One Useful Thing: The Job Seeker Scam Checklist
A checklist to keep your data safe and your hope intact.
Welcome to a new regular post, where I highlight just one useful thing. For this week’s useful thing, we have a checklist to avoid wasting your time with scam or misleading job postings.
If you want more detail, check this article from The Career Pivot. If you want long form articles on Ghost jobs, or misleading AI Recruitment Companies, just click the links.
✅ The Job Seeker Scam Checklist
🕵️♂️ LinkedIn Recruiter Scams
☐ Avoid public “#OpenToWork” badges.
☐ Use LinkedIn’s private recruiter-only toggle instead.
☐ Check recruiter profiles: low connections, and stock-photo vibes = 🚩
☐ Never pay for resume “fixes” from cold outreach. Ever.
🪦 Ghost Job Postings
☐ Be skeptical of jobs posted over 30 days ago.
☐ Check if the job is also listed on the company website.
☐ Google the job title and company—if it’s a repost = 🚩
☐ If the role is oddly vague or too broad, walk away.
☐ Know this: 40% of hiring managers admit to posting ghost jobs.
🧠 AI Data Theft Interviews
☐ Research the company before agreeing to AI interviews.
☐ If there’s no actual job linked to the platform, abort.
☐ Ask: “Who’s the hiring manager?”—if it’s vague and unclear = 🚩
☐ Platforms like Mercor and micro1 have been flagged for farming data.
☐ Don’t train someone else’s billion-dollar AI for free.
🎯 Wired Job Descriptions
☐ Dream job too tailored to be real? Probably wired.
☐ Short application windows (<7 days)? = 🚩
☐ “Unicorn” qualifications? It’s not about you—it’s about them.
☐ Weird, hyper-specific locations? They already picked someone local.
☐ Promo-in-disguise? Internal hire incoming. Don’t take it personally.
Bonus Rule
☐ If it smells fishy, it probably is. Trust your gut.
🔒 Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. Stay safe.
And if you see a scam out there? Comment here. We protect each other.