CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Better Business Bureau is warning of a scam involving job applications. They say scammers are seeking out job applicants and misleading them into thinking their resumes are improperly formatted.
They offer you their service to fix it, so that their applicant tracking system (ATS) can process it, but you have to pay for it. The BBB says that’s where the crooks manipulate you out of your money and personal information.
BBB President and CEO Tom Bartholomy says these scams are more common than you may think.
“Employment scams, job posting scams are [ranked] No. 2 as far as the riskiest scam out there right now,” he said. “And it’s really all because of that move to doing everything online.”
He says headhunter imposters are finding applicants’ work experience online via sites like LinkedIn and directly reaching out to them. And even if you know in your gut there’s nothing wrong with your resume, scammers will insist you use their programs to properly format it for their ATS. Bartholomy says don’t give in.
Forbes recommends sticking to simple fonts, avoid extra colors, tables and charts. It also recommends sending your resume as a Word doc instead of a PDF.