Some employment scams appear as job postings or classifieds while others may target victims with an offer through an unsolicited email. Below are the most common scams you may see:

Money-Laundering Scams
Money launderers often create job descriptions that offer commissions or pay as high as $2000 per day to process checks on behalf of foreign nationals. They are recruiting local citizens to “process payments” or “transfer funds,” because as foreign nationals, they can’t do it themselves. The image below is an example of a money laundering scam hidden behind what appears to be an offer of employment. Learn more about money laundering scams here.

Reshipping Scams
Reshipping, or postal forwarding, scams typically require job seekers to receive stolen goods in their own homes– frequently consumer electronics — and then forward the packages, often outside the United States. Those who fall for reshipping scams may be liable for shipping charges and even the cost of goods purchased online with stolen credit cards. Read more about reshipping scams here.

Pre-pay/Work at Home Scams
Although there are genuine jobs working at home, many “offers” are not valid forms of employment and may have the simple goal of obtaining an initial monetary investment from the victim. Using claims such as ‘be your own boss’ and ‘make money quickly’, Work at Home scams will not guarantee regular salaried employment and almost always require an “up-front” investment of money for products or instructions before explaining how the plan works. Find out more about avoiding these scams.

Protect Yourself

What seems like a lucrative job offer could cost you your savings and more. Learn to identify the signals of an employment scam to protect yourself. When conducting a job search:

• Look for signals in a job posting or email offer, which could serve as an indicator that what is being presented as employment is not legitimate. Don’t get involved with an employer that can’t make its business model perfectly clear to you or one that’s willing to hire you without even a phone interview. Do your own research on any employer that makes you feel at all uneasy.
• Never put your social security or national ID number, credit card number, bank account number or any type of sensitive personal identification data in your resume. You should never share any personal information with a prospective employer, even if they suggest that it is for a “routine background check”, until you are confident that the employer and employment opportunity is legitimate. Use Monster’s resume visibility options to ‘Be Safe’.
• Do not engage in any transaction in which you are requested to transfer or exchange currency or funds to a prospective employer. Remain alert for the Work at Home employers who require you to make an up-front investment.
• Be cautious when dealing with individuals/companies from outside your own country. If you see a questionable job posting or suspect misuse of the Monster website or its brand, please report the suspected fraud to Monster.

If you think you have been a victim of fraud, immediately report the fraud to your local police and contact Monster, so steps can be taken to ensure your safety. We also recommend that you file an online report with The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). For more information on how to conduct a safe job search, visit Monster’s Security Center. You can also check out LooksTooGoodToBeTrue.com.

Original Source: The Monster Team

Every few days, I get an e-mail with “Great News!”

It’s from the ultimate fake job site – no, not Craigslist – but Monster.com.

The e-mail is the same every time, and it informs me that is has found a “Journalism, Design and Photography Opportunity” in Sarasota. The employer? The U.S. Navy.

Bullshit.

This is an example of the spamming Monster.com does because some companies (including the Navy) pay Monster to post fake job postings. There are no jobs with the Navy in Sarasota in journalism. It’s just to lure you in to get called by a recruiter for an exciting career, probably as a nondesignated striker, on some destroyer in the winter in the North Atlantic.

Sorry, but at 48 and as a Marine Corps veteran, I’d eat the eagle, globe and anchor before I’d ever put on that silly squid outfit.

The sad reality is that this is the golden age of the job scam. Scumbag scam artists have a mass of choices for their entertainment, including the aforementioned Craigslist, Monster.com, Careerbuilder, and the bogus and nonsensical job advice in what’s left of our local newspapers.

There’s an outfit in Tampa called Pro Source Services, and they purport to be some kind of marketing company, but they’re also bogus, according to some who’ve fallen for their game. They post under a couple of names on Monster.com looking for “entry-level” people and pretending to offer real jobs.

I’m pretty savvy, and I have to confess that I even sent a resume to Pro Source thinking it was a real company. Fortunately, they never called back.

The other big scam out there is the “laptop presentation” scheme. This is really nasty, because it’s trying to sell annuities to senior citizens. Any company with “Ameri-,” “Income,” “Life,” “National,” “Liberty” or any combination thereof is probably an annuity company looking for economically desperate people to pitch their trash to seniors. So many retired folks have been scammed in Florida, even the state’s CFO has complained about the companies, but they appear to own a few key state legislators, and that keeps them in business. Once in a while one gets busted, but the rest keep on keepin’ on.

Some people wonder why you never read exposes about Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com and the junk jobs they allow on their site. Simple. Newspapers have deals with those two and would rather write about job scams on Craigslist, though it is true that virtually all the job ads on Craigslist are bullshit.

