In this crappy candidate market, I wanted to believe it wasn’t a scam. I mean, I knew it probably was; it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been hit up by a supposed independent recruiter (old school name – headhunter) with appealing jobs and salaries that may or may not be real.
I’m happily employed doing what I love – helping talent acquisition teams improve their recruiting and hiring processes through candidate experience benchmarking research. However, because of the hiring market we’re in and things being tough for new grads, salaried professional candidates, management candidates, and senior leadership candidates, I was curious about how this candidate experience might play out today.
So, I responded that I was interested. The back and forth emails began and I narrowed down my interest to a few jobs this person had presented (I assumed it was a female based on her name and corresponding LinkedIn profile).
I’ll call the person Sharon. Sharon kept telling me over and over again how qualified I was for these roles I said I was interested in. I tried to connect with her on LinkedIn, but she declined (I only know that because it’s not pending and she’s still a 2nd degree connection). Also, when I researched the roles, I couldn’t find them.
How did I know it was really her and her LinkedIn profile was real? I didn’t. She never asked for a video call (and neither did I). She just kept telling me how qualified I was and how the hiring teams were impressed. But then she recommended I improve my resume and profile information to be more aligned with the executive level, something I had already done.
She pitched me the services of another resume writer, not herself. That connection gave me an estimate of nearly $2,000 to elevate my profile to the executive level. I declined. That person also didn’t accept my LinkedIn request.
I imagined if I was really looking for a leadership position, and had been on the market for a while, what would I have done. I updated my resume and executive profile again, myself, and sent them back to Sharon. Sharon then pitched me her services to improve my profile. This time for $500. I declined.
After that, I never heard from her again. Nothing about the supposed interest from the hiring teams. Just ghosted.
I imagined if I had paid either of them for their services, would I have gotten a call to be screened and/or interviewed? Probably not.
Based on some research I did after this transpired, it’s not common for legitimate headhunters or independent recruiters to charge candidates for services; in fact, this behavior is a primary red flag for a known job scam. Authentic recruiters are paid by the hiring company, not the candidate.
If a recruiter contacts someone with a job opportunity but quickly pivots to selling resume writing, “ATS optimization,” or coaching, it is likely a bait-and-switch scam.
I’m sure it’s not your first rodeo as the expression goes for those of you who have been in tough hiring markets before. But for those who haven’t, it’s important to understand that these scams exist and how they work.
How the “Resume Writing” Scam Works
- The Hook: A “recruiter” reaches out with an enticing, high-paying job offer that often sounds too good to be true.
- The Critique: After you send your resume, they claim it is “unsuitable,” “fails an ATS scan,” or “needs professional reformatting” to be seen by the hiring manager.
- The Pitch: They recommend a specific “specialist” or third-party service—which they often own or are affiliated with—to fix your resume for a fee.
- The Result: Once you pay, or in my case not pay, the recruiter usually ghosts you or the “job opportunity” mysteriously vanishes.
Key Red Flags to Watch For
- Requesting Payment: Any request for money (for training, background checks, or resume rewrites) is a major sign of fraud.
- Unprofessional Emails: Communication from generic domains like @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, or slightly misspelled lookalike domains (e.g., @amazon-careers.com).
- Robotic Interaction: Evasive answers about the job details or a refusal to have a live phone/video call.
- High Urgency: Pressuring you to pay or act quickly before you can research the company.
When I searched for “independent recruiter” on LinkedIn, I received nearly 2,000 profiles (via Sales Navigator). There are also over 20,000 recruiting firms in the U.S. alone, with many more worldwide. That’s not including the entire cottage industry of resume writers and career strategists, as well as executive search firms, although AI may be taking a bite out of those businesses. Whether candidates use AI or not in their job search, I hope for their sake that most of these recruiting individuals and firms are legitimate. I also recently read an article about how some parents are spending tens of thousands of dollars to land their children jobs. Mercy me. Not everyone has that kind of money and it’s still no guarantee that the jobs will land.
It’s a tough market for job candidates right now and they need to understand that job scams are real. I played one out just to see where it would go, and the red flags highlighted in this article billowed on high in these current economic headwinds. If there’s one piece of career advice that I’ve heard again and again from TA leaders around the world – network, network, network. Get introduced and make connections with the individuals working at the companies you’re interested in. That’s harder when you’re just starting out, but you need to start nonetheless. Ask for help but avoid the recruiting scams.
