Recruiting Scams Are Getting More Convincing. Here’s How to Protect Yourself.
Recruiting scams have unfortunately seen an uptick lately, leaving candidates to wonder whether or not outreach is legitimate. These scams are convincing, too. Some imitate the name and position of someone who is in a recruiting role at a company, and it’s hard to tell if it’s real.
My wife received one to her work email address recently. She works in the technical/digital space, and the email even seemed fairly legitimate to her. She looked up the name of the person and found a LinkedIn profile that matched the person’s name, title and company. A few things stood out to her that this was not legitimate communication, though:
- It was sent directly to her work email address, when her personal email address is readily found on her LinkedIn. Some recruiters may reach out to a work address, but since they’re likely recruiting you away from the very job they’re contacting you through, it’s not a common practice.
- The email mentioned a role she only tangentially would have experience for, and she knew she wasn’t a strong fit, even if the role and the company did sound exciting to her.
- It was a little too good to be true. It posed as coming from a strong organization with a big name. It felt unlikely that someone from this organization would reach out to her work email, as it’s typically more common for these asks to come from the organization’s recruiters on LinkedIn.
This scam creates difficulties for legitimate recruiters reaching out about opportunities as well as for job seekers or passive talent that would be interested in the right role. Next time you get an email correspondence that feels like it might be too good to be true, or something feels off, here are steps you can take to verify if it’s a recruiting scam or not:
If it’s an email, check the from address.
What once was an obvious tell is becoming less obvious. Scammers are posing their emails as if they’re from the company. There are some slight tells, though. For example, if a company has an email address that is: person@tkcompany.com, the recruiting scam may come from something like person@tk-company.com or person@tk-company-extra-word.com.
An extra dash or word where it doesn’t make sense can be a red flag that this email isn’t legit. You can Google to find what a company email address typically is, and see if it matches up. Especially if it’s from a well-established, large organization, their email domain will match the domain of the organization.
On that note, it would be a very rare occurrence for a professional email to come from gmail.com or one of the other email service providers.
Don’t click on links or provide information.
Especially if you’re suspicious. Links are common when it’s a role you’ve applied to and a recruiter is setting up an interview. They’re a little bit less common with cold recruiting outreach.
Often, recruiters are reaching out to first know if you’re interested in the role. That process should not involve clicking on a link or providing your SSN, birth date or banking information.
Ask yourself if this makes sense.
Be suspicious! Is this email asking you about a role in a field that you have little experience in? What about for a location that you’re not associated with, and that isn’t addressed in the outreach? Does it sound like someone actually looked at your LinkedIn or found your resume and is reaching out specifically to you?
If something feels off, it probably is off.
Find the recruiter on LinkedIn and ask them about it.
As a final resort, if you’re really unsure, you can always find the person whose name appears in the email and send them a message on LinkedIn verifying the validity.
Most recruiters would be happy to either confirm the validity of their correspondence to you, or help you determine that this is a scam, and then be aware that their name and likeness are being used by scammers.
If nothing else, you can connect to the recruiter should a real opportunity come across their desk where you would be a good fit.
If the message originated from a LinkedIn account instead of an email, check the LinkedIn account for activity and history. If the profile is clearly brand new or very sparse in terms of posts, comments or history, be wary.
Recruiters reach out to you because they have a role they think you would like, and they think you’d be a great fit for their company/client. No games. If you win and get the job, then they win. That is their sole purpose.
So next time you get a message that feels off, go through these steps so you’re not a victim of this scam. If you feel that the email or LinkedIn message is a scam, report it.
- How to Report a LinkedIn Profile
- How to Report Emails in:
- Or, if it was in your organization’s email, report it to your IT/security team.
And finally, let’s hope that scammers move on from the recruiting and job industry, as it’s filled with wonderful people who genuinely want to connect talent to opportunity and job seekers who are excited about taking the next step in their career.
