Job Scams Suck. Don’t Fall Prey to Them.

It’s when you’re most desperate for work that you’re also at your most vulnerable. A cousin of mine recently fell for a job scam, writing on Facebook how “extremely angry, frustrated, embarrassed, confused, and most of all disappointed” she felt upon figuring it out. Now those scammers may use her personal information, such as her Social Security number, to steal her identity or worse. Identity theft scams often go hand-in-hand with job scams. Same goes for misleading job ads, where you don’t know what the job’s real duties are until you’re in too deep.

I’ve got a confession to make: during my Year of Fear I went to interviews for two different job scams myself. Yes, me. This was around the time I was graduating college without a job lined up, and I was very scared of a future where I couldn’t actually support myself. So, I went to go meet with people at companies that seemed super shady but, hey, I needed a job.

TWICE I was taken in by these “marketing” jobs that turned out to not actually be marketing jobs. They were door-to-door sales pitches. In hard-hit neighborhoods. With few, if any, breaks. The first one just explained to me the tiered commissions I could reach. The second one literally had me GO OUT DOOR-TO-DOOR AS PART OF THE INTERVIEW PROCESS. Needless to say I did not go with either of them. Good in the long run, but first making me even more miserable in my fruitless job search.

Don’t be like me and risk falling for job scams. They’re set up to prey on people eager for work. That could mean getting very cheap labor from them or as a quick cash grab via bounced checks or transfers. If you’re starting out after college or hoping to jump ship from another terrible job, this is not an experience you want as part of your resume. Let’s go over my own experience with job scams and how you can avoid them altogether.

Darcy (Almost) Got Scammed Hard

I don’t have much evidence left from the second company that tried to scam me (the one that had me and two other uncomfortable job seekers going door-to-door). But I do from the first; I saved the paper they gave me during the interview, which you can see below:

The purple handwriting is from the woman who interviewed me; she used this paper to explain how the management training program I applied for would work. My interviewer was honest when I came to meet with her and let me know this would be a door-to-door sales type of thing. Which was NOT the marketing role advertised in their job posting.

Looking back I seriously appreciate her small sprinkles of honesty, especially with those compensation numbers on the left. Notice that the $400 per week would be after working six days a week. Averaged out, you’d be earning less than the 2016 state minimum wage. Not a good look, and clearly not the opportunity for me.

I remember feeling very numb and tired that day, having hoped this would be something good for me and finding out it really wasn’t. The bad feeling started when I walked into the small lobby area and saw two other people waiting for interviews; there were other folks waiting for interviews as I left the office to catch a train back home.

Sadly, not all of their interviewees saw through it like I did. This company is STILL around somehow and STILL posting the same dishonest job postings. The management one I applied to is below:

Along with one from them as an “account manager” for reference:

Ew.

As a seasoned job holder and little worker bee, I can see right away from the ad that this was a no-good deal. Any legitimate company will include at least a blurb on what their company does and what its goals are; yes, even the ones that are household names. As a newly minted graduate that no one else would interview, I didn’t notice any red flags until the actual interview process. Who knows how miserable my life would have been if I had less self-respect or common sense. It was definitely the right choice to decline the “generous” offer, as this review from Glassdoor can attest:

I underlined the parts I considered the most important. A job with NO good benefits and pay that isn’t ultimately for your betterment is NOT the type of job that will make you wealthy. It will only wear you down, and you deserve better. Again, that crap wage rate would make Massachusetts deem it “oppressive and unreasonable”. Because it is.

How to Not Fall for Job Scams

If your line of work actually requires some kind of education or certification, it’s a very formalized process anyone in the industry will be familiar with. Anything else is not required, and potentially harmful.

If it requires you to buy your own office tools (like a computer or printer) or product (like makeup, knives, or clothing) BEFORE YOU SELL ANYTHING, it’s a scam. If you’re going to sell useless products or services, it’s not in your best interest anyway to advance any kind of good career. Real, legitimate sales jobs don’t require you to buy anything with your own money. Imagine if that’s how most sales jobs worked – can you imagine real estate agents buying homes before selling them, or software salespeople to download countless copies of it to then sell away? I can’t fathom it; something like that can never work large-scale, so you know it’s a no-go.

Same goes for requiring you to take on costly training and seminars before you start work, especially if you’re starting with literally nothing. They’re going to throw some phrase at you like “you need to spend money to make money!” That’s true, when the money’s spent on something that’ll actually help your business profits. They want to prey on your eagerness and suck as much out of you as possible. Don’t let them.

Not Every Job Scam is the Same, Either

Sometimes they’ll ask you to solve a business problem or do some tasks before they hire you to “gauge your skill set”. BIG RED FLAG. They do not need your volunteer work; do not work for free. You ALWAYS need to get something out of it; that’s not being maliciously selfish, that’s making sure you’re not hurt when the chips are down. I’ve heard of too many folks who basically work as a free consultant because they wanted to get a job that badly. Guess who was still left without a job at the end of the day.

If you get a check right away, DO NOTTTTTT wire any of it back if they make a mistake or realize they don’t need your services after all. Any legitimate business will understand you’ll want to wait until it’s cleared. If any money is passing hands before your first paycheck, that’s a big red flag. Sending you a laptop or other equipment does NOT require you to plunk down money for shipping, renting, or any other reason. If something does go wrong on the company side and they need to put more money into it, they’re not going to lean on their new hire for it. That screams “bad business strategy,” at best. Meaning: even at its best, you do NOT want to work for them.

Always Be Vigilant on the Job Hunt

It sucks you have to be vigilant for bad people when you just want to make a living. It also sucks we live in a world where scammers, stalkers, and identity thieves use the cons of capitalism to leave you worse off.

In general, the best way you can protect yourself is by learning as much as possible. Do as much research as possible on what the company does, and ask a lot of questions during your interviews on what your day-to-day workload will look like. Check out the workplace for yourself, assuming it’s not remote, and don’t give away your most sensitive information until you get a legitimate offer from a legitimate company. I want you to get a high-paying job, not a “job” that’ll end up ruining you. Imagine where I’d be if I had gotten sucked in by either of those job scams; in all honesty, I would’ve been facing more Years of Fear than just that one. I chose better for myself, as should you. Keep your head up and keep on networking and fixing your LinkedIn. Your time and energy is worth so much more than them.

Cover image credit: Free to Use Sounds via Unsplash