The Dark Side of Job Hunting: Are You Being Tricked by Fake Interviews?

Job search by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

The Rise of Fake Jobs Listing!

There is a rise of fake jobs and even companies who have no intention of hiring anyone.   CBS news did a talk about this on their website but I’m certain people still don’t know about this.   It’s where companies.   I am sure it isn’t being done all the time but i do think it’s something companies are doing that  I have seen in the past.   I’ve seen companies who do the interview but can’t find that one perfect candidate because they don’t want to have to train the potential employee.

I’ve heard all the excuses why the company wouldn’t do this but I suspect that companies are doing for one reason or another and are using potential interviewers as a way to gather data and also to try to find that one special candidate.

Job Interviews and red flags!

The real issue is understanding the red flags that are being done to tell you that it might not be an actual interview.   They will do this for reasons like they want to learn from the interviewer on what it is like.    I’ve had this one job where they reposted the job on LinkedIn before they even had a chance to interview me.    If this happened to you then it is likely going to be like this, but it isn’t the only way to identify a company that might not be actually hiring anyone but doing this for other reason.   Another way to identify if the company is having issues with employee retention is to check out the company careers page and see how many jobs are open in the company.  This won’t tell you if this is a red flag but it will help you understand the chances of this interview being a real or if they are just going through the motions.

Impact to Job Seekers!

The real problem is that it impacts the job seeker by having them hope they get the job and it might be a real job but it really takes a lot out of the job seeker by doing all these interviews.   If the job seeker sees a job that was reposted even before the job seeker goes through the interview process this can curb the enthusiasm and make the potential job seeker not to show the energy they are looking for in an interview.  This is just a few things that will impact a job seeker from finding a job by them having too many interviews.

I could go into details about the job interviews, I’ve done that seemed like they were just going through the motions and that is one way to identify that it might not be a real job interview.

It’s really important to bring this to their attention if you think they are just going through the motions because you should make them consider that your time is valuable just like their time and maybe that will show them how interested you are to getting the job.

Have you had a job interview that you thought went really well and you got a denial letter?  Why not comment and tell me your story.  I’d love to her your experience on the subject matter.

Prevailing winds of Job Scams being on the Rise in 2024

Scam

Identifying Potential Job Scams

I recently got an email from a what looks to be from a Froelich-Engeerscarrer.com.  I wanted to share with you how to identify that it is most likely just scam and not even replying to these types of emails.

Email that I received:

Hello Applicant,

I hope this email finds you in great health.Froelich Engineers, Inc,welcomes your application for the Remote IT Support Specialist  position on LinkedIn. Your impressive qualifications and experience have attracted our curiosity, and we would like to invite you to an interview.

We believe you have the potential to be an essential member of our team, and we hope to learn more about you. As we discover more about you via the interview, you will have a better understanding of our organization.

If you choose to advance with the interview process, please respond to this email with a simple “YES”. We’ll contact you about the next stages.

We appreciate your interest in joining our team and look forward to hearing from you.

NB:If you receive this message before please  ignore.However if didnt kindly respond

Best regards.

Thomas Trosten (thomastrosten@froelich-engineerscareer.com)

As you can see there are several red flags in the message because of not quite English.   Here’s what I noticed of the bat with this email.   ONLY asking you to reply with a YES instead of sending a calender invite to video chat.    Also the spelling in the DIDNT and no spacing in the first paragraph between the period indicates this is a mail merge or some kind of email.

Investigating the company and Domain

When I get these types of emails and am curious to see if they may be real or not, the first place I go is looking up the domain they are supposedly sending fromFroelich-engineerscareer.com:

After checking with the domain tools website this was just created a few days ago.  So that’s another good red flag but the real red flag is that on the main website.  They say this on their careers page:

Scam or No Scam!

Being that they are using bad English and that I they aren’t using the right email address and even that domain they are sending from is just days old, I would have to assume this is a scam and that it isn’t real and that you shouldn’t trust anything they say if they contact you about a possible job.   It’s more and more looking just like a big phishing or money scam that they are trying to do and you should avoid these types of email scams that might come your way.

Always check the company you are getting solicited from before you even consider taking the job.  They are doing their own research on you and you should be able to do the same research back to see if they are real or just fake jobs trying to fool the many out their who might need a job.   Don’t ever stop researching companies as you are applying for them.

 

Navigating the Job Market Maze:  How Pathrise Can Guide you to your next Career!

Navigating the Job Market Maze: How Pathrise Can Guide you to your next Career!

Pathrise is an online program for tech professionals that provides 1-on-1 mentorship, training and advice to help you land your next job. On top of that, Pathrise is built around aligned incentives – you only pay if you succeed in getting hired.

