. The good news? You can spot them before they get you, if you know what to look for. Here are 11 telltale signs that a job posting is actually a job scam:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A recruiter calls you up and says that they found your resume online. \u201cYou\u2019re a perfect fit for this amazing position,\u201d they say. While you may think how lucky you are, don\u2019t be fooled. While it can happen, it\u2019s a good bet that this is a scam. Hear them out, but then do your research.<\/p>\n Most open positions receive many applications, so it\u2019s rare for a recruiter to have to scour job sites looking for qualified candidates.<\/p>\n If you are hunting for a job, you probably have a good idea what the average salary is for your job and experience level. If you find a job posting that lists that position for two or three times the typical salary, be wary.<\/p>\n Even if a company wants to get the best of the best, it can probably do so by beating the competition\u2019s salary by a small margin. Paying double the going rate is bad business and not likely to happen. You\u2019ve heard it before \u2014 if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.<\/p>\n Trust your research. If you see a listing but can\u2019t find a good website for the company, consider it a red flag. The same goes for a recruiter; if you talk to someone about a job that could be a great fit for you, but you can\u2019t find the recruiter on Linkedin or a company website consider it a warning sign.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve seen this before: You scan a job posting or receive an email, and the wording is just \u2026 off. It may be overly formal and awkward, or it could be full of grammar mistakes and punctuation errors.<\/p>\n Professional companies don\u2019t let this fly. A job posting should be easy to read and understand, and that doesn\u2019t mean that there can\u2019t be a typo or two. Think about it this way \u2014 if a job posting is unprofessional and awkward, what would it be like to work for that company?<\/p>\n The hours are good and the pay looks great, but what exactly would you be doing? Job descriptions shouldn\u2019t be hard to understand. If you can\u2019t figure out what you would be doing in a particular job based on the description, assume that you don\u2019t want to know. It\u2019s likely a scam.<\/p>\n While doing your due diligence, you check out the company website that was either listed with the job posting or given to you by the recruiter. First, check out that URL \u2014 is the company name spelled correctly?<\/p>\n Most companies want their website URL to be short and sweet because that helps Google identify their page easily, so a long and confusing URL may be a bad sign. You\u2019ll also want to check out the country code if there is one. If the URL is clearly from another country, weigh that against what you already know about the job posting.<\/p>\n Whether your correspondence is with a recruiter from a recruiting agency or the HR person at the hiring company, you should expect that they\u2019ll have a company email address. If the recruiter is using a generic email service, like Gmail or Yahoo, they\u2019re either not legit or really unprofessional. In either case, you\u2019ll want to move on.<\/p>\n With it being an increasingly digital world, remote interviews are more commonplace. However, there are still some basic guidelines that should be followed. Interviews are still typically held by phone or video conferencing software, like Skype or Zoom. Using a messaging or chat service is highly unprofessional and a good way for a scammer to hide his identity.<\/p>\n Simply put, no legitimate company is going to ask you to interview for a job by way of a messaging service.<\/p>\n If you apply for a job and are offered the position almost immediately, something fishy is going on. Even a great resume doesn\u2019t tell the entire story. Legitimate companies want to talk with you first to get to know your personality as well as your list of accomplishments.<\/p>\n Timing is everything on this one. There is a point in the interview process where the employer may need to get some personal information, such as your social security number,\u00a0to conduct a background check.<\/p>\n If an employer is asking you for your social security number, bank account information, or other personal information and you\u2019re still early in the interview process, it should trigger your scam alert senses. It should be clearly stated upfront why they need this information and if it makes you feel uncomfortable, it\u2019s probably time to move on.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been looking for a\u00a0work-from-home position, and you finally found one that looks amazing. The only problem is that you\u2019re asked to pay some money at the start to help fund the equipment you\u2019ll need to get set up.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t fall for it \u2014 this is a simple grab-the-money-and-run scam. No reputable company should ask you to pay them to get equipment for your job. It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n The simplest way to help yourself stay clear of job scams is by doing your own research. If you see a job posting or receive a call that intrigues you, put it on pause for a day or two and hit the internet. Look for:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Before you accept a job offer, and certainly an online job, take these steps to protect yourself from job scams:<\/p>\n Sign up at only legitimate job sites like <\/strong>to avoid any irreparable mishaps.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don\u2019t be fooled by something that is too good to be true. Searching for a new job or career is hard enough \u2014 and the last thing you need is to get…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uptymes.com\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. You never applied<\/h2>\n
2. The pay is too good to be true<\/h2>\n
3. Your research comes up empty<\/h2>\n
4. Poorly written job post and correspondence<\/h2>\n
5. Vague job description<\/h2>\n
6. Suspicious URL<\/h2>\n
7. The recruiter has a generic email<\/h2>\n
8. Asking for an interview via messaging service<\/h2>\n
9. You get an immediate job offer<\/h2>\n
10. You get asked for personal information<\/h2>\n
11. You\u2019re asked to pay for something<\/h2>\n
Protect yourself by doing your research<\/h2>\n
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How to Avoid a Job Scam<\/h2>\n
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