How to Protect Yourself from Employment Scams Online

With so many people frantically looking for jobs, scam artists are learning that it is very easy to get a job seeker to reveal their personal information and get scammed. However, by taking some basic precautions, you can protect yourself from junk email, identity theft, and loss of money.

Protect Yourself from Employment Scams: Never Give your Social Security Number

This first one is very important. Yes, legitimate companies will probably need your social security number when they hire you. However, it is highly unlikely that they will need it any earlier in the process, and almost definitely not before the first interview.

Therefore, do not give your social security number to any potential employer until after you have met them in person and verified that they are honest. Exceptions to this rule would be jobs where you know you are applying directly from the website of a reputable company (such as the U.S. Government).

Protect Yourself from Employment Scams: Do Not Sign up for a Credit Check

Many employment scams exist for the sole purpose of getting you to get a credit check for which they will get a referral fee. Do not sign yourself up for a credit check unless you are positive it is a necessary part of the application process of a reputable company. This could result in charges and fees for you, plus potentially identity theft.

Protect Yourself from Employment Scams: Do Not Give Information You Want to Keep Private

If you are sending your resume to every ad you can find that requests it, you should treat this resume as basically a public document that you are posting on the Internet. Therefore, if you have your phone number on the resume, expect that it might get into the hands of somebody who will call you with junk offers. If you are providing your email address (or writing from it), expect to get some junk mail.

Protect Yourself from Employment Scams: Use a Non-Primary Email Address

In fact, if you are concerned about junk email, the best solution is to use a non-primary email address that you set up specifically for your job search. Make sure it is a professional email address, in case you actually stumble across some real jobs in your job hunt, but once you find that job, you can be free to stop checking it, unless you are ever curious how much spam you signed yourself up for.

Protect Yourself from Employment Scams: Protect Your References

Your references are people whom you trust to represent you well, and if you have just signed them up for all sorts of spam, chances are, they will not be too happy with you. For this reason, do not give references until you are sure the company to which you are applying will not use their information for harm.

Protect Yourself from Employment Scams: Do Not Give Money Upfront

If a job opportunity requires any investment from you to find out more about it, chances are, you are looking at a scam. Real jobs will not ask you to pay them because the point of a job is that it pays you!