There are thousands of remote job listings online daily, but many of these listings and advertisements are scams and not real jobs. Scammers may steal your personal information, try to defraud you of money, or simply not pay you for your work. For people new to online and remote work, the risk of scams can be concerning.
So how do you avoid job scams, and how do you find legitimate remote jobs?
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How to Spot a Remote Job Scam
It isn’t always easy to spot a remote job scam, but here are some common signs of scams in remote work.
Signs That a Job Listing May Be a Scam
When reading remote job listings, here are some things to look for.
Unusual Spelling or Grammatical Errors in the Job Listing
It is usual for a native speaker to make an occasional typo, but most professional companies will proofread and remove them. More concerning are unusual grammatical and spelling errors that indicate that the person isn’t a native speaker or isn’t located where they claim to be.
Offers That Are Too Good to Be True
A remote job listing that promises high wages for workers with low skill and no credentials, especially if the work is exceptionally easy or fast, is a red flag that the listing may be a scam.
The Job Listing Asks for Money
If a job listing asks you to purchase a guide or starter kit, invest money to make money, or buy anything to do the work, it is probably a scam and should be avoided.
Signs to Look for During the Hiring Process
If you are considering responding or communicating with someone from the company, here are a few more things to be aware of.
Research the Company
A scammer may set up a website that looks legitimate but dig a little further. Look for company information on the Better Business Bureau, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, etc. A legitimate company, even if it is new, will have an online presence consistent with its business and brand.
Watch the Domain
If you communicate with anyone from the company, look at their email address closely before replying. Their email address should be a business address with the domain name of the company in it.
Don’t Send Valuable Information Too Soon
You may be excited about the job opportunity, but don’t be too quick to complete tax forms and give away your identifying information. Completing these forms is the final step in legitimate jobs after applying, interviewing, reviewing, and accepting an employment contract.
Ok, now that you know what to look for so you don’t get scammed, let’s take a look on how you can find legitimate remote work.
Where to Find Legitimate Remote Jobs
The best places to find legitimate remote jobs are sites where the employer has to sign up and give verifiable information (unlike Craigslist, for example). This eliminates a lot of scams and spams from the platform. Here are some of the best places to find legitimate remote jobs.
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Sites to Find Legitimate Remote Jobs as an Employee or Staff Person
While LinkedIn doesn’t specialize in online and remote jobs, it has a fantastic global jobs database with great tools that let you search, filter, and find jobs you might be qualified for.
It also allows you to see profiles of other people who work at that company, so you can use your professional network to get more information about the job and the company. It has tools to help build your skills, improve your resume, and assess salary offers.
Cost: LinkedIn offers job listings and resources for free, but active job seekers may benefit from the extra features of LinkedIn Premium. LinkedIn Premium costs $29.99 per month, with a one-month free trial and cancellation at any time. Job seekers may want to invest in a monthly Premium plan and cancel when they get a job.
Flexjobs
Unlike LinkedIn, Flexjobs specializes in remote and flexible job opportunities.
Flexjobs has been around since 2007 and has a stellar reputation, a massive jobs database, career advice and jobseeker tools, and webinars and events.
In addition, unlike most other sites, Flexjobs has on-staff professionals who research and vet every job listing, so there are no scams on the platform.
Cost: Flexjobs plans start at $9.95 per week, with monthly and quarterly package discounts. While it may seem counter-intuitive to sign up for a paid service when looking for a job, the subscription price pays for the cost of the Flexjobs staff researchers, ensuring they are unbiased and that job listings are always legit.
They also back their service with a satisfaction guarantee and will refund your money if you are dissatisfied in the first 30 days.
Indeed
Indeed has been around since 2004. It’s the number 1 job site with over 250 million visitors per month.
When you go to Indeeds website, simply put in your field and for location enter Remote. For example, I put in administrative and 2,351 jobs came up, all for remote positions. Well, I didn’t go through every job but you get what I mean.
Zip Recruiter
Zip Recruiter is very similar to Indeed and comes just as highly rated.
When I typed in administrative in the field and then remote for location, 44,652 jobs came up. However, the very first one stated remote but they were looking for a hands on person to run their office.
So I’m pretty sure the 44,652 jobs are not all remote so just make sure to read the job descriptions thoroughly.
RemoteCo
Remote.co is a resource for companies that see remote work as an opportunity. “We are focused on providing expert insight, best practices, and valuable support for organizations exploring or already embracing a remote team as a significant portion of their workforce.”
We Work Remotely
We Work Remotely is the largest remote work community in the world. With over 3M visitors, WWR is the number one destination to find and list incredible remote jobs.
Once again, make sure to do your research when looking for any remote job.
Sites to Find Legitimate Project Work for Freelancers and Contractors
Upwork
Upwork is the biggest and one of the oldest online freelance marketplaces, with thousands of job listings for freelancers and employees. Upwork helps you build a professional profile to help you get found in searches and also connects you with job listings filtered by your criteria.
Upwork is large enough to encompass almost every type of skill or specialty. In addition, it protects freelancers by collecting project fees from the client upfront and holding them in escrow until the completion of the job.
Cost: Upwork takes a percentage fee for every job you get on the platform, so you earn 80% of every work agreement. Over time, as you complete jobs successfully, their fees reduce, so you make