How the scam works:
You post your resume online and a few days later receive a call from a well-known company's HR department, located in a different city. They saw your resume and thought you would make a great candidate for a position they are offering.
For you, it’s a dream job with a great company that pays better than you were expecting. Just like that, you think, your unemployment woes are through.
They ask a few basic questions and then say they'd like to do a follow-up interview at their office. They can't pay for your plane ticket, but they can offer you their corporate discount rate.
If you are interested, they will book the flight internally to get the 50% discount, as soon as you give them payment information. Unfortunately, there will be no plane ticket waiting for you. Sure, you will see charges on your card--but it won't be for anything you need. You may not be getting on a plane, but you were taken for a ride.
How to avoid:
First of all, no prospective employee will ask for your credit card information. But if you insist on finding out for sure, look up the company's number in the phone book and call their HR department and find out if it was actually them. Chances are, it wasn't. You may not have your dream job, but at least you still have your credit intact.
Rely only on reputable companies such as Beyond.comor ExecuNet
to keep you in the loop about openings in your field. They are trustworthy, have a great online reputation, and you can register with them for free. There is a little bit about them:
Beyond.com is one of the world’s largest network of niche career communities providing access to thousands of top-tier industry and local web sites. They have over 2,500 industry and regional communities. Members have 24/7 online access to job search functions, networking features, statistics and social and industry research. You can register for free HERE.
ExecuNet is a private membership for executives. Unlike job boards, ExecuNet personally works with executives to execute a strategic level job search, market themselves effectively to thousands of recruiters and hiring companies that search our network, and target and make connections to hidden $150K+ jobs. As well, you can register for free HERE.
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