Key takeaways:
- Senior employer brand and recruitment marketing leaders shared strategies to protect job seekers from scammers using safety measures.
- It’s recommended to add warnings of scammers on your career sites using banners and links to more information.
- Long-form content and social media accounts can also provide updates and warnings to your candidates about scammers.
Recruitment Fraud is on the Rise
The Federal Trade Commission reported record levels of fraudulent business and job opportunities during the pandemic, with victims reporting $250 million in losses in the first three quarters of 2022. Scammers seem emboldened with the shift toward remote work and use the opportunity to steal both identities and money, while eroding faith in the actual recruiting process (if not society!).
Members of the Talent Marketing Board, the community for employer brand and recruitment marketing leaders at the world’s biggest companies, recently gathered to discuss safety measures companies can take in the name of protecting job seekers.
While our community’s conversations are normally held within strict confidentiality, we felt the takeaways from this conversation could help other companies address a growing problem and make the talent attraction landscape a little safer for everyone.
Here are some techniques members use:
1. Add Warnings of Scammers to Your Career Site
An example of a career site banner that warns job seekers of fraudulent behavior.
- Add a prominent banner or link to learn more information about data safety and avoiding job scams.
- Incorporate recruiting fraud information in every job description, so it will be included in any job board or site that scrapes your job postings.
- Provide a company email address for victims to share details about fraudulent outreach. Couple that with suggestions to contact local and federal authorities.
Leidos’ notification of recruiting fraud information located on their career website. (Courtesy of Leidos).
2. Leverage Long-Form Content
- Create a landing page about what to expect during the hiring process, detailing each step of the journey.
- Include information in blog posts about the risks of recruitment fraud in the hiring process.
- Recognize long-form content is likely seen by people seeking out employment at your company; it may not help someone receiving a text from a scammer, but it will forever equip all readers to be more vigilant.
3. Inform Candidates of Scammers on Your Social Media Accounts
- Pin a warning about recruitment fraud to your company’s social media accounts.
- Point to recruitment fraud resources within Linktree / Link in Bio tools on your Instagram profile.
- Archive an Instagram Story about your careers blog, career advice, or candidate safety as opportunities to share more information.
- Don’t take a “one and done” mentality for social media posts. Some members create a regular cadence of posts, or unpin/re-pin messages, to keep vigilance top of mind.
- Consider your social media ambassador/advocacy team to help share awareness messages.
We’ve recently been made aware of some attempts by scammers that have fictitiously set up job interviews. Recruitment fraud is increasing and we’re aware of that. Keeping your information safe is our priority!https://t.co/RqK3vL9yDR pic.twitter.com/e5iBbWNmA4
— Careers at Flex (@CareersatFlex) March 15, 2022
4. Watch for Suspicious Activity
- Make sure your Human Resources and Talent Advisory teams don’t connect with fake employees on LinkedIn, which can give scammers a level of credibility.
- Be aware some scammers use the same fake recruiter names repeatedly, which may make them easier to spot.
- Exercise vigilance with these common scammer techniques: Reaching out on WhatsApp or from non-corporate email domains; asking for, or offering to provide, any kind of payment before starting work; or using (faux) profiles of company executives to introduce a job offer.
Talent Marketing Board members acknowledged many of these techniques work best if job seekers are coming to employers’ official career sites or social media accounts — but additional touch points about fraudulent recruiting will ultimately raise more awareness about the dangers of recruitment fraud.
5. Learn Best Practices from Senior Recruitment Marketing Leaders
If you lead employer brand and recruitment marketing at a large company, you can apply to learn the best practices from your peers on protecting candidates from scams in the Talent Marketing Board.
Members are continually sharing strategies to inform and warn job seekers about fraudulent job offers. Apply now to learn how you can better protect your company from being an unwitting accomplice to scammers.
