Employment scams while on the job hunt

I am in the midst of a career change to marketing, which means I'm looking at a lot entry-level job postings. Problem is most of these postings are less about marketing and communications and more about cold calling and door to door work. Most of these places don't even offer wages, just commission which is BS.

The up side is that these companies are often terrible at hiding how sketchy they are. Still even those who ignore the "WORK ATH OME FOR BIGG BUKxS!!!!" ads can still get sucked in by mildly legit looking places, often disguising themselves as "start-up business."

To help out all those job seekers out there I'm going to give you a few tips based on my own horrible experiences:

1. Check the Website:
If it looks less than professional, is missing a lot of company information, or just plain doesn't exist don't even bother applying. You are only going to end up wasting your time and money showing up for an interview.

2. Check the job description *thoroughly*:
If it's really vague, short, or uninformative as to the job requirements it might be a scam, If it promises a chance for unqualified people it's probably a scam. If the grammar, spelling and font is terrible or all over the place it's definitely a scam.

Real companies take the time to properly write out a job post. It's the fly-by nights or the places with huge turn over that don't bother so you shouldn't either.

3. They call you immediately:
Most legit companies do hiring in blocks and often it can take a few days to a few weeks before you hear back from them. This is often because they first accept the applications, review the applications and then start scheduling interviews. This takes time, so when a company calls or emails me right away up to two days after I have sent in an application I get suspicious and every time my suspicions have been confirmed.

A company that calls you right away normally isn't very picky about who they hire because they know it's a crap job with horrible conditions. Now do you really want to work for a company that knows you're going to leave them within a few weeks or months? Not really.

4. They won't tell you what your job entails:
If you do go to an interview ask this question: "what would I be doing for the company?" If they give you a crap line that doesn't sound like a job description ask them: "What are the exact duties this job requires?" if they still don't tell you, thank them for their time and leave because no reputable company is going to refuse to tell you what your job is.

Do this especially if they are asking you to come in for a second interview. An interview is not just about you getting a job, but about you finding a place you want to work. If you don't even know what your job will be how can you decide if this is the place for you? Companies that do this are preying on people who are desperately looking for work. They will either get your labour for free or they'll charge you to "sell" their product.

They won't tell you what you'll do? Just walk away.

5. Even after getting a job offer they refuse to discuss wages:
This is a big red flag! If you've gone through everything and it all seemed up and up this little sign means big problems. Once a company has offered you a job you are entitled to know the terms of employment. Which means there's no reason for them to refuse discussing things like hours, benefits and wages. If they refuse to give you information via email thank them for the offer and decline. If they say you need to come in for an info session first thank them for the offer and decline.

A place like that is just screaming they're going to take advantage of you.


There's lots of other things you can do, but if you keep these in mind you'll save yourself some time and money that would otherwise be wasted.

Parental Advice: Is It Helpful?

As I begin the move from university grad to full-fledged adult, i.e. getting a job, I have been inundated with advice from my parents. Sometimes the advice comes when I'm only looking for support. But most of the time it comes when I'm discussing strategies. I think like all parents, mine give advice in the sort of way that brooks no argument. Of course they are right, they're parents. The thing is when you become an adult you start to realize that maybe your parents aren't the font of wisdom they think they are.

I clearly remember letting my Dad look over my first university paper. It took a ton of work and he said it was definitely an A. So then you can imagine my utter (and inevitable) disappointment when I received a big fat C.
At first all I could think was "but my Dad said it was an A!" I then stared to realize that parents are people, and people have opinions, and opinions should not be treated as facts. Now my father is a history professor so it wasn't like he didn't have the credentials to mark a paper. He's constantly marking student papers while writing his own. I figured he would be a great judge of what would take to write a great paper. But he was in history where I was in English and Visual Arts, and it really came down to he didn't know what my professors were looking for.

And really that is where most of the bad advice from my parents comes from, they don't know anything about the field I'm in. My parents are both well educated professionals, but neither of them knows the first thing about grant applications or how a theatre union works. While I realize that there are certain things that can be applied to any job hunt I would never presume to tell a engineering grad or a psychology grad how to look for a job or apply for a job specific to their career.

It may surprise you to know (because I was surprised when I found out) that almost every career track has its own way of doing things, from everything up to and including the resume. Actually the resume is a good example of what I am talking about. The resume format that is commonly taught is the general business model. It's good for everything from McDonald's fry cook to general office assistant, however once you start thinking of a specific career like theatre tech or graphic artist things get a lot different. Google "theatre tech CV" or "graphic artist resume" you'll see what I'm talking about. Resumes are tailored to each area. So what works for one won't work for all, but when you have parents who know nothing about your career track it's makes the advice you're getting even more confusing.

Case and point. In live production (well any place really) who you know will get you in to a job for which you might otherwise be passed over. But you have to let the employer know who you know. In my Mom's line of work you don't write it, you call after you send your cover letter and resume to let the employer know. I almost lost out on a job because I took my Mom's advice on this. In live production you just out and say, in your cover letter, "Bob Thompson said you were looking." But she didn't know that and neither did I, because I wasn't asking the people in my field for advice. Now I always check with someone in my field if I am unsure of what to do, but it doesn't make it easier to tell my parents they don't know what they are talking about.

I think this is because your whole life they have been an unquestionable authority. And it's worked until adulthood because you aren't doing anything outside of their knowledge zone. But when you become an adult and take a career path they are totally unfamiliar with, suddenly their advice seems foisted upon you, without your consent. Failure to follow their advice will ultimately lead to sighs about "if only you had listened." It makes you want to scream, "No, you need to listen! Your advice doesn't help for this type of job!"

Parental advice isn't useless, if you are entering a similar job market. However, when you're going where they've never even thought of before, you’re pretty much on your own.