Active, engaged salespeople often find themselves fielding messages from recruiters. While some of these messages are from legitimate, established staffing firms, others are the beginning of a scam.  

As scammers become more sophisticated, recognizing the difference between a scam and a legitimate recruiting message can get more difficult.

Here are several red flags that indicate a recruitment message isn’t all it’s cracked up to be: 

The “recruiter” asks for your financial information. 

Legitimate recruiters have no use for your bank account number or credit card number – and so they won’t ask for this information. A “recruiter” who asks for financial information, often with the promise of finding you more leads or better leads, is more likely to be interested in stealing your money than in helping you find a new job.  

While you’ll need to provide bank account information to your employer for direct deposit purposes, you should only provide this information after you have been hired.  

The “recruiter” asks you to handle money for them. 

This scam repeats itself in a number of ways, but the basics are always the same: The person you’re talking to asks you to deposit a check for them, then to send you some or all of the money. You send the cash, only to discover later that the check is bad – and the “recruiter” has disappeared. 

Established recruiters have their own relationships with banks and other financial institutions. They will never ask you to manage their money for them.  

The “recruiter” asks for sensitive personal information. 

This red flag can be difficult because there are instances in which a legitimate recruiter or employer may ask for information like your address, transcripts, or Social Security number. 

As a rule, however, the earlier in the process you’re asked for this information, the riskier it is to provide it. GIving your new employer your Social Security number when you write it on your I-9 form is generally acceptable. Giving the same number to a “recruiter” over email is a bad idea. Remember, you can always ask what the information will be used for, and you can decline to provide it if you don’t trust the answer.  

At SMR Group, our recruiters specialize in connecting sales and marketing professionals to some of the best job opportunities in the medical device, pharmaceutical and biotech industries. To learn more, contact us today.