Someone reached out to my friend (whom I will refer to as Riley) over LinkedIn and invited them to a job interview. The job was for an executive assistant. The job description was vague and did not have much in the way of requirements.
Riley has a good work history, but never went to college and has never had a real career. They have mostly worked in retail jobs and have worked as an assistant in a small office for the last few years. Riley’s salary is not great, there are no benefits and there is no way for them to advance their career without switching jobs. Riley created a LinkedIn account and has been applying to jobs for a few months.
After a phone interview with the recruiter, they had an in person interview (at an apartment building). Riley said the interview went well and the company offered to hire them a few days after. It sounds like the company wanted them to immediately quit their job and start working for them. When they expressed reluctance, they told them it would be okay to give noticed at their current job first.
I have noticed a lot of red flags,
- The recruiter who contacted my friend lists herself as currently working (as a recruiter) for a company unrelated to the one offering the job to my friend.
- There has been no written offer.
- Everything moved very fast, the initial contact to job offer happened in a week.
- There is no company website that I can find.
- There is a different company with a very similar name. The logos are similar enough that they could be mistaken for each other.
- The job seems too good to be true. Much better paying than the average job in our area despite not having any requirements.
On the other had, the company with the similar name and logo works in a different industry. The name and logo are generic enough that the similarity could be a coincidence.The recruiter’s LinkedIn page looks legitimate, lots of connects and history. Looks just like you would expect a real recruiter’s page to look like.
This also seems like a lot of effort for a scam. At the apartment, Riley claims to have met multiple people who worked for this company. I don’t understand what they would gain out of this. I have heard of scams where fake employers would ask for money for background checks, but given the level of effort here with multiple people I cannot image them trying just that.
I have tried talking to Riley about my concerns. I urged them to not quit their current job until they at least get a formal written offer. Most of Riley’s past jobs have come from personal connects and I don’t think Riley is aware of the typical job search and interview process.
Because of the concerns I expressed, Riley believes I am being negative. They think that I am jealous of their success and see this has a wonderful opportunity. To be fair, if people could just walk into high paying jobs without any qualifications I would question my career path. I am worried that this job is some kind of scam and if Riley quits their current job they won’t want to back out or admit that they were wrong.
How can I convince Riley to be more careful and delay quitting their job? At the very least I would like them to get a written offer before giving notice at their current job. If Riley does quit their current job and this job offer is a scam, how can I convince them to back out and not waste any of their time or money on this? If this is a scam, what would the scam be and how would they profit from this? What would they try to convince Riley to do? Is it possible that I am wrong and this is a real job offer?