Bad Job Boards

They are stealing web addresses

Sam — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:16:10 +0000

On August 10th I did a search for our Web site (MINNESOTAJOBS.COM) on yahoo.com and bing.com shows an ad using our web address in it. The landing page of the Web site has a form you fill out. It “required in order to see the job postings”. I completed the form and was presented with what seemed like an endless list of other forms asking for personal information. It looks like completing the forms results in you getting emailed advertisements or phone calls (including cell phone calls!) from marketers. I completed several forms and was rewarded with a listing of jobs from a job aggregator. These were not even jobs listed on MINNESOTAJOBS.COM.

I see several problems – some of them legal issues.
1. Stealing a popular domain name
2. Misrepresenting the Web site associated with the domain name
3. Asking for personal information that will not be accessible to the real Web site
4. Displaying job postings that are not even on the Web site they are claiming to represent.

So far I’ve contacted Yahoo.com, bing.com, and some company that is offering advertising opportunities on the misrepresented Web sites.

I first noticed this disturbing trend a few weeks ago when I was searching for a Web site we partner with. As always, make sure to look in your address bar when you go to Web sites and make it lists the same Web site you think you are going to.

The companies involved with this deception are WorkJobs.net, LocalJobsClassifieds.net and probably many others. After completing some forms, I saw a link that said “Advertise with us”. The company listed was smiley media.

Some more issues about using craigs list for job hunting.

Sam — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:49:05 +0000

As I’ve said before, Craigs List is a great resource for job hunters. However, because of it’s popularity and the way it’s structured, there are opportunities for abuse. Here’s a good article about the pratfalls of using Craigs List for job searching.

http://www.startribune.com/business/98148994.html

Spamming sponsored search results

Sam — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:45:41 +0000

Recently, one of the TRENDING NOW key phrases was “Job Search”. When I clicked on the link, I saw several sponsored search results as well as the organic ones. One of the sponsored search results was for TopUSAJobs.com. We advertise on this site so I thought I’d check it out. I was brought to this page:http://www.losangeles-gazette.com/finance/y/?t202id=52919&t202kw=job%20search which contains some sort of Work At Home thing. Note Los Angeles Gazettte is not real. Attempting to exit the page results in another page being popped up, some guy starts talking and a pop up dialog tells you about the fantastic deal (sarcasm on my part) you are passing up on.

I contacted the people at TopUSAJobs.com and they confirmed that it was not something they were doing and that some spammer had hijacked their good name.

Protecting Privacy when posting your resume

Sam — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:18:13 +0000

Here’s a great article offering basic tips on how to protect your privacy when posting resumes on-line.
Click here.

Job Fox

Sam — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:43:21 +0000

Another board that entices job seekers with job listings.

We are working with a company to START advertising their jobs on the Internet. Low and behold a Google search for their jobs shows a bunch of listings on job aggregrator sites. Clicking on the link on the job aggregator site takes you to JobFox.com. You click on the “Apply for this job” link and you are presented with a page requesting that you provide information about you before taking you to the job.

I went through the process for the heck of it using fake information. I stopped after six screen of requesting personal information.

Again note that the company we are working with was unaware of job fox scraping their jobs. If I were them, I’d be pretty perturbed about a company exploiting my employment opportunities in order to collect personal information about people.

FTC site helps identify job scams

Sam — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:56:44 +0000

This government site provides a brief list of issues facing job seekers while job hunter. There’s some good information here.

FTC.gov/jobscams

JobsWire.com

Sam — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:31:55 +0000

This is another sight that claims to have lots of jobs that match your skills but you have to name, birth date, email address and cell phone number. Be afraid of any site that will not let you look at their job listings without having to register with them first.

Work From Home

Sam — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:03:20 +0000

Unfortunately, most work from home opportunities you find on the Internet are scams.

The easiest way to see if a work at home job is a scam is to google the job title followed by the word scam. As always, just because you see a list of write-ups, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a scam. It could very well be that one person had a problem and many people referred to the one person’s problem. Read the write-up carefully and decide if it was just an unusual situation.

Commission only opportunities are always suspect. However, some legitimate companies do offer these types of positions. If you can sell ice boxes to Eskimos, this might be an opportunity for you after you’ve thoroughly checked out the company of course.

Multi Level Marketing arrangements can be challenging. Once again, if you are a dynamic salesperson this might work. Think twice if the scheme involves only Internet work. Person to Person work is the best. Some people have done very well with Multi Level Marketing. The vast majority of people that get involved in these schemes do not and end up wasting a lot of money and time.

Assembly jobs are usually bogus. Internet work ads are usually bogus.

Don’t give anyone money for a “kit”.

Avoid providing personal information to entities offering work at home opportunities.

The company should have a Web site. The Web site should list the address of the company and have a phone number. Check out the phone number. No Web site, no address, no phone number, 100% scam!

Here’s a blog post with more advice on how to work at home scams:
http://bit.ly/dmMY3m

Beware of EmploymentCrossing.com and associated sites.

Sam — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:45:57 +0000

There is a good article by Rip Off Report about Employment Crossing and it’s associated sites by an ex employee. It’s located here.

Employment Crossing is a fee based job board network with many other related names. It is run by the same person that runs Hound.com.

Hound.com fills niche boards with inappropriate job postings

Sam — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:46:34 +0000

Hound.com used to hit MINNESOTAJOBS.COM quite frequently grabbing pages that we requested that they not grab. They also grabbed pages many many times, distorting our statistics. After a few phone calls and emails, they stopped their practice.

Now niche job boards are reporting that Hound.com is posting inappropriate job postings unrelated to the niche boards on their sites. Here’s a discussion on their practices: http://www.jobboarders.com/profiles/blogs/houndcom-spammer