Beware of fake jobs and Inventory Recruiting Scam
2020 pandemic, loss of jobs, health scare and issues, family worries, financial problems, bills piling up and the list goes on and on.
Whether a person has been laid off, downsized, forced to take early retirement, or seen contract work dry up, losing employment is one of life’s most stressful experiences.
Aside from the obvious financial anguish, it can cause, the stress of losing a job can also take a heavy toll on our mood, relationships and overall mental and emotional health.
Now, the new problem is on the rise, adding an additional level of stress and problem on the job seekers plate of issues:
Inventory Recruiting - Fake job advertising
New fake Work From Home position started popping up everywhere. Fake job listings on job boards and on the mainstream job websites keep coming up.
You apply for a job, get invited to do an online job assessment test.
You spend hours and hours of preparing your job application, fine-tuning your resume and cover letter, looking forward to an opportunity, hoping and praying that someone will give you a call and invite you for an interview.
Just to get a message like this:
"They are no longer recruiting for the role!"
This job was advertised 10 days ago as a work from home opportunity.
2 rounds of online assessments,
video assessment...
and at the end, it was only an Inventory Recruiting exercise.
If you are not familiar with the term, Recruiters and HR professionals use fake jobs because recruiters don’t want to wait for a real job to come up to get the pool of candidates for a particular position and be in rush to make a decision.
This way, recruiters and HR professionals can have a list of potential candidates to invite them for an interview in case if the real opportunity opens up.
In the process,
Recruiters have stock pilled their email lists, hyped up their KPI quota and periodical targets.
In AU, It is against the law, to advertise fake jobs and you would expect that employers and recruiters would be more empathetic and mindful towards the job seekers taking into consideration the current situation.
Unfortunately, that is not the case - we still have the same problem and more than likely it will just get worse.
I can understand that recruiters need to do their job. I have no objections about that.
However,
how can you knowingly advertise a job that you know it doesn't exist?
How on Earth can someone advertise a fake job and give false hope to people who are desperately looking for an opportunity to feed their families and pay their bills?
All that while knowing they will send them a message like this:
This job was advertised 10 days ago as a work from home opportunity.
2 rounds of online assessments,
video assessment...
and at the end, it was only an Inventory Recruiting exercise.
If you are not familiar with the term, Recruiters and HR professionals use fake jobs because recruiters don’t want to wait for a real job to come up to get the pool of candidates for a particular position and be in rush to make a decision.
This way, recruiters and HR professionals can have a list of potential candidates to invite them for an interview in case if the real opportunity opens up.
In the process,
Recruiters have stock pilled their email lists, hyped up their KPI quota and periodical targets.
In AU, It is against the law, to advertise fake jobs and you would expect that employers and recruiters would be more empathetic and mindful towards the job seekers taking into consideration the current situation.
Unfortunately, that is not the case - we still have the same problem and more than likely it will just get worse.
I can understand that recruiters need to do their job. I have no objections about that.
However,
how can you knowingly advertise a job that you know it doesn't exist?
How on Earth can someone advertise a fake job and give false hope to people who are desperately looking for an opportunity to feed their families and pay their bills?
All that while knowing they will send them a message like this:
Cruel, heartless and careless!
Unethical, disturbing and unprofessional.
Fake jobs keep coming up and the law is super lenient towards them.
How to avoid work-at-home scams?
Scams related to working online jobs come in many forms: Call centre, Customer Service, sales, wire transfer schemes, claims processing, envelope stuffing, money recovery work, and other fraudulent offers.
Never take online jobs from home if you didn't have a video conference.
Make sure to ask the name of your interviewers so you can research the people you’ll be talking with to ensure they’re for real.
Make sure the job description sounds legit!
Most of the time, the job description is a dead giveaway that the job’s not what it seems.
If it sounds too good to be true - more than likely it's.
Vague description with a few bullet points, that describes getting the job will be quick and easy, it’s usually a good sign that the listing could be fake.
Research the company
Researching the company is a must. There are so many ways to find out what a company is like - check out a company’s website, social media presence, search on Linkedin about the key leadership personnel, look them up on review sites.
If the company doesn’t have a website, presence on social media, reviews and Linkedin presence - beware!
Ask questions - don't be shy!
Make sure to ask a lot of questions, so you’ll feel confident about taking the job.
Learn the exact details of the job, company and how you are getting paid.
If given answers don't make much sense the alarm bells should be going off pointing to a problem.
Never give any money for employment!
If a discussion comes up about paying for your own equipment, training or they asking you for any money as a way to get the job - It is most certainly a scam.
Any job that requires you pay a fee to get the job should be an immediate red flag.
Honest employers train employees on their dime. You don’t have to pay for training or any other fee such as an application fee, or a processing fee.
Any requests to give your bank information, credit card or financial information is a typical scam job.
Friend of mine from France, asked me last night on Linkedin, as an accomplished Leader, how I see this situation?
What will happen now and if this pandemic will change something, anything in the way we, humans, will grow/live in the future?
We need kindness, love, integrity, honesty and human values now more than ever!
How is it that we never learn from the first go?
We always need 2nd and 3rd attempt with things to get it but this time, I hoped, most of the World will get a grip on the situation, have a clear path on how to create a better life and the foundation for future growth by helping each other.
There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.
It will most definitely take some time to rebuild from this but we will get there. There are so many things we need to sort our very urgently but with great leadership and creative ideas, we can do this.
Some things are inevitable and people do what they must do or what they think is the best for them.
My employers, shut their business down and moved all operations to the Philippines.
95 of us lost jobs.
80% of employed are over 40 years of age.
I see a huge problem right there and I am in a constant brainstorming mode to find the way to help people over 40 to continue living..not just surviving and hoping for the best.
I am not sure what the future holds but one thing is certain - Unethical and unprofessional behaviour and people lacking honesty and integrity will continue to exploit every situation no matter how much damage they can cause to others.
And this pandemic is no different to them.
I hope this message will reach people in the right places and positions who can and will act to stop this nonsense.
But from me,
If you are an employer or a recruiter
IF you have a job to fill , advertise and look for the best candidate there is.
If you are SME or business that needs help, I offer you my help for free.
Leadership, Business development, Organisational Culture change, recruitment…Just ask.
I’m free.
If you don’t have a job to fill,
call it an Expression of interest.
Let people know that you don’t have a job to fill.
Please stop wasting Job Seekers time and effort with fake jobs and inventory recruiting and causing them and their families more grief and heartache.
I think it time for us to bring back humanity back into businesses and beyond.
If you agree with me and you see this as I do, a huge , cruel and unethical issue, please like and share this message and hopefully we will successfully reach people who can make necessary changes and put an end on this unethical behaviour.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask,
Please subscribe if you already didn’t have a chance to do so.
Please stay safe and healthy and up until the next post,
please take care of your self and each other.
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