Nowadays, the easiest and quickest way to find a new job through searching online and most of us if not everyone loves the idea of working from home. In a study, it was revealed that about 79% of people who need a job choose to look and find via the internet. With a lot of job opportunities available online, several people try their best to find a freelance job or a work from home job to make money online. But, along with several career opportunities, online scams are all over the internet for a new victim.
Below are top 10 career tips and reminders to follow to avoid job search scams:
- It’s true that not every person can be found via Google search but whether you’re an employer or an employee, most of us are found in sites such as LinkedIn. Sites like LinkedIn are very useful to get important information about a company or your prospect.
- There are a couple of particular terms that are clear clues which also proves that the site where you are searching for a job is a scam. Most utilized words or job descriptions used in scams are wire exchange, data entry, envelope stuffing, multi-level marketing along with other fraud schemes such as discount offers etc. A lot of times, while searching for a job ads pop up appears containing such words, thus, you should never trust them as they are most likely a scam.
- In order to avoid scams related to job search, you should always use the right keywords according to your skills. For example, typing work from home has a higher tendency in leading you towards a possible job scam over typing your skills in detail such as i.e. jobs for Java programmers or jobs for logo designers, etc.
- Avoid ads with descriptions that are exaggerated or over punctuated with such as ads that use an excessive number of exclamation marks or loads of dollar signs. Most such ads are too good to be true, they are obviously unrealistic and are intended to appear catchy to all job seekers.
- There are also several online job interviews done using instant messaging apps such as Yahoo IM, Skype, etc. and these are also utilized by scammers. Be very extra careful in giving out your personal and important information to avoid getting scammed.
- During your search for online jobs, think twice as well in giving out your information in case the hiring person asks for your personal data. A few scammers ask for a bank account details by saying that they need this to pay for your salary. But, you should never trust any hiring person until you meet him/her in person or have completely earned your trust or verified they’re legitimate.
- There are also other scammers that will instruct you to go to a particular website to fill up a form that asks for your personal identification. Such scams will attempt to convince you to give your critical information such as Social Security number, birth date, and other confidential information. It is always best practice to be more extra careful. Do not trust them or fall into their trap.
- While searching for online jobs, one of the best career tips to avoid such scams is to deter clicking on or opening ads that you received from your email. They can be a trap to access your personal account on the computer.
- In case you have applied for a job and the hiring person offers you a job instantly within 24 hours without even going through an interview, be suspicious as it could be a warning signal that most likely it is a scam.
- For some jobs that are work from home, if a job offer is asking an amount of money to register first before you can apply or get that job, then it is 100% scam. Another clear warning sign that you should ignore the offer and immediately end the communication.
Always do your research before signing up for anything and its best practice to do a thorough research like reading reviews and feedback online.
Thanks for reading and best of luck!