This article was written by Jessica Pierce, a career transition expert, trainer and professional speaker. Pierce is also the Founder and Executive Director of Career Connectors.
It is disheartening to learn there are people and businesses preying (yes, I said preying) on job seekers for any number of reasons. Some are recruiting for their Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) businesses that require a large monetary buy-in while others are stealing personal information and identities. Take heart. There are legitimate and valuable resources like Career Connectors and our partners who are working to get you back to work.
Here are five tips for safety in the job search:
- Keep personal information posted on the internet to a minimum. There’s no need to have your home address on your resume whether online or on paper. Other personal information like marriage status is also not needed. Not only are you risking your identity it’s just not needed on resumes anymore.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is: There are a lot of schemes and deals targeted to the American worker. It’s a sad but true situation impacting job seekers. Never share personal information like social security number and home address with anyone at the beginning of the job search or hiring process.
- Personal Safety: It should go without saying that you should be meeting with prospective employers at their place of business during regular business hours. If you are not meeting at an office (many small businesses operate out of the owner’s home or shared office space), be sure to meet them in a public place during regular business hours.
- Contact information: With so much business being conducted online and through email it is important to ask for current contact information from a prospective employer. Call the phone numbers. Check the website. If the email is an at-gmail or at-hotmail or similar be hesitant. A legitimate business should have an email that is at-business name.
- Ask questions: Be diligent in asking questions especially if your gut is telling you something is not right. A business that is expanding to hire employees should have some sort of place of business that isn’t a garage or the owner’s home. There are spaces called executive suites where small businesses can rent space and/or conference rooms, have a receptionist and a business address.
Please be careful in your searches and meetings with prospective employers. If you have been scammed or are concerned about your situation, please leave a note in the comments below. We want you to be safe!