Understanding the Mentorship at Pathrise

In today Job market, the amount of people who are applying is more than you will ever realize.   You need to get ahead and through Pathrise, you will do just that.   I’ve become a paying member with Pathrise because I think they are very valuable to finding that next career move.   What exactly is Pathrise and how will they help me to get my next job?  is the biggest question you might be asking.   Pathrise is a great resource for those who might be looking to find a new job or move up in your career by taking advantage of having people mentor you and help you develop your skills in interviewing, job searching, and even the stress of finding a job.   They have many different levels of programs to help you get that job you are either looking to get into or just to help you get ahead of those who might also be applying for the same type of Jobs.

Program overview of Pathrise

Pathrise has several different programs to help you land that next job.   I’m going to talk in general about all the programs you can use when you sign up with Pathrise. You’ll have so many resources for you that this seems almost a way to help you with your job searches.

Interviewing workshops –  If you are about to interview with a company you could have a mentor or someone in the hiring industry to talk you through what you might go through with the interview process.

Company Guides – This is good for those who might want to research companies and find out which companies are your best choices for the tough times we are having.   They will give you information that you probably would have to find somewhere else but they seem to cultivate the information into one place.

Coaches –  You have a multitude of Coaches to use when you are trying to find a job from Mindset Coaching, IT & Cybersecurity, Engineering (non-software), Sales, Design, Marketing, and Data couches that you can reach out to find out even more information that you might need to know before you start applying for those types of jobs.

Pipeline – The pipeline for people who might need help reaching out to perspective recruiters and help you stand out with them and make connections to them to help you find a job that might work better for you than ever before.

Knowledge Base –  The knowledge base helps you to learn ways to be effective and even has a some good decision trees concepts that you can use.  This will allow you to reach out to the right people and make connection so there is a chance that you get that job that you might otherwise not get if you didn’t do it.    Preparing for interviews and even salary negotiations, so you can you get the most of the job offer.

You will pay after your trial, however the payment is something that you can talk about to your intake mentor and it can help you get that dream job.   We become recruiters of ourselves and use Pathrise to so get that interview.   You have a Basic, Essential and Pro.  Each one of these is starting off at 7%, 11%, and 14% of your next job annual amount.   You can sign up and make even more choices and allows you to get help where you are lacking.   I personally love the career coaches and mindset coaches because they are a great asset to making the job search even easier because you can talk to them about what is going on and they will listen and encourage you to keep searching for that job your having trouble finding.

My thoughts on Pathrise

There’s so much more to Pathrise but I do think they have some great resources for those who are looking for a job and can even help you get a job at Microsoft, or even Meta, to say a few that are partnered with them.   Each one of these companies is always looking to hire new help or more help from time to time.   They will be a great resource for those who might be struggling with the Job market and wanting to advance in the career path.   I have seen this to be a great help with me even today and I am supporting them through any way I can.   They seem to have a solid understanding of the job market and how to find a job.   So why not give them a try yourself.  You can try for the free trial and check out all they have and also all they can do for you too.

Pathrise is an online program for tech professionals that provides 1-on-1 mentorship, training and advice to help you land your next job. On top of that, Pathrise is built around aligned incentives – you only pay if you succeed in getting hired.

A Few Ways to make money while you look for a long term job!

Make money by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

Those Side Hustles

Can you make money while looking for a job?  Most of us who are unemployed are looking for ways to earn some extra money to pay bills. I thought it would be an idea to at least suggest to people who are in the IT field where they can go to possibly earn money while you’re either looking for new a job or pivot to do something else. Either way is up to you but this is something that can be quite useful even if you need extra money for one reason or another. This is something that can make your even more money or find you a new job that you have been looking for.

Blogging / Vlogging — Both of these do the same exact thing. You either write or start creating videos on YouTube and other video platforms to bring in entertainment, Educational, or provide a unique view to something that most others may not see. I am not saying this will bring in a lot of money but if you have been doing this for a while, you could simply ramp up and help you bring in some revenue. You’ll have to decide what you are good at and explore those possibilities.

Taking Surveys —  There are several different surveys sites out that will either give you amazon cards, or other ways to pay you.   I’ve been using Survey Junkie for the past few months and it is nice because you can take survey’s whenever you have a chance and get paid for them.  However you will not get a lot from them but if you do enough survey’s you could bring in some extra revenue that way.  No more than maybe 100$ if you really just do as many survey’s as possible each month.

Find Freelancer Jobs — If you are good at computers then you should check out upwork and look into finding some freelance jobs that will pay you to do, either temporary or a rolling bases.   Each job can bring in some money per month and keep you from drowning in debt.   However you should consider how you approach the perspective jobs and make sure you show them that you have what they are looking for.  Depending on the jobs it could be just a few hours or a monthly type of part time jobs.

