I've been doing light job seeking for the last month or so. Spamming out easy-apply applications on Indeed and LinkedIn, not bothering with cover letters or tailoring my resume. Not looking “hard” for a job right now. I'm in helpdesk work, so there's a lot out there.
Long story short (ish):I get a reply from one of the recruiters posting on LinkedIn via chat. They make sure I have Zoom for a remote interview, they're representing a company that is based (they say) in Massachusetts. Their question comes in at noon (Pacific) on Monday and I answer 20 minutes later. I don't get a reply again until 1am (Pacific) and that reply is giving me their HR hiring person's email address to add on Zoom to set up an interview and get more specifics about the job.
So I wake up at 9am and add the person (with a .org email address) and introduce myself, give context to the intro, and attempt to set up an interview time. Apparently the interview is right now and will take 40ish minutes. Throughout the process the interviewer is obviously using an autofill script and basically telling me to hold questions until the end. Annoying but okay, they've gotta go through this several times a day, so I get it. Fast forward to 40 minutes of inane, cookie-cutter interview questions later (“what makes you want to work for X company?” type of stuff) and we get to the part where I can ask questions.
“You say the training pay is x, but x is lower than my state's minimum wage. I'd need to be earning at least that minimum wage even during training.”
“The pay is x during training, and y after that.”
I repeat that this won't work, I'd be concerned about the legality and the initial lack of respect being paid less than minimum wage.
“What is the minimum wage in your state?”
We go back and forth a bit and the interviewer comes back with needing to talk to their financial department to get this sorted. I tell them to let me know when they have an answer. They come back with a revised statement basically saying “Okay, give me all this info and we'll move forward at the state minimum wage.” This took less than 3 minutes so obviously no confirmation from another department. I ask to clarify if we're operating under an assumption or if they're guaranteeing this higher wage. I'm assured I'll be paid the minimum wage.
Another scripted “give me all these pieces of personally identifiable information and a copy (front and back) of your driver's license”… hol up, red flag, I go into research a bit. I explain that I'm not comfortable giving all the info and not even convinced this process is legitimate. They give me a company website and a link to the “careers” page (I'm already on their site but there isn't a header for this careers page) so I go a bit deeper.
The website domain was established in November 2021 and the careers page exists but all the links to jobs on the page are dead links. So I block the “interviewer” and report the job on LinkedIn.
I get that this maybe isn't specifically an anti-work sort of post, but seriously, be careful out there people. Don't get too eager to get a job that you allow yourself to be taken in by one of these predatory clowns.
*Edit to add: apparently the LinkedIn system took all of 7 minutes to review my report and conclude that their job posting doesn't break any rules. Nevermind that they didn't bother to ask for any details… /facepalm. Look out for “RSM Logistics”. The .com company looks legit. The .org company does not.