Beware the easy interview. Learn how to spot the “interview scam” as you look for jobs.
We have had a busy week with starting the newsletter subscription process, the $1 trial to Wealthy Affiliate, and other things.
I want to turn our attention to jobs for this post. The traditional kind, you know, where an employer interviews you and hires you and pays you. Today’s post is inspired by a comment left on the West at Home post. West at Home is a company that hires customer service reps to take calls from home. Check out the post if you’re looking for that kind of work. People really seem to like the company.
I’m hoping one of the WAH employees can answer this question by SweetDee:
Hello I received an email stating that West wanted to talk with me about a “touchpoint interview” Could someone advise me on what to look for?
I don’t know what West at Home means by a “touchpoint interview,” so someone else can probably give Dee a more specific answer. I do know that the interviews advertised on its Web site are automated. So be careful, Dee.
But her question reminds me of the scammers that are out there targeting people who are looking for jobs. Dee, if you haven’t applied to West at Home, run away! It’s not a real interview.
Here’s how these kinds of scams operate:
You answer a job ad or the scammer finds your resume online. You are contacted saying that you’re perfect for the job, and can you meet with Mr. Smoothralker for an interview?
This is the first red flag. Real companies looking to fill real jobs never tell candidates they are perfect after just reading the resume or application. They want a more complete picture of you, which they will get from the interview.
“Yes!” you say, flattered.
“Great!” they say. It turns out Mr. Smoothtalker can meet you at a time and place that are convenient for you. In fact, he’ll be at a cafe right around the corner at 2:30 today.
Uh-oh. Be careful. Real employers don’t come to you. You go to them. You know who does come to you? Salesman, thieves, and scammers. You should now be thinking, hmmm…these people have my home address.
Wow, you think. Finally! Somebody sees how great I am. And so convenient, too! So you go to the interview. Here’s a promise: The interview will go swimmingly. You could have the verbal skills of Mike Tyson and all the confidence and presence of an orphan from Oliver Swift, but you’ll still ace the interview. Mr. Smoothtalker will compliment you on your resume and your skills and will tell you you’re just what the company is looking for.
Back on planet Earth, there are no perfect interviews and no such thing as a perfect match of job with job seeker. Everyone gives up something in order to get what they want: in your case, a job you can live with; in the employer’s case, an employee they think can to the job well enough to be profitable.
Then the bomb: All you need to do to get started on your new job is buy the training. Or the equipment. Or the software. Or whatever. This is what the whole process has been leading to. You’re such a perfect employee and the job is so convenient and so perfect for you that it’s hard for you to say no to anything. The salesman/scammer has built it this way. And the “investment” is usually no small thing. $500 and up is not uncommon as a price for whatever you need to get started. But no matter, they say, you’ll make it back in your first couple of weeks.
Real employers never ask you to pay them. Real employers never ask you to pay them. Real employers NEVER ask you to pay them! Tattoo it on your forehead before you go to the interview.
If you’re smart, you’ll realize now that you’ve been had. There is not and never was a job. They just used your job search as a hook to get you to buy product x. Yes, they are that devious. And yes, they will lie that blatantly to your face. No, there’s nothing anyone can do about them, except you.
Get smart. Then help all of your job-seeking friends get smart.
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One Response
I busted butt trying to make money on Project Payday, but to no avail. I actually went in the hole on the deal. I completed offer after offer (most of which cost something – ie $5.95 shipping and handling, etc), only to find out I had not received credit for most of them for one reason or another. Either I cancelled the trial offer too soon (meaning they did not have time to rip me off for more money) or it was a duplicate offer. Since there are only a small number of different offers, I found it impossible to “go green” on enough offers to move on to the 2nd level. I completed several offers for credit cards, loans, payday advances, etc. only to be told that if I did not qualify for and take the loan, CC, or whatever that I would not receive credit for completing the offer. In order to “go green” on enough offers to move on, I would have to have used a real credit card (I used a prepaid, which many of the offers would not accept) and/or buy something. As it turned out, I never succeeded in completing enough offers to “go green” and make any money. I beieve I was paid a total of about $75.00, but my CC got hit for more than that in charges for “trial” offers I couldn’t seem to get stopped (like Stamps.com). I finally just refused to put any more money on the card and moved on, a few dollars shorter and much wiser.
It is a total scam and Fusion Cash is part of it…so steer clear of Fusion Cash as well. It is all part of the same operation and works basically just the same way.