Comments on: 8 Ways to Tell Whether That Ad on Craigslist is Bogus

By: Jojo

Jojo — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:48:50 +0000

I noticed that those ‘fake’ ads were mostly from recruiting agencies, who are trying to get as many candidates as they could. I have dealt with great, professional agencies, but have to say, the majority of them were just all talk. They just wanted me to come in to their office to see my face, and kept promising great jobs, but nothing materialized. Again, there’s a few who are exception to this norm, though.

By: Mark Welch

Mark Welch — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:43:48 +0000

Re: the complaints about the University of Phoenix — it’s 99% likely that this is lead-forgery by affiliates of one of the CPA networks. (Universities contract with CPA networks, who promise to gather leads, for $X each, from people who’ve expressed an interest in continuing education programs; the CPA networks then pay $X/2 to other CPA networks and to “affiliates” who promise to only direct legitimate leads to the system; the other CPA networks contract with other affiliates and CPA networks; these CPA networks contract with others…

What happens is that an unethical affiliate signs up and submits fraudulent “lead forms,” pretending that it’s really you who’s requesting information about continuing education programs at the university.

Of course, the people who call you are probably not employees of the university, but instead another outside company that is paid to call people on the lead lists, in order to qualify them further. Therefore, no matter how much you complain, the information about “lead fraud” won’t actually get to the department at the university where someone would be concerned about being defrauded.

By: Mark Welch

Mark Welch — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:39:30 +0000

Are there really offshore people who earn $2 per hour? I thought $1 per hour was the max rate. I've posted my own list of "recommendations" for legitimate job postings.

By: Kerry Sandberg Scott

Kerry Sandberg Scott — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:27:24 +0000

I am surprised that any Hill jobs are being filled by Craigslist—when I moved to DC in the mid-90s, they were all filled by word-of-mouth (especially the entry-level ones…it was hard to break in if you hadn’t already interned and made friends with people who would recommend you). It’s nice to hear that things have opened up a bit.

I have a friend who inherited a recruiter who did that throwaway email address thing to keep from being contacted by candidates. She was the first one my friend fired. If you think that candidate contact is a hassle, you probably shouldn’t be recruiting (especially in a situation like those hill jobs, where the candidates might also be constituents). Candidate management comes with the job, before and after the position is filled.

By: Pfandfrei

Pfandfrei — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:13:30 +0000

Craigslist is also used legitimately in the DC area – I’ve had interviews with “top” companies that have posted there. And oftentimes they don’t post the company name, either.

Also, the email address thing isn’t true everywhere – in the Washington DC area it’s very very common for people on Capitol Hill or working on political campaigns to use throwaway email addresses (washingtondcschedulingjob@gmail.com, for example) to recruit – this is because they usually get tons of responses to a posting and they don’t want to be harassed long after they have found a candidate.

By: Kerry Sandberg Scott

Kerry Sandberg Scott — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:41:09 +0000

I haven’t posted on HotJobs for at least five years…partly for that very reason, and partly because of other bad experiences I had with them as an employer. I’m not a fan.

I used Monster and CareerBuilder to recruit in my last job, but not much. Now I wouldn’t use them at all. There’s just no need—there are smaller, local boards that are WAY more effective. Plus, now that we have Twitter and LinkedIn and all that, it’s much easier to fill a job without posting it at all. That way you don’t have the deluge of candidates to deal with (although, on the flipside, if it were not for the deluge of candidates, I’d have far fewer Tales of the Cluefree to share).

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:02:26 +0000

Sabrina – I’ll second Kerry’s Holy Cow! I didn’t know Univ of Phoenix was doing that – are you sure that it wasn’t a glitch? I know that I once got a call from them after I put my resume on CareerBuilder (or Monster, I foget which one). I realized that it was because I had not clicked off the “contact me” check mark on their ad.

I know folks who are taking classes with Univ of Phoenix and folks who teach for them; I have heard nothing but great things about them. So I am really surprised.

A couple of years ago I did answer an ad on careerbuilder about a training job at New Horizon Computer Center (they seem to be a francise, not completely run from corporate). I made it very clear that I was looking to train, not BE trained. “Great”, I was told “be here tomrrow for a group interview.” I don’t usually do group interviews, but thought I should keep an open mind. I was one of 7 people in the “interview” which was nothing but a sales pitch to sign up for classes. Not being the timid type I spoke up – long story short, only 2 of the 7 people were there to inquire about taking classes, the rest of use were brought in to just “fill out the group.” If I hadn’t spoken up everyone else was content to just leave thinking that they were the only ones mislead!

Kerry – can I have your sign on this post – except I want it to say “job wanted – no bullshit!”

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:37:00 +0000

So, Kerry, how do HR recruiters feel posting on other websites such as CareerBuilder, Monster, and HotJobs… next to all THOSE scammers? (Moreso HotJobs than the other two)

Sabrina’s last blog post..Oh Give Me A Home, Where the Buffalo Roam…

By: Ros

Ros — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:57:02 +0000

One thing that is a big clue for me is when it asks you to open a bank account. A lot of the students at my university have been targetted by fake job ads for admin type positions where they will be required to open bank accounts for “company supplies”. Of course the cheques that they pay into this account are fraudulent and they end up spending their own money and being complicit in fraud.
Worse though is that the initial advert seems fairly legitimate but after emailing the “employer” it is clearly dodgy. But by then they have your email address for further spamming.

By: Tim G

Tim G — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:57:07 +0000

Great and timely advice. Both of my sons are looking for work, one full time and the other part time while at college, and craigslist is one source. Nothing meaningful has come from that, and they seem to have naturally figured out where the wasted time would be. But I will pass this along to them. Thanks! Tim G’s last blog post..13 Frequently Given Answers – Supervisory Edition