Thursday, November 28, 2019

How to Detect Job Recruiter Scams and Avoid Them

How to Detect Job Recruiter Scams and Avoid ThemHow to Detect Job Recruiter Scams and Avoid ThemFake recruiter scams have become more prevalent lately, and victims sometimes have difficultyspotting them since the perpetrators use ingestaltation from real companies, resume information theyve found online and other details that make the jobs they offer sound convincing. Some of these fake recruiters go so far as setting up profiles on the LinkedIn website, or they have a website of their own showing them as an independent recruiter. Fake Recruiter Scams The scammerhas a goal to deceive you into paying cash to them as some type of fee for job processing, or theyll attempt to stealyourpersonal details to use for identity theftpurposes. The scammer might send you emails or make phone calls that lead you to think youve received a genuine job offer. Have you received an email or instant message from a recruiter who says youre a perfect candidate for the job they are trying to fill? It c ould be legitimate, or it might be too good to be true. With this scam, the jobs often promise above-market salaries, and the recruiters dont ask you for very much information about your skills and whether youd actually be a good fit for the job. These scammers also typically act very eager to close the deal, using time pressure to get you to give them what they want. How They Work Learn to recognize some of thewarning signsof these scams. For example, the recruiter will askfor all or the last four numbers of your social security number, along with other personal information. The scammer might also askyou to fill out a simple form online to start the hiring process. They could even ask you to complete an application form, banking forms, and other documents that have employment terms and conditions, for example. The jobs these fake recruiters use often show as positions at Fortune 500 companies, so the name recognition alone can lead you to believe the jobs are legitimate. The re cruiter will seem much more interested in getting you excited about the job and collecting your information, rather than seeing if your skills actually qualify you. Some may even offer you the job without so much as a phone interview. Genuine recruiters spend a lot of time making sure youre the right fit for a company, rather than giving you the hard sell to convince you to take a job. How The Scammer Got Your Information The scammer most likely got your personal information by posing as an employer on a job board and accessing your resume that was posted online. Avoid Getting Scammed Before you give out any personal information to a recruiter, check them out to make sure they are legitimate. For starters, check the persons profile on LinkedIn.com, or view the company page for their employer. If the recruiters LinkedIn profile has few connections or doesnt have complete information, be on your guard. Copy the recruiters photo and text from their LinkedIn profile, then paste it into Google and perform a search. Scammers often steal information from legitimate listings to create their fake profile. Also, take musiknote thatrecruiters dont ever need your social security number. Google the persons name plus the word scam, to see if anyones posted any complaints. Also, check directories of recruiters like Bullhorns Find a Recruiter, which is searchable by keyword (use last name) and location. If youre still not sure, ask for client references and check them out. If someone says theyre working directly for a specific company, verify that this company recruiters email address matches the genuine companys site email address, and call the company to verify that they have an employee by the name of the person whos contacting you.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Creative Thinking The Recruiting Tool You Can Use Today

Creative Thinking The Recruiting Tool You Can Use Today Creative Thinking The Recruiting Tool You Can Use Today Recruiting can be a wonderful thing. As anindependentrecruiter you make your own hours, work from wherever you want and choose whom you want to work with. Its notalwaysmangoesand sunshine, but its a wonderful feeling when you make that connection. A candidate gets a great job, your client gets a great new employee, and you get a nice sum of money. Thats a win win-win situation.I recently received an email from a former candidate whos on my Hot Opportunities email list. He welches asking if I ever worked with college students. His son, Kevin, was about to graduate fromVillanova.I wrote back Sure, send him over. I had a good conversation with Kevin. He seemed like a bright and passionate kid. He was very marketable but, unfortunately, not to my clients.Companies that are paying recruiters fees usually want the position filled yesterday and with a candidates that has at l east a few years experience. Kevin did a summer internship at Google and wasnt graduating for another couple of months. This was going to be a tough sell.It took a creative pitch to the client You and I have been searching for senior devs for a while now at 120-160K. And we cant find any. Think of Kevin as a diamond in the rough. At 80K hes going to work really hard and hes very talented. In a few months hell be up to speed and I think youll get greater value in the long run from him than from the more experienced senior developers.Withina week I had Kevin interviewing with 3 of my clients. By the end of the following week he had 2 offers. He accepted one and was ecstatic. A week later, I received a wonderful thank you letter from his father.It feltgreat to make a family happy. Kevin can finish up his college graduation with theknowledgethat a great job is waiting for him.Lessons Learned1. An email list (like The Hire Syndicate E-Blastkeeps candidate relationships from dying out.2. College recruiting can work in some situations recruiting and shopping soon-to-be-grads can pay off.3. Create a win for both sides through creative thinking. Look at what both client and candidate want and then find a way to meet those needs.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

