How to protect yourself from hiring scams

Plus: The best entry-level jobs for business majors

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RoadMap Newsletter
May 1st, 2024

Hey, Roadies! 

Hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday. If you haven’t gotten your first job yet, you haven’t been exposed to the scourge of office small talk that is “Happy Hump Day.” Count yourself lucky. 

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T.O.T.D. 

RoadMap’s “Tip Of The Day”

Today’s T.O.T.D comes courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, which on Monday published an article about hiring scams targeting first-time job applicants.

TL;DR: Bad actors are pretending to be hiring managers online to get access to applicants’ bank information or steal their money. The WSJ writes: 

“Students, soon-to-be graduates and recent college grads are especially vulnerable to scammers because of their comfort transacting so much of their lives online and their relative inexperience in the job market, according to watchdog-agency officials and career counselors.” 

Translation: You’re probably sending money online too easily. 

Here’s what to do now: Protect from scams by avoiding these red flags 🚩. 

  • If a job interview is conducted without seeing the interviewer’s face (like using a chat function), something is probably wrong. 

  • If someone claiming to be a hiring manager asks you to send money for something like office equipment or gift cards, something is probably wrong – especially if the person sends you a check to cover it. That check will likely bounce in a few days. 

  • If anyone asks you for your social security number during an application process, stop communicating with them.

Numero Uno 

In this section we ask hiring managers about important skills or attributes in candidates.

A co-founder of a small PR company who has hired dozens of employees said the most important thing to her is self-knowledge. 

“When I interview, I want to get a sense that the person really understands their strengths and weaknesses. I don’t want, ‘my strength is that I’m a hard worker and my weakness is that I work too hard.’ Someone who has a weakness that they’re aware of is better than someone who doesn’t really know where their skills lie.” 

Here’s what to do now: 

  • Add a prepared interview answer that outlines a remedy to an actual weakness. For example, you could say, “I’ve struggled with organization in the past. While it hasn’t ever affected my performance, a messy desk and cluttered inbox has impeded my efficiency. To keep that from happening, I take time every day to organize my work.”

Read This 

A deep dive, if you’re in the mood for it