But there are exceptions. The place I work at recently got good results from its Craigslist job ad. Why? Well, my boss was honest about the qualifications for the job and, most important, he put up his real business e-mail address and the business’s real phone number (I should know, I took many of the calls.)

We had a good number of fabulous and well-qualified people who inquired, and picked someone who is eager to become a member of the team. I did my best in replying to all of those who called and wrote (mostly by e-mail but a couple of people got a phone call) to thank them for applying and to tell them the job was filled. It hurts, I know, to get that call or e-mail, but I felt that replying to them and acknowledging them was the right thing to do.

See, that’s the way to do things honestly and upfront, even on a site like Craigslist. No hiding behind “craigslist.org” e-mail addresses, no lies, no deliberate vagueness.

Times are hard enough for everyone as it is, and to read about all the fake job posters out there and the pain they’re causing is infuriating. Knowing that job ad companies are complicit in a lot of the fakes and frauds just shows their managers’ moral bankruptcy.

You’re in the elevator with the hiring manager of Dream-Job Corporation. As the door slides shut, you feel a combination of adrenaline and slight nausea: you’ve got 15 seconds, if that, to communicate your value as a potential employee in a compelling way — just 15 seconds to cram in a whole resume’s worth of work and accomplishments and late nights and successes. There’s so much you want to say, but your message has got to be crisp, tailored, to-the-point. Handle this one right, and you’ll be the newest member of the Dream-Job team. Flub it up, and you’re back to scanning listings on Monster.com. What are you supposed to say?

Here are the five key things to know and do in order to make your elevator pitch successful:

• Practice, practice, practice. Very few people have the oratorical power to make compelling 15-second speech about their entire professional lives on demand and under pressure. Practice your speech 100 times — literally. Know it, get comfortable with it, be able to tilt it effectively for a different audience. Practice your body language with it: how will you give the speech differently sitting down vs while walking down a hall? How will it be different over the phone vs in person?
• Focus on impact. Two weeks ago, 60 Minutes aired a segment set at a white-collar job fair. One of the interviewees, a laid-off Wall Street secretary, looked straight into the camera and said, with total conviction, “I can make any boss shine.” I wanted to hire her on the spot. Who doesn’t want to shine? Describing the impact you’ve had, and can continue to have, is much more compelling than talking about your number of years of experience.
• Ditch the cultural baggage. A lot of us have been taught — by parents, teachers, or team-oriented corporate environments — not to toot our own horns, and to use “we” instead of “I”. Elevator pitches are all about “I”. You’ve got to get comfortable with bragging about your own individual contributions (in a graceful way).
• Be slow and steady. Whether out of nervousness or a desire to cram in a lot of information, people giving elevator speeches tend to talk at breakneck pace — which is extremely off-putting to potential employers. Speak at a pace that shows your calm and confidence. You want them to think of you as thoughtful and deliberate — not as some manic babbler.
• See the whole world as an elevator. Too many people looking for jobs save their elevator speeches for job fairs and interviews. Remember the first rule of sales: ABC (Always Be Closing). Give your elevator speech to everyone — at family gatherings, in the waiting room of the dentist, at coffee hour at your church or temple. You never know where the next job is coming from.

 How do you pitch yourself to prospective employers? What advice do you have for other people doing the same? What works — and what doesn’t?

Written by: Daisy Wademan Dowling

www.foxbusiness.com/.../going-back-to-school.htm

Going back to school at any age can be quite a daunting experience.  Many people are going back to school because they have lost their jobs and they want and need to upgrade their skills. http://www.foxbusiness.com/video-search/m/21891219/going-back-to-school.htm Others are going back because they’ve always wanted too and now seems like the perfect time.  While some are going back because there’s nothing else for them to do.  Whatever the reason for returning to school, one should be asking this one important questions, “After school, then what do I do?”

The obvious response is, find a job.  But not so fast. . .we’re living in a completely different economy now and just because you go back to school, does not guarantee you a job or higher pay.  So why go back and what should you do while you’re there.

Well, I’d like to give you a preview of what we’ll cover in our program, “The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth, So Help Myself.” Before you enroll in college, grad school or any other program for upgrading your skills and education, you should ask yourself a few penetrating questions:

Those are just a few of the issues which I believe must be addressed before, or if you’re already enrolled, while you are in school.  If your expectation is that you will go to school, finish and then magically be equipped to find a job, or better job, then you may be gravely disappointed.  However, if you change the way you think about yourself, the new marketplace and what the educational experience will actually do for you, then you will do far better at finding or creating that perfect job or income opportunity.  School is only a part, yes, an important part, but still only a part of your preparation.  The other part takes creativity and a great strategy to properly position yourself in this new marketplace.

Bendiciones.

http://jobsandlabor.com/content/view/9/9/

If you’re in this situation, then you’re not alone.  So as we mentioned in the previous article, what can you do about it? (http://jobsandlabor.com/content/view/9/9/)  First, I’ll share with you a couple of things you may or may not have thought of.  Then, we’ll take a look at some great resources.

