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Latest ID Theft Tactic: Fake Job Listings
citking writes "News.com.com reports that, in an attempt to curb identity theft on its service, online career listing site Monster.com has begun warning its users of fake job postings bent on stealing personal information. 'Regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers', according to an e-mail sent by the company yesterday to registered users. With the increasingly difficult job market, things such as background checks and non-disclosure agreements are becoming more and more difficult to avoid, so where does one draw the line for giving out personal information in response to a classified ad? CNN has a small article about this as well."
Even if monster had absolute highest employer screening methods, you are still trusting that monster has a secure server, that their network infrastructure is resistant to attack, that monster's employees will not illegitimately sell off your information, or anything else.
All this hassle and the hiring rates out of these sites remains dismal because there are so many applicants. To any unemployed /.ers out there, I suggest you read "What Color is Your Parachute?" by Richard Bolles. And follow its advice of hunting for jobs on foot.
Doing the Right Thing should not be preempted by making a buck.
. . . I guess that means I didn't get the job.
Industry leading Games Development Company seeking talented software developers to work for both stock options and salary!!
Excellent opportunity for pseudo-elite narcissistic code-monkeys with mediocre GPA's, 2 years Everquest experience and a predilection for sleazy pornography.
Starting salary $75k-$100k ***
*** In order to be eligible for this introductory salary offer, please sign and overnight the available forms at reputable recruiting services.
This is just another reason to avoid agencies, they truly are a parasitic bunch.
Over here in the UK I was looking for work last year, and scoured the local agencies. Many, many times I'd apply for a position only to be told eventually that it didn't exist. The agency just wanted to know how many Perl Programmers were around.
Worse than that, though, is the way that several agencies will advertise the same position with subtly different descriptions - and you don't realise until you get called for an interview. In one case an agency told me that they wouldn't put me forward for a position I was applying for because I'd also registered with another agency!
I've started keeping track of bad (and the rare good) agencies in Edinburgh - if you're local feel free to look at the list and submit your experiences.
(Yes that was a plug, and yes the section needs updating)
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
I realize that you can't walk into a large company, get to see a hiring manager, and hand him your resume. Still, you need to get above the noise. Quality employers get THOUSANDS of resumes, mostly junk, for every posting.
So, what I did was get some of those yellow string-fasterner "Interoffice Memo" envelopes at an office supply store. I drove around to the companies I was interested and gave my resume to the receptionist in one of these envelopes marked "HR/Staffing".
My theory was that resumes that got to HR this way would be presumed to be from an employee! While I can't prove the exact reason why this worked better, I can say that I got a response to nearly all resumes I submitted this way! It's worth a try.
Best Buy can have you arrested
If the agencies want CV's they put in fake adverts.
If they want to know contact names for employers, they ask you for references from your last employer.
If anyone advertises a job, everyone else advertises the same spec, only 'nicer' then submits your CV to the first agency without the contact details and asks for a cut.
If they want to know whose hiring they quiz you on any interviews you've attended recently.
In reality the only real jobs come from family and friends who happen to need work done.
I have programmer friends who work in gas stations, as cleaners, shelf stackers and other manual jobs and they're lucky they have those. Competition is tough in the manual labour market aswell.
Dubyas an ass.
Don't forget BOSSES! I had the joy of working for a small dotcom with poor management a number of years back, and bailed after six months when our paychecks started showing up late and when I walked into accounting and saw the accountants desk covered in "Past Due!" and "Final Collections Notice!" letters.
A year later, I'd heard they'd gone under and had almost forgotten about them when I tried to refinance my wifes car and was turned down because of poor credit. Poor credit?!?! I'm a homeowner, I have five credit cards, and two car loans, and I had never been so much as a day late in making a payment. I had 10 years of history, and all my balances were low. So what do you think I found when I pulled my 3 agency report? A $1,400+ dollar Pacific Bell phone bill in collections, that went to CarHunting.Com Inc (they can't sue me for slander, the FBI is still trying to track the owner down for defrauding creditors and employees). A call to a couple former employees revealed that the companies phone service had been shut off shortly after I left, and that the owner had used MY name and MY SSN to secure a new account and get them turned back on. Most NORMAL people at that point would think that a simple phone call to the phone company could straighten this out, right? Wrong. It took two years of fighting, and three investigations, before the phone company would finally acknowledge that the bill wasn't mine and remove it from my credit report. Even the notarized affidavits from former employees, and work records showing that I'd been working soemwhere else at the time, weren't enough to convince them that it wasn't my bill. In fact, it wasn't until I hired a lawyer and the lawyer started talking to the FTC and they began talking about lawsuits for FCRA violations that the phone company finally caved and removed the bill.
So the risk soesn't exist only when applying for a job, but during and after your job as well. And it's ALWAYS a pain in the butt to fix this kind of stuff. A simple rule of thumb though, is to ONLY give personally identifiable information (birthdates, SSN's, etc) to companies that you can verify are real and trustworthy. And DON'T work for scum. If a company will screw its customers, it'll probably screw its employees too.
There is nothing so pathetic as seeing a beautiful young theory roughed up by a tough gang of facts.