Job Seekers Beware: Identity Theft

When you are looking for a job you are thrilled when someone contacts you and wants to interview you for a position.  And as a potential employee, you often don't know what information you should and shouldn't share with a recruiter or hiring manager.  With unemployment running at a high level, if you are looking for a job you may feel that you need to be as helpful and as easy to deal with as possible in the hopes of landing a job.  This is just the way some identify thieves like it.

In the October 2012 issue of Consumer Reports they profiled "America's Worst Scams".  #14 was about ID thieves posing as recruiters to get job seeker's personal information. The article discussed job seekers who were using online job search applications being approached by a "recruiter" who was looking to fill jobs at companies nearby. The ID theives posed as recruiters and conducted interviews in public places with these people, having them fill out detailed job applications which included name, date of birth, address, and Social Security number.  These job applicants later went to the local company as directed by the recruiter, only to learn that there were no openings and that the recruiters were not associated with the company at all.

We all think we are too smart to fall for a scam, but ID thieves can be pretty clever.  While I am sure the majority of meetings you would have with a recruiter would be above board, I think you should always be cautious about sharing your personal information.

As a job seeker this is the information you should share:
1.  Your name
2.  Your phone number
3.  Your email address
4.  Your home city, state and zip code
5.  Your work experience
6.  Your education level/degree

If you are sending in a resume, you should make sure you have that information included.  Often people put their home address, and while this is the convention, I believe you can keep this off of your resume.  A potential employer can request this of you as needed.

This is information you should never share unless it is a true employment application or offer of employment:
1.  Your Social Security Number

And beware if these questions are asked:
1.  Your mother's maiden name
2.  Your bank account information
3.  The make of your first car
4.  Your first pet's name.
Ok, maybe I am thinking about all the things you may use as your password on those last ones, but do try to keep personal information private so that ID thieves cannot use it.

So, what do you do when that friendly recruiter approaches you for an interview in a public location?  Well, first of all do your homework.  Is she really who she says she is?  Does she have a website?  Did she give you information about the job she is currently hiring for?  Have you ever heard of her before?

If you are feeling confident that this meeting may lead to a job or be good for your job search, plan on meeting her.  Beware if she puts a lengthy job application in front of you that asks for your mother's maiden name, any aliases you have ever used and your Social Security number.  If she shows up and has inconsistencies between what you talked about on the phone and what she is discussing during the meeting, keep your personal information as tightly guarded as possible. 

As a job hunter you want to be easy to interact with.  But don't be taken advantage of by those who prey on people in tough circumstances.  Keep your guard up and try to figure out if it is a real opportunity or a "phishing expedition".

Good luck out there folks!

Cranky Recruiter: Must Love Wine. But Not Too Much!

I like to think I'm a passionate person, and I love it when people say they are passionate about wine.  I have read countless interviews where someone in the wine industry describes their passion for wine, and how it drives them to create phenomenal things.  Good, keep the passion flowing.  Makes the world go round.  But beware of loving wine too much.

I read emails daily from people who want to follow their dreams of working in wine.  Good, makes sense why you are emailing me.  Glad to hear you dream.  Cranky Recruiter has dreams too.  The jaded reader that I am always wonders, hmm, what does it mean to be passionate about wine, and to dream about wine.  Sounds vaguely similar to an addiction.  And that's where I worry.

Yes, it is fun to sit with friends and dream big, and often the dreams are bigger over a couple glasses of wine.  After a few they can get really big, really fantastic, and perhaps occasionally nightmarish.  If I get your resume on a Tuesday morning and call you to discuss your background during working hours, are you a different person after-hours.  If I put you in front of a client for an interview and the client offers you a glass of wine, are you going to down the glass, then the bottle and then leap on the table proclaiming your love of wine and this interviewer!  Oh, I daydream too.  But really, you need to temper your adoration of wine with evidence of your work ethic, your smarts and your stick-to-it-ness.

This Cranky Recruiter once was sitting in a cubicle, working through a database, and had aspirations of bigger things.  While I often wanted to take over the world, (another allusion to my love of Pinky and the Brain) I sometimes had to rein my dreams in a little.  When I started interacting with winery clients, a kernel of a dream to work exclusively in the wine industry took root.  I slogged through plenty of database updates, direct mail campaigns, cold calls and dicey offer negotiations afterwards, and that seedling started to sprout some leaves, the trunk started to thicken up, and I had grown my abilities to make my dream a reality.  Eight years ago I left a thriving technical services company to dive exclusively into the wine world.

People often ask me why I did this.  And it isn't because I love wine.  Yes, I do like wine.  Yes, I drink wine, and yes I enjoy knowing everything I can about wine.  But that isn't why I'm in it.  I'm in it for the people.  I place people at companies that are run by other people.  I talk to people about how they have worked with other people, what types of people they work with best, and how they manage people.  I don't usually talk to them about their favorite wine.  I don't ask them how much they drink (I don't think I can legally ask that anyways!)  And I don't ask them how passionate they are about wine.  Yes, be passionate, but think about what it is about wine that is stirring this passion.   Then take that information and use it to help you figure out what you want to do in the wine world.

Wine is an ancient beverage, something that has been written about for centuries.  There are ancient ruins of wine vessels, murals depicting winemaking, and works of art depicting people enjoying wine.  Yes, it has a lot of allure, but remember that I am looking for a capable person who can do the job I am recruiting for.  Not an accomplished drinker.  I have written before about what I want to see on a resume.  Check it out.  You may notice on there that I don't mention "passion for wine" once.  It is all about how you handle yourself, and what you can bring to the table. 

And one last morsel of advice here folks.  Make sure you enjoy yourself responsibly.  We can all have our a nights of bacchanalian revelry with friends and live to love another day.  Make sure you realize how to do this as hedonistically as you wish, but safely.  What do I mean?  Don't drink and drive.  Drink and drive, and you could lose your license.  Drink and drive and you could lose your wine job.  If you have a DUI on your driving record, some companies won't even consider you for employment.  Get a DUI while on the job, and you'll possibly lose your job and your license.  So be careful if you follow your passion for wine and commit your career to the wine industry.  If you happen to get a DUI, you may just have a lot fewer prospects for your next job.  And of course, we all want our roadways free of reckless drivers.  Don't Hesitate, Designate.  And there are plenty of very friendly and competent chauffeurs happy to help.  That pricey limo or taxi ride could be a very wise career decision.