Beware of Predators (Issue 698)

Fake jobs, recruiters, and hiring managers. Oh my!

“How can I tell if a recruiter is legitimate? Some who contact me seem a bit sketchy.”

Predators are hunting job-seeking prey. This is always going on, but it ramps up when the market sucks and people are feeling desperate.

There are all kinds of scams behind these fake jobs and recruiters:

• The job offer text that eventually wants you to send money.

• LinkedIn messages where a fake recruiter or hiring manager asks you to apply with your name, social security number, photo of your ID, etc. (i.e., used to commit identity theft).

• Fake jobs that require you to buy equipment upfront from their preferred vendor. They send a check to reimburse you, which then bounces.

• Interviews that require you to install something for the meeting, which takes over your computer and/or account.

Below, you can see a conversation I had with a potential scammer, who posed as a recruiter. I try not to judge too quickly, but this conversation went south when he insisted on messaging via Signal and that the hiring manager was making her LinkedIn profile private “during this phase of the project.”

Yeah, right. 🤣

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Some clues that a recruiter might be fake

• They rarely have a profile photo.

• Their LinkedIn profile is sparsely populated or really new.

• The domain for their email isn’t something you don’t recognize, or they just use a Gmail address.

• If their email is xxxVP@gmail.com, it is definitely fake.

• If their messages have a lot of run-on sentences that don’t make sense.

• If the message has a few random characters from a different language.

• If the job description matches your background perfectly, it is probably a fake JD generated by AI based on your LinkedIn profile data.

• They make excuses when you try to get more information about the company, hiring manager, etc. (e.g., “Oh, it’s stealth!”, “The hiring manager is keeping a low profile on LinkedIn.”).

• They always try to get you to use Signal (or some other private messaging service) for a meeting with them or the hiring manager.

• They ask for confidential information upfront (e.g, your ID, social security number, etc.). Never send that!

• They don’t seem to want you to research the role, etc. Nothing is online.

• The entire process is “urgent” and needs to kick off immediately.

• If they insist you hire a resume coach or some other third party to improve your resume.

In the end, if it sounds vague and too good to be true, trust your instincts. It’s probably a scam.

Never send money, never give your personal info or identity until you are 100% sure it’s a real company with a real job, and never install something on your computer or give them your login information for an account.

That’s why using reputable job posting services, corporate career pages, and good ol’ referrals from trusted sources works much better. Real people from real companies with a real job opening are happy to have a phone call, meet you over Zoom, provide references, and have you do your research first. They have nothing to hide!

The only thing worse than being out of work is being out of work and getting scammed by a fake recruiter. Be safe out there!

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Larry Cornett, Ph.D., is a career coach who spent 20+ years in Silicon Valley at Apple, IBM, Yahoo, eBay, and several startups as a designer, leader, and product and design executive. Whether you're fighting for a promotion, navigating a layoff, or planning your exit to independence, he combines executive experience with psychological insight to help ambitious professionals reclaim their power and build an Invincible Career.

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

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