How to Stay Away from LinkedIn Scams

How to Stay Away from LinkedIn ScamsHow to Stay Away from LinkedIn Scams4Up until recently, LinkedIn was a fairly safe online haven for job seekers. You were able to connect with industry leaders, companies that you were hoping to work for, and past and present colleagues as well- all in the hopes of landing a job. And you were able to do it all while avoiding LinkedIn scams.But then along came the job scammers, and things changed. Whereas before you would be super excited if a recruiter reached out to you via LinkedIn and asked you for your resume and deckblatt letter, now you cant be sure if youre even talking to an actual recruiter or not.Here are some tips on how to stay away from LinkedIn scams and stay safe online.Know who youre talking to.Lets say you are contacted by a hiring manager who has read through your profile and thinks youd be an ideal candidate for a job hes trying to fill. Before you send over your resume and cover letter, do a little digging. For starters, check o ut his LinkedIn profile. Is it complete and filled out? Does he have many connections? Does he work for a known organization? If you cant figure this out by the LinkedIn profile, do some online investigation to determine if this person is actually who he says he is.Dont pay money. Ever. A headhunter sends you an InMail and offers to help you with your job search. Thing is, he wants his payment upfront. While its not unheard of to pay for someone (such as a headhunter) to help expedite your job search, you shouldnt ever fork over your money ahead of time. Being required to do so ahead of time might mean that youre right in the middle of LinkedIn spam.Be realistic.Youve been job searching for a while and youre getting a little desperate to land a job. So when a recruiter comes along and wants to do an interview, youre thrilled. But he wants to do the interview via instant messenger, at 1100 p.m. Even if youre looking for a telecommuting job with a company that is several hours ahead o f you, you mucksmuschenstill wouldnt be expected to do an interview that is at an odd hour for where you live. Similarly, instant message interviews are a huge red flag for a job scam. If youre approached to do either, know that youre stepping into a scam.Check the emaille.Its one thing for a recruiter to contact you via LinkedIn for a potential job opportunity. But its another if the follow-up emails are from a gmail, hotmail, or yahoo email address. Ideally, if a professional recruiter or hiring manager is interested in you, he will be working with a company and have that companys email address. If youre unsure, you can always reach out to the company directly to confirm that the person works there, and verify his email address. After all, some savvy scammers will take an actual companys email address and modify it slightly. For example, if the company youre planning to interview with is Golden Company, Inc. (and the email address is johngoldencompany.com), a scammer might modify it to read johnagoldencompany.com. So be extra careful when confirming email addresses.Be aware of links. Some scammers might reach out to you with a job and ask you to click a link to take you to the companys website. Many times, these are phishing scams, so be careful what you click on. You can hover over the hyperlink to see where the link will take you. If its not to LinkedIn (or a real companys website), youre headed towards a job scam.LinkedIn is still an amazing resource for job seekers, but you still need to be aware of potential scammers. After all, with over 300 million users on LinkedIn, it can be a paradise for job scammers. So stay safe from LinkedIn spam by being aware of hyperlinks, grammatically incorrect emails, slightly modified company names and email addresses, and solicitations for money in order to find you a job. With some precaution, you can definitely use LinkedIn to help connect with real people to find real jobs. And thats no scam.Readers, have you ever be en a victim of LinkedIn scams or know someone who was? Let us know what happened in the comments