Current Events > Does anyone have any experience with scam job listings?

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I applied for something recently, and I'll admit that I'm getting just slightly by the entire process, especially compared to application processes that I've gone through in the past.

To quickly summarize:

On Tuesday evening, around 8PM, I applied for a communications position. The position didn't initially raise any red flags, so I applied since it's roughly what I'm looking for. By 8:30AM the next morning, I had heard back from them to set up an interview, and when I missed the initial text message, they quickly texted again telling me that they were filling up positions for Zoom interviews quickly and that I should schedule mine soon before they filled up.

It was a little weird, with the quick turnaround and needing signups for interviews, but sure, I went ahead and picked a time for earlier today and did the interview.

The interview itself was bizarrely brief, maybe lasting ten minutes in total with a really basic discussion and questions (very basic info about the company, what strengths do you think you'd bring to this position, if you could dine with one person in human history who would you choose), and then it was wrapped up. That in itself felt a bit strange, as I've never had an interview that was that brief, but it was allegedly an initial interview, so I shrugged it off.

Just a bit over an hour later, I got a call from someone other than the person I spoke with in the Zoom interview telling me that I did well in my initial interview and that they wanted to schedule me for a second interview the next day. (Which...is a little strange in itself, most interviews that I've done are during standard business hours, not on weekends, but sure?) I already have plans for tomorrow that I can't really move around, so I asked if I could do the second interview at another point, and the person seemed a bit put off but eventually said that I could do it Tuesday morning.

So at this point, I was feeling just very vaguely uneasy - between the ridiculously quick turnaround, the oddly brief interview, and the odd reaction to me having plans for tomorrow.

At that point, I decided to look into the company just a bit more because a few alarm bells were going off. They do have a site, but it's extremely barebones and doesn't offer much beyond some stock photos and some fairly generic company mission phrases. A bit more research showed me that the name of the company was registered under a year ago (February 2022), and there's nothing about them on Indeed, Glassdoor, or the Better Business Bureau, with only a fairly basic LinkedIn profile aside from their own site.

Their listed address does exist as part of a complex of office spaces for rent, but I couldn't find any independent confirmation that they're actually there. Google Maps didn't list it as one of the businesses at that precise address, and the site for the office space listed a space for rent, but I can't seem to confirm if it's that precise unit or not. Googling the phone number for the company offered literally nothing except for the company's own site.

So what I'm left with is being kind of unsure if I'm dealing with a super new company which isn't findable online because it's under a year old and which is just ridiculously efficient with the interview process, or a scam. I've encountered a scam listing in the past before some red flags went up and I did more research and backed the fuck out, but I can't find much of anything on this one.

Any input? I'm a little bit torn here, because I'm like, very mildly put off by a lot of the entire process, but it's possible that they're just genuinely a new company and legitimately in need of urgent hiring. But it all seems a bit too good to be true, and the super rushed process and lack of hard information that I can find about them has me a little bit uneasy. If anyone has any thoughts on the whole thing, I'd love to get a second opinion here.

Ghost em.

Interviews are filling up quickly.

Can you do a second interview tomorrow.

Weird vibes from that.

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

Interviews are filling up quickly.

Can you do a second interview tomorrow.

Weird vibes from that.

Definitely seems like theyre trying to create false urgency

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

Interviews are filling up quickly.

Can you do a second interview tomorrow.

Weird vibes from that.

Kakapo posted...

Definitely seems like theyre trying to create false urgency

That's honestly the exact sense that I got. It was a bit strange in the first place, and when they tried to schedule a second interview under 24 hours later, on a weekend, and then seemed surprised that I had plans on a Saturday...that's when a big red flag went up.

I don't want to call it a scam on that alone, because it is possible that they just need the position filled quickly and they're expediting the process, but that in conjunction with the relative newness of the place and the fact that I had trouble coming up with much information about them online sort of leaves me a bit put off. There are just a few too many red flags.

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

Ghost em.

Honestly, I've been considering just making an excuse that's technically true, albeit exaggerated. Since I'd need to relocate a bit for the job, I'd probably play that up a bit and say that I can't currently relocate (I can, though it'd be a bit challenging for a few reasons). I don't necessarily want to burn the bridge in the off chance that it actually is legitimate, but I am strongly considering backing out just based on the really strange vibes that I've been getting.

Yeah, also, theres a word for those rental offices.

Furnished offices, maybe? Ive known a few businesses to use them when theyve got a HQ somewhere and need satellite offices to use on demand, but my dad was always like dont trust a company that just used furnished offices.

The entire thing gives me a weird vibe. Even if they are legit, if they interview, contact and hire that fast, either the job has a ton of turnover and the employees are a revolving door which is a bad sign, or its bogus. I'd say no, but that's just instinct and speculation.

Kakapo posted...

Yeah, also, theres a word for those rental offices.

Furnished offices, maybe? Ive known a few businesses to use them when theyve got a HQ somewhere and need satellite offices to use on demand, but my dad was always like dont trust a company that just used furnished offices.

Yeah, the offices didn't look great from what I did see in the photos. Not a deal breaker at all, but it is worth noting.

MabusIncarnate posted...

The entire thing gives me a weird vibe. Even if they are legit, if they interview, contact and hire that fast, either the job has a ton of turnover and the employees are a revolving door which is a bad sign, or its bogus. I'd say no, but that's just instinct and speculation.

Good points. The entire thing feels weird to me, and it's good to know that it's not just me getting odd vibes here.

I'll think it over some more, but I'm definitely leaning towards declining at this point.

Have they asked you any sensitive information like your SSN? Thats usually a tell. They may also try to get you to pay for your equipment or something similar with promise of reimbursement.

I havent been scammed but many scammers have posed as companies Ive worked for and they can get very sophisticated by copying an open position and pretending to be a recruiter from the company.

Even on the off chance this is a real company, it doesnt sound like the kind of company youd want to work for anyway.

Cleo_II posted...

Have they asked you any sensitive information like your SSN? Thats usually a tell. They may also try to get you to pay for your equipment or something similar with promise of reimbursement.

I havent been scammed but many scammers have posed as companies Ive worked for and they can get very sophisticated by copying an open position and pretending to be a recruiter from the company.

Even on the off chance this is a real company, it doesnt sound like the kind of company youd want to work for anyway.

Thankfully not. Honestly, I would have nope'd out immediately if they had. I definitely wouldn't give out any sensitive info like that.

And yeah, it's reasonable to just criticize the practices of the company even if they are legit. The entire thing seems very peculiar and gives me a pretty negative opinion of what they'd be like if I were to work for them. The fact that they seemed really surprised and put off that I had plans already on a Saturday when we hadn't discussed the second interview at all up to that point is a pretty shaky sign for what they might be like to work for.

Another thing you can do is post on your towns subreddit and see if anyone else in your area has been approached by them. Odds are you arent the only one. Just make sure you look through the comment history of anyone responding.

If you are feeling like this going into the interviews, I would probably skip them.

dotsdfe posted...

Thankfully not. Honestly, I would have nope'd out immediately if they had. I definitely wouldn't give out any sensitive info like that.

And yeah, it's reasonable to just criticize the practices of the company even if they are legit. The entire thing seems very peculiar and gives me a pretty negative opinion of what they'd be like if I were to work for them. The fact that they seemed really surprised and put off that I had plans already on a Saturday when we hadn't discussed the second interview at all up to that point is a pretty shaky sign for what they might be like to work for.

Listen to your gut. Ive ignored my gut in interviews and it came back to bite me after. And yeah the Saturday interview is extremely bizarre.

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

Another thing you can do is post on your towns subreddit and see if anyone else in your area has been approached by them. Odds are you arent the only one. Just make sure you look through the comment history of anyone responding.

I looked around when I started getting bad vibes, but I couldn't find any discussion about them at all either way. If they are legit, they're very new. The only reference to them that I could find anywhere is their own site and their LinkedIn. No discussion on Reddit, no reviews or profiles anywhere else, nothing.

Alucard188 posted...

If you are feeling like this going into the interviews, I would probably skip them.

Probably.

This is the strangest feeling that I've gotten from a prospective job other than one other time, where I applied and immediately (like within minutes) got a text, and they were very eager to set things up. I got weird vibes then too, and I was able to find out that that one was indeed a scam, and that it was essentially a MLM racket posing as jobs in public relations, marketing, etc. You had to basically sell flimsy products on street corners with the only pay being commission, which wasn't what was advertised at all, according to people on Reddit. I quickly blocked off all contact.

I'm getting pretty similar vibes here, which is why I started really wondering.

TC are you the same dots from the LOST discussion topics back in the day?

SomeLikeItHoth posted...

TC are you the same dots from the LOST discussion topics back in the day?

Nope. Never seen Lost before.

I'll give this a bump, I suppose, in case anyone has any further input.

I'm thinking that I'll formally decline tomorrow, though I'm giving it some thought beforehand. It is a decent enough opportunity if it is legitimate, so part of me wants to keep going with it, but I'm just not getting the best feeling here. There are a few too many oddities, and it feels like it's a bit too good to be true.