First, understand that you may not be able to FIND a job using traditional methods or ways of thinking.  You must begin to think of yourself as self-employed, like your own little private corporation totally responsible for creating, upgrading and marketing your services or your value to those who can benefit the most.  And, before you do this, you really need to know where and how you want to position yourself in the marketplace.  What do you want to be know for?  What value do you bring to the table?  What proven skills can offer that will help someone else accomplish business or life objectives?

So positioning yourself starts with clarifying your personal vision.  How do you see your life over the next few years?  Where would you like to live, what would you like to be doing and with whom?  Would you like to work from home more?  Would you like to travel more?  Do you want to work in the nonprofit world?  Do you want to reduce your debt?  How much income do you want and need to earn?  These are just a few questions you’ll want to ask and answer as honestly as possible.

In 2004 my wife and I decided that we wanted to move back to Florida from Louisville, KY.  I loved my job there and the people with whom I worked, but we really missed Florida and wanted to get back here.  We also learned that Louisville, KY is the capital of allergies (great biz opportunity for Allergists   Our desire to move back to Florida drove us to decide how we would finance our move and survival.  Jobs in my field were extremely difficult to come by.  Additionally, we decided that we eventually wanted to operate some kind of web based business where we could work from anywhere.  Now, here’s the part I want you to hear. . .we decided that the fastest, easiest and most lucrative business to start was a cleaning business.

This business had low start up costs and would sustain us while we built our internet business.  So, we built a website, created a very thorough and professional flyer, got licensed and bonded and proceeded to market ourselves as a cleaning service.  It only took a couple of months before we were full to capacity, earning a good living, but working way harder than we ever wanted to.  We did this for almost two years!  By the way, I was assigned to clean the bathrooms and vacuum the floors.  The moral of this story is, that even with a Masters Degree, and having just left a job with an Admin. Assistant, corporate credit card, etc.  I had to sacrifice and do something I did not like until I was able to do something I did like.  You may have to do the same thing.

Once you have a personal vision of where you want to be, what you want to be doing and how you want to be positioned in the marketplace, then you’ll be able to figure out what you need to do to get there.  And, this may mean CREATING a job, rather than finding one.  Creating a job, doesn’t always mean creating your own business, it may just mean finding creative and innovative ways of getting paid for the things you’re able to do that other people need.  I hope this all makes sense.  Does it?

In our next issue, we’ll discuss the next step in learning to Create that Job.  Okay, here are those resources I promised you:

• http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/news/where.the.jobs.are/
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hired-from-CNNMoneycom/75991250238
• http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/12/news/economy/hired_industrychange/index.htm?postversion=2009031306?cnn=yes

Pay particular attention to this one, and we’ll come back and discuss this in greater detail later.  http://www.hulu.com/watch/46543/cnbc-originals-how-i-made-my-millions

We’ll also go through all of this in our program, “The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth,  So Help Yourself.”  I’m putting together a list of people to send this program to “pre-release” at a nominal cost.  The program will include a short ebook, video presentation and mp3 so you can take it with you.   If you’re interested, please send me an email at michael@createthatjob.com.

Thanks

If so, then join the party along with around 5.1 million other people.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (April 3, 2009), more than 3.3 million of the 5.1 millions jobs lost have been lost in the last 5 months!  I’ll update this if there’s any significant difference, since the April’s numbers are due out May 8, 2009.  How can anyone expect to find a job in such a competitive job market, and with there being increasingly less and less jobs? I’m sure you’ve seen the stories or have one yourself about being out of work and actively seeking for months with no luck.  So what do you do?

Well, there is not easy solution.  However, there are realistic, creative and solid solutions that work.  This blog is designed to one of many that helps provide a resource for doing sharing those strategies.  I’ll share with you some of my personal experiences, struggles and straties I’ve employed to keep the money rolling in.  I’ll also share with you how my wife and I have managing to create additional streams of income that despite and even because of the economy.  In addition, I will post links to popular sits with great resources and stories that helpful in helping you take the first and most important step. The first step to thriving in this new economy is begin thinking about yourself and the market in completly new way.  My hope is that you will move from thinking about “finding” something to “creating” something of value.  You have an unbelievable amount of value stored inside of you.  But if you’re like most people, you’ve been used to using only a fraction of it or deploying it through the mechanism of a job or company.  But now you must rethink what your value is, who you’re going to share it with and how.  You will probably have to change your expectations a bit and be willing to do some things you don’t like temporarily while you move toward creating the life you do want.  And that brings us to the next point.

