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Being Aware of Job Scams is Your First Defense

As a fresh out of college Midwest transplant, I was looking for a job, any job. I had a college degree and somehow

thought that might mean something when I was looking for a job in Los Angeles. Turns out Los Angeles is much a more a town about who you know, and I knew no one. Therefore, my job search consisted of scouring the online job sites like Monster, Careerbuilder.com, and of course Craigslist. Most of us will have to do searches likes this one time or another and take it from us here at Survive the City, be careful, be critical and be aware.

I answered an ad similar to this one found on Craigslist:

“Sports & Entertainment Marketing Firm Expanding

Looking for candidates that have high energy and enjoy a fun working environment

No Experience Necessary

Only Full-Time hours available

Entry Level with opportunity for rapid advancement

Email your resume online to our HR Department for Immediate Consideration, No Attachments Please!“

My dream was to work in sports and this seemed like a perfect way to get my foot in the door. I drove to the Valley and had my initial interview. The office seemed normal enough and the woman I met with asked normal interview questions and asked me to come back the next day to shadow one of their reps and said, “be sure to wear comfortable shoes.” I thought that just meant we would be out and about and maybe just advice from one woman to another. Turns out the rep and I were selling oil changes for Firestone door to door in some neighborhood in the Valley. It was 110 degrees outside and the woman I was paired with hustled like her shoes were on fire and I couldn’t keep up. I was sweating through my suit and could feel my pale face being fried to a crisp. Still I could not bring myself to just be honest and tell her I did not want to do this anymore. I faked food poisoning, took a cab back to my car, and beat a path back to the Westside.

I have done quite a bit of job searching in my seven years in Los Angeles and still search those online postings. However, I am now older, wiser, and more wary. Here are some tips on what to look for in order to avoid a similar fate.

1. Avoid ads that sound like a cattle call

Ideally you should be filling one position in a company, not being hired with an ensemble of other newbies. During my second interview, there were at least a dozen other people going on these second interviews. They were looking for any army, not an employee.

2. Don’t ever pay to be employed

Another STC writer had her own bad experience looking for work. Upon a return to L.A., Heather went in for a hair model interview. Having already done some hair modeling Heather knew what to expect. However, during this interview they took pictures and told her she could do real modeling. We love our Heather, but she’s 5’4”, not exactly runway height. She came back for the follow-up, and they wanted to charge her for pictures and a listing on their website. A job should pay you and an agency should be willing to find you a job. In no way, should you be forking over cash for to get employment.

3. Over promise will under deliver

Don’t fool yourself, if the ad sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Looking at the postings I answered, who was I kidding? No experience necessary? Sports and entertainment firm? Be honest with yourself and you will avoid having to fake food poisoning in order to escape.

4. Ask questions

Is the ad vague? Are they not being direct about what they really do? Ask questions when you initially talk to them. If they are legit, they will appreciate your initiative. If they are less legit, you might just save yourself some heartache.

Share any similar experiences with Survive the City in the comment section. Practically every person I know in this city has had some kind of experience like this and we want to hear yours. – Connie Sommerville

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 10:55 pm and is filed under Career in the City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.