Is This Job Real?

I truly hope you’re reading this today with an open mind. 

Because in order to see different results in this job market you’re going to have to try a new approach to your job search. 

If you didn’t catch last week’s post, it’s a great place to start. 

Today is about explaining to you why it has to happen. 

Why you have to take matters into your own hands. 

The strategy may seem daunting and like a lot of work, but answer me this: how has applying to jobs every day, tracking them, getting automated rejections, not hearing back, getting texts from weird numbers asking you to ping them on WhatsApp for a “flexible job” where you can “earn $500-$5000 per week” propelled you forward? 

Over the past few weeks we’ve touched on the fake job issue (and it’s across ALL industries, not just tech). 

If you’re not ready to take the plunge on a new job search strategy (I see you!) here are the steps you can take to gauge if a role is, in fact, real headcount. Real people hiring. Not just someone after your contact information. 

1. Always double-check the role on the company’s website. My favorite job search site at the moment is Otta. You set up your profile, and get daily matches. Just like most of the others out there, but the platform itself is more digestible, it’s user-friendly and there’s clear visibility on one page how active the company is. But don’t just trust the one platform. 

   Make sure to check the company’s website and ALWAYS apply directly on their site. 

Now, here’s the tricky part - it’s not a for-sure thing that the job is real even if it’s posted on a company site. 

Companies are posting roles for the illusion of growth, and real-live leaders of organizations are posting jobs to gather contact information to resell. It’s not just AI.

You can read about the AI job postings here.

2. BEFORE applying, find the hiring manager on LinkedIn. Do your best to determine who that would be. If your role is a Customer Success Manager in Atlanta, find the Director, Customer Success OR Manager, Customer Success. If there’s more than one, go with the person located in the Southeast US. 

   Reach out and ask directly about the role:

“Hey NAME - I’ve been following COMPANY and I’m eager to learn more about the growth on your Customer Success team. Are you still accepting new applicants for ROLE? Would love to connect”

3. Google the jobs. When you type in “COMPANY careers” into Google your results are going to pull up with different “via”’s listed. Look for the major ATS systems. Here are some to look out for: Ashby, Greenhouse, ADP, Jobvite, Paycom, iCIMS, Taleo, Lever. 

   When you see “Apply via BeeBee”, “Apply via BuiltIn”, or “Apply via Indeed”, do your due diligence and look at the date posted, and check for duplicates. 

Here’s why you need to be careful with these ⬆: when a company has an ATS system (and most do, unless they have very few employees) and they post a job through their ATS, the job automatically gets dispersed to the sites that they have licenses with. 

This means that when you apply on Indeed, CareerBuilder, or any of the other sites that are not an ATS, your application will get pushed into the one source of truth: the ATS. 

But today, in this job market, you just can’t risk it. 

That is, if you care about your resume and information being shared with someone who is not affiliated with the company. 

4. Look up the company and find what you can on their revenue and growth trajectory. The legitimate organizations that are posting jobs purely for the illusion of growth or to resell your data are hurting. 

And that brings me back to last week’s post. Do these things above if you’re avid about continuing to apply. 

If you’re considering trying something new to get different results, give this a try. 

And be sure to check out my free job search, interview prep and LinkedIn optimization guides here. 

I sincerely hope these resources are help you in your career progression.

That’s all for this week.
Happy Hunting!

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❤️ Ashley

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