Job scams are prevalent and being aware of red flags is crucial for protection. Read the tips below to try to discern whether the opportunity, interview process, or offer you are being approaches is a scam. Please reach out to a mentor, career coach, or advisor for support if you are having trouble assessing.

🚩Signals for Potential Job Scams🚩

• Being asked to deposit a check to get paid
• Getting your first paycheck through a wire transfer
• Having to pay anything to start your job
• Being emailed from a personal or “gmail” address (anything but a company email address) during your interactions with the company
• You should have multiple rounds of interviews before you’re given an offer. If an offer seems too quick (“on-the-spot” ) and too good to be true, it might be.
• If you’re pressured to accept an offer right away, that’s a red flag.
• If your interviewers have all been off camera, that’s a red flag.
• If the nature of your interview changes last minute (different video chat services or take-home essays instead of in-person interview)...red flag!
• A recruiter uses a social media platform to communicate with you instead of emailing directly.
• You're offered a job at the end of the interview—and you only have one short interview
• The recruiter won't tell you the name of the company until after you accept the job, share sensitive information, etc.
• While you wait for the check to clear (typically, checks take 2-3 days to clear in a checking account), they urge you to buy prepaid debit cards to send their way.

⚙️Scam Prevention during a Job Search⚙️

• Be discerning when it comes to sharing any contact information online.
  • Posting your phone number, email address, and mailing address on any public site (portfolio website, public applicant database, social media website, public resume database) makes it easier for anyone to find you and contact you.
• Research your employer.
  • Do they have a website? Does the email address match other email addresses on the website?
  • Do they have a LinkedIn page or Social Media presence in general? If they don’t, make sure you Google the company name with the word “scam” to see what others are saying about it.
  • Research the interview process on Glassdoor, Reddit, or Quora to see if it is consistent with your own experience.
  • Check on businesses at BBB.org if they claim to be offering jobs.
• Trust your instincts.
  • If you get any “sketchy vibes”, reach out to a career coach or counselor with your university or CodePath. We can help identify some next steps for you.