Personal Assistant SCAMS on Craigslist

There are many Craigslist job scams, as we all know, however some are more than just spammers trying to sell you something.  Some postings are trying to data-mine, and collect as much information about you as possible.  This is why you want to send basic resumes – like information that can already be found out about you through the internet – like your college education, previous employers, past college activities (expect drunken photos) and maybe some writing samples on the internet you have done (like myself).  Do not put your contact information other than your e-mail, heck, it might be smart to just have an e-mail made up for job usage and applications only.  You don’t have to put a personal e-mail on your resume to random Craigslist job ads.  You must remember that during this economic crisis there are folks out there to harm, and want nothing to do with helping you find a job.  They want to spam your e-mail with ads and sell you something you don’t need, hack into your computer (do not leave passwords on an automatic log in, you will be sorry), or waist peoples time in general.  There is something I want to address beyond spammers though…

I am warning you specifically, this time, about men and women that are posting “Personal Assistant” Ads, that I believe are more dangerous.  Every job hunter is susceptible because of the more frequent use of Craigslist during the daily resume sending via e-mail process.  The position posted might actually be a regular office type Personal Assistant position.  However, it also might however be a personal assistant position that requires other personal touches if you know what I mean.  This sounds ridiculous, because there are websites for that kind of thing, but just be careful who you meet for an interview (make sure you find out more information before meeting an individual).  This is a typical posting headline: “Attorney needs PA for home office.” 

The best idea is to make sure the company, organization, or person is accredited or affiliated with business connections, or there are plenty of people associated to the person that you are comfortable with meeting to discuss the position or career opportunity.  You should check the better business bureau, or make sure that non-profit organization is registered as a non-profit, or make sure other “lawyers” have actually worked on cases or with the person at a real firm.  If you are younger (or older) bring someone with you, especially if it says you will be working from someone’s home.  This could be common with Realtors, Attorneys, and other at-home-workers, that might be wanting someone to assistant them during their at-home-workday. 

As always, I urge everyone to be very careful.  In a job hunt myself; I have come across many odd situations.  This market is tough, but that doest mean you have to settle—it is best to wait for the right situation, if you are able.  Good luck, fellow job hunters.

The infamous Craigslist page >>>>>>>>>