Ask friends and Family  —  Another way to make some money on the side while you are either working or looking for a job is tell your friends and family what you might be able to do for them and let them know you are available.   This won’t bring in much but depending on your skill set and what you are willing to do, it might help bring in that income you are probably needing for bills.

The Unusual Circumstances

As you can see I’ve talked about why the unemployment rate is no correct.   I’ve talked to several different friends on Facebook an some other places and we all agreed we are probably already in a recession and you should consider ways to bring in money while we weather the storm, as I would say.   I couldn’t fully attest to this idea but I hope to keep myself a float and bring in money to keep from having to worry about where I will live in the future.   I am sure the stress that people are experiencing is quite real among us around the world.    There are some good ways for your to make even more money, so I will link to Dave Ramsey’s website on other ways you could make money in case you are really interested in this type of side hustle or other ways to make money while you are unemployed.

Are you trying to make money?  Has it been good for you and what have you done to make money while you are looking for a job?   Any advice you can give others why not leave a comment and subscribe to my blog for more blog topics to help you survive while we are in the trying time.

The Real Struggle to Finding a Job in 2024

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from PxHere 

Why is Finding a Job in the US Really Hard?

I don’t say this lightly because I’ve come across so many people talking about this that isn’t even funny. Most of these people are just trying to find a job and it seems that they aren’t even able to land any real interviews. I’ve had that same problem as of late, no one wants to interview they just go to another qualified applicant and either Ghost me or tell me that I wasn’t selected for the interview.

I’ve personally been dealing with the Stress of looking for a job for over 2 weeks. It can be quite hard not to worry and think about what may come but this is just another example of what it is like to find a job in the year 2024. Even if the US Government says we have all these Jobs that were created, I seriously doubt this is going to help those who have been laid off and the one that may be lay off in the future.

Few Examples:

User from Glassdoor job hunting.
Linkedin Layoffs Trends By Nicole Roundy

Why Can’t People find a job?

Why Can’t I find a job – Google Trends

More and More people are asking the same thing. “Why can’t I find a Job?” on Google. That seems more than plausible, if the US economy was so robust and we had all these jobs than it should be easy for everyone who was laid off to find a new job. It however isn’t that way and I hate to say it doesn’t look promising for the future. As I have been doing my research more and more people are having the same issues as I am and if people are not finding jobs and they have more qualifications than me then It just can’t be how I am applying and that I am applying. It has to be deeper than that and I believe it is.

Even now it isn’t clear on what people should do, because more and more people are asking the same thing.  Even more “experts” try to give advice.   I put quotations around the word to make sure you know that I don’t know if they are right or wrong or if they are actually experts or just people who know how to get a job easier.

I’m not here to tell you who I believe is or isn’t a expert in this field but to at least tell you that even if you do some of the things these people tell you to do to get a job may or may not work in your situation.   I’m going to at least talk about what I am doing to try to get a job that may help you in your job search.

My Job Search Activities

What I am about to tell you is what I’ve been going through trying to do to hunt for a  Job.  However, This doesn’t that this is how you should do it but it is something to consider while you are looking for a job.

  • Setup Email Alerts on Job openings — This can be quite helpful.  I’ve done this for sites like Indeed, Monster, Linkedin, Google, and even Bing to find new jobs around me that I can apply for it and it helps to keep me from spending to much time each day to look for jobs.   Each of these are easy to do and you can have each site email you daily or when there is a new job that pops up that you are looking for.
  •  Spend a Maximum of 2 or 3 hours and No more looking for Jobs —  I say this because I’ve heard people say they were looking for job as if they have a job Full time and that can’t be good or healthy to the individual.   There is no way you can find jobs and apply to them all day.  You should spend only a limited amount of time finding jobs.  That is the best approach.
  • Get Resume Help — This can be quite easy for some of you but others might need to search their  local community to see if you can get someone to help you write your resume even better.   It never hurts to get someone to check it out and give you some advice on how to get the employer to see your resume.
  • Apply for Jobs that you have excellent Soft Skills for —  This is something that seems to be overlooked but you should always apply to jobs that match your soft skills even more.  This will get employers more interested in your application.  If you can show them you have the soft skills they are searching for they may want to get an interview with you.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help with Friends And Family — This can be really helpful to be able to talk to your friends and family.  It can help with your stress also but they may know of jobs that may be able to get your foot in the door.  It’s what they call networking which has helped me in the past and this is something I am constantly doing now but still haven’t gotten past the interview stage.

As you can see these are just a few tips that I can give you to better keep you in the know of new jobs and how to deal with the rejections you may get.   I’ve seen more and more of those rejections come my way but with all this it helps to keep me from getting depressed and discouraged.   You should consider how you can better help yourself from getting that way too.

Are you looking for a Job?  If so, we are both in the same boat but you can always subscribe and find out even more tips on Job hunting and just technology industry in general.   Remember you’re not alone in this and we are all in this together.