What kind of life do you want? Now I know what you may be thinking, “Hey guy, I don’t have time to think about what kind of life I want, I need to find a job right now or we’re going to be in real trouble.”  And, I would understand perfectly if you thought that.  But, believe it or not, the more clearer you are about what you want and don’t want and where you want to go, the easier it will be for you to get into the right income situation.  You will also find that potential clients or employers will pick up on and appreciate your sense of clarity.  We’ll discuss the importance of clarifying your personal vision a bit later and also in our soon to be released program, “The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth,  So Help Yourself.”

Let me also say here that if you are contemplating going back to school, you will want to check back here often.  Why?  Because, unless you know the whole truth about going back to school, you could be wasting a great deal of time and money.

Bendiciones

The battle for the most trafficked job board is always an interesting contest to watch. It got really interesting a couple of years ago when CareerBuilder partnered with a ton of print media and subsequently left Monster in the proverbial dust. Since then there have been a number of up and coming job boards and new competitors. These new competitors have done a lot to try and displace both Monster and CareerBuilder but as the numbers clearly show none are really all that close or even in the same neighborhood. That neighborhood by the way is the listing of the top 50 web properties.

As you look at the numbers for Monster and CareerBuilder you cannot help but notice that very little now seperates the two. From a recruiter perspective I think both leave a lot to be desired, but just like on American Idol who I think should win (Danny Gokey) is not always going to be who America picks. War on!

Click on Picture to enlarge.

           Business Network Chicago recently hosted an event called “Your Network is your Net Worth”.  It would take a strong argument to debunk this statement, as networking is the heart of business.  What value do you really bring to a business if you are unable to form lasting and meaningful relationships with clients, colleagues and people in general? 

I have already mentioned that half of the battle of networking is simply showing up.  Before showing up to any networking event you need to understand why you are going and devise a plan.  Robyn Greenspan, editor in chief of Execunet, wrote an excellent article called “Secrets of Master Networkers”.  In this article one of the best pieces of advice is know who you are meeting and why.  It is impossible to meet everyone in the world, so choose specific events or groups that fit in with your career goals.  This is one good reason to find a few professional groups and become and active participating member.  Bring your unique personality and experience to the group and become someone who is recognized.  It is always a good feeling when you walk into the room and have met 10-15 people already in it.  At that point, networking takes on a new level, because you can make introductions between those new and existing contacts which additionally strengthens the quality of those relationships.   

Understand that networking is not about the quantity of contacts but about the quality.  You must always network proactively, even when you do not “need something” like a job or new business contact.  Ron Bates, principal at Executive Advantage Group (a retained search firm), says in Greenspan’s article “Networking isn’t something you do only when you find you have a need that can only be addressed by networking – that’s ‘needworking’ ”.   Do not become a needworker.  You definitely need to understand a core principle on networking, as outlined by the book “Monster Careers”, “Everyone is a potential friend, network opportunity, and customer.  Unplanned events create unexpected opportunities”.   I cannot count the number of times as a professional recruiter that I would reach out to and be spurned by a potential candidate.  Those notes would be recorded into my applicant tracking system, and when this person would call a few months later asking for help in the job search, they would not have any.  Those contacts never built a relationship of trust with me, so I never placed them with my client companies. 

You should maintain a positive relationship with everyone you meet because it is impossible to know who they might know.  Good places to start are past colleagues, corporate and agency recruiters, and alumni associations.  Use creativity, especially when you are embarking on the job search.  Two of my favorite stories come from the Wall St.  Journal and illustrate how networking enables people to tap into the “Hidden Job Market”.  In one example (Joann S. Lublin article), an executive asked nearly two dozen past and present colleagues to tout his abilities in just one sentence or more.  When looking for a job, these recommendations were noticed by other hiring managers and resulted in an offer.  Another professional, Eric Olsen, found a job working for the New Jersey Unemployment office after he realized how overworked the employees were during the current recession.  He simply asked if he could help out, and was given the job without going through a formal application process! 

Using the principal “attitude is everything” develop a positive attitude and do not be afraid to meet others.  Informal networking happens in places like sports events, on commuter trains, or even waiting in line at the grocery store.  Colleges are stepping up efforts to reach out to alumni and provide support services in addition to hosting other networking events.  This requires no additional time to take place, only the ability to reach out to others.  If you feel that networking distracts from other activities such as marketing and professional development, you are wrong, because networking is business development and marketing when done properly.  It is helpful to note

Additional Resources:  (If you wish to study this topic in greater detail!)

Beckwith, Christine and Beckwith, Harry. You Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself.  Business Plus: USA, 2007.

Greenspan, Robyn, Execunet.com Newsletter. 

Hardy, Doug and Taylor, Jeff.  Monster Careers.   Penguin Group: USA, 2004.

Lynch, Liz. Smart Networking. McGraw Hill: New Jersey, 2008.