Job Offer Scams

Lately I have been looking at employment ads seeking to find a new career out of the construction business in a few of the online publications. There is something that I have found that I feel like I need to share with all the job seekers out there, that maybe inclinded to answer some of the same advertisements. With employment rates what they are, people know that there are a lot of desperate people out looking for work, these preditors know how to take advantage of this and they are more than willing to sell you hopes and dreams of solving your money problems. The following is just a few examples that I have found to beware of, there are plenty more out there, but the scams are useally based off the same principles.

The number game advertisements. There are hundreds of these type of ads out there and their are worded different, but the concept is the same. If you interview enough people, you will find a few gulible people that will work for you long enough to earn you money. You won't earn much money, the company may pay you a resonable commision on the sale, but more than likely you will have to sale a lot more than they said to earn the money they promised.

Here is what to watch out for.Number one the ad that say's "company expanding, marketing agents or managers needed." This ad is used by a couple different industries in one form or the other, roofing sales or tree service companies. Both of these industries use the group interview method. They bring in people to conference rooms and hope to convince at least a couple out of the fifteen or twenty they brought in, to stick around. The "company expanding" phrase is just a leader to get people to send in resumes or call. When someone from these ad's call for an interview, there is two questions to ask. 1. is the interview a private interview 2. Is this a w-2 or 1099 job. The reason for the second question is that a w-2 job means it could be an actually a real job, a 1099 means you are self-employed sub-contactor, but either way if it is straight commission, you will be spending your own money to sell their product. You will have gas, insurance and other related expenses before you ever make your first sale.

There is another type of Job scam out there. The sales scam where they advertise for account manager or branch manager for a fortune 500 company. This scam is a little different but it is a number game just like the one above. It works like this, Ad reads like a legitmite job offers, fortune 500 company seeking account executives and account managers for product roll out in new market, unlimited income potential, submit resume to email@waste your time. This one sounds pretty good, fortune 500 company? Product roll out? unlimited income? If you have participated in a product roll out, as I have with bulk co2 cylinders, you know it can be a very lucrative deal. Anyway, this scam works like this, you submit your resume and couple days go by and you get a call for an interview. An administrative assistant will call and arrange an interview with the branch manager or someone with an official sounding title. When the they call they will introduce the company kinda like this,"this is Fred with IMD for At&B (the fortune 500 company). So you set up the interview and are told to bring another copy of your resume with you, this pretty common with real job offer interviews, especially if you email resumes, they probably had a thousand to go thru, so your hard copy is requested.

OK, here is the heartbreak. You drive to the office and when you pull up you notice that there are several people at the same location, for the interview you know. Once inside, you fill out an application, normal so far, then you are called back for a private interview, once again good so far. Then you hear, we are a door to door marketing arm with a chance to make sales as a 1099 contractor. In other words, they are not the fortune 500 company you thought you were going to interview with, it is not a job offer it is a chance to be a sub-contractor for the sub-contractor who is working for the fortune 500 company. On top of that it becomes a MLM, so that a part of your commissions go to the people who hire you, if you don't mind going door to door and giving away part of your sales, this could be a good fit for the young and naive. This another one of the interview enough people and you may get a couple of people desperate enough to give it shot, at least for a couple of weeks.

Now, there is one more type to be aware of, the insurance sales job offer. First let me say, real insurance sales jobs are out there and working for a real insurance company can be a very good career move for some people.

The insurance job scam goes like this. As before, you send out resume, get a call, make an appointment and go for the interview. These interviews are usually group interviews in a office building conference rooms, usually a pretty nice place.

Here is where it all falls apart. Once they sit you thru the spill, tell you about how much money they are making and how much you could be making in just a couple of months, they hit you with, to get started we just need to get a check from you for $325.00 for training and licensing fees. Do What? That's right they are going to ask you for money to work for them. They claim they need the money to help you get your life and health insurance license and training fees. Now let ask you, if the company had faith in their product and your abilities, would they not pay these fees for you. Yes, a legitimate company will. I went to insurance adjusting school last year at the IIAG school, my classmates were from the insurance industry and their companies sponsored them and payed all the fees associated with the school.

If you are unemployed and looking for a new job don't be sucked in by these type of people. i know that it's tough out here and real, good paying jobs are far and few between. Remember as with job hunting as with anything, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. One more thing, if you suspect that you maybe falling for one of these type of offers, do a web search on the company and just ad scam to the name and see what comes up. A lot of companies that do these type of scams will have complaint filed on them, some will have a lot of them and usually the responses that claim that the complaints are wrong are from the company, make up your own mind.

Good luck in your job search and don't pay someone to let you work for them, you won't be happy and you'll be even more broke than you are now. Stay with it and you will find what your looking for.