Knowing where to look, and how to check, saves you from most scams before they start. Legitimate work is out there; the skill is telling the real listings from the traps.
Good places to look:
- Company career pages. If a company interests you, go to its official website and find “Careers.” This is the safest source, because you know exactly who you are dealing with.
- Well-known job boards and freelance platforms. Established sites list many real jobs. They also attract scammers, so you still apply the red-flag checks from Lesson 2. A safer platform is one that keeps payment and communication on the site rather than pushing you to a private chat app.
- Local and public resources. Libraries, workforce and senior-employment programs, and community colleges often list vetted openings and offer free help.
How to verify a job or recruiter:
- Search the company name plus the words “scam” or “review” and see what comes up.
- Find the company’s real website yourself, and confirm the job is posted there too.
- Be wary of a recruiter who only uses a personal email (like @gmail) for a big company, or who moves you immediately to WhatsApp or Telegram.
A quick example. A recruiter emails about a role at a well-known company from “hr.recruit2024@gmail.com” and wants to continue on Telegram. You go to the company’s real careers page instead; the job is not listed. That mismatch is your answer.
What to do:
- Prefer applying through a company’s own careers page or an established platform.
- Verify every recruiter and listing yourself before engaging.
- Keep hiring conversations off private chat apps, and off any platform that hides who the employer is.