spotting fake job adverts

heres a little guide to help others spot a fake job advert

You can't trust everything you see online.

I know! Who knew?!

Unfortunately, this applies to job adverts, and candidates can easily be sucked into applying for a vacancy that doesn't even exist.

A vacancy that doesn't exist? Surely that can't be a thing...

Well, fake job ads are 100% real and they're not always easy to spot. You may even have applied for one before without the slightest doubts over its authenticity.

But what is a fake job ad? And is it actually possible to identify one?

https://www.agencycentral.co.uk/articles/2017-06/what-jobseekers-need-to-know-about-fake-job-ads.htm

Thanks for the posting Admin, some good tips there. I was just remembering when the Universal Jobmatch came out, and all of the fake jobs posted in that site . One point thou it can be a struggle to know how much information to put on an application/CV. Not enough and your application could go in the bin. While too much and it could get sold off to some company?

Some great advice in that link Admin'

At least this rogue recruiter did not get my postal address, phone number or any details of ex-employers, so nothing really

I should add that agencies likely advertise fake jobs. I suspect that the reason for this is phishing.

(1) If a person sends a CV to apply for a fake job then the CV might include companies the person worked for and the title of the job they did there. Some candidates might even include names of referees on their CV (DON'T DO THIS - I just put 'References can be supplied upon request' - no names).

(2) So imagine the fake recruiter/agency gets the CV. They then have a name of an employee or ex-employee. This gives them a lead into contacting employers and obtaining names of managers/HR people on the pretence of 'obtaining references'.

(3) Having obtained the names of managers/HR people in a business, the fake job advertiser now has the name of a bona fide contact and can then start contacting them about whether they need candidates (not including the person who applied for the fake job - they are just the phishing scam stooge).

To go off the main topic for a minute, this is a thing that happend to me a few months ago, I saw a job advert on a reputable website. So I applied for it after reading the jobs description, to which I was lead to believe was a real job. However,a few days later I got a email inviting me for an interview. So far so good I thought, until I read on the message that it was in interview for a 'months work trail' at the company! Also I am not sure if I could end up on a 'sanction' for non-attendance of a 'fake job', but I wouldn't put it past the Work_Roach to have a go thou...

El-dudeareno wrote:To go off the main topic for a minute, this is a thing that happend to me a few months ago, I saw a job advert on a reputable website. So I applied for it after reading the jobs description, to which I was lead to believe was a real job. However,a few days later I got a email inviting me for an interview. So far so good I thought, until I read on the message that it was in interview for a 'months work trail' at the company! Also I am not sure if I could end up on a 'sanction' for non-attendance of a 'fake job', but I wouldn't put it past the Work_Roach to have a go thou...

I presume there was no mention of a salary anywhere in the job description / advert. Also, the advert must have been misleading to not mention whether the job was permanent or temporary. They knew perfectly well their intention to mislead people.

No, there was a mention of the salary on the advert that is why I thought it was genuine, but it was after the 'successful' one months work trial with the firm. And it didn't mention anything in the job description/advert that I read before applying to the job, about this trial. It was only when I got an email from them with an interview date did I read this about the months trial.

El-dudeareno wrote:No, there was a mention of the salary on the advert that is why I thought it was genuine, but it was after the 'successful' one months work trial with the firm. And it didn't mention anything in the job description/advert that I read before applying to the job, about this trial. It was only when I got an email from them with an interview date did I read this about the months trial.

Oh, I see. Thanks for clarifying