It's common for employees to go through training to prevent them from clicking on or accidentally downloading spam, but what is not as common is for job applicants to go through that same training and to be expecting their dream job employer to be a scammer posing as the hiring company.
How To Spot Email Scams as a Job Applicant
Let's just start by saying these email scammers are good. They will create emails that look very real and convincing as if is from the company itself. When reviewing the emails and what they're asking for, there are a few tips to detect whether or not the email is truly from who they say they are:
- Double-check the email address. Although the contact name may look legit, always click on the name and verify the email domain matches the company's website domain (for example, if the company website is "eoxvantage.com", then the email address should end in "@eoxvantage.com")
- There is a request for payment. There should never, ever be any time of payment required to be considered as a job applicant. If asked for any type of payment information, this is a scam and you should report it to the actual company so they can immediately communicate this to their applicants.
- There is a sense of urgency. Scammers want to get away with their scams! In order to do this, they will reach out to you multiple times requesting an interview and provide a very limited timeline in order to schedule the interview. Employers do not create such urgency as they have a pool of candidates to sort through and also have an understanding that some applicants may currently have a job that does not allow for them to respond right away.
If it seems off, trust your gut! If any of these signs appear from an employer and are leaving you unsure if they are a scammer, go to their website and contact them directly via email with the following information so they can verify if it was, in fact, them who has reached out to you:
- Email address of who contacted you
- Emailer name
- Their message (copy and paste the message)
- A request to verify the email
This will allow the employer to let you know it was them, and if it was a scammer, this will alert them that someone is illegally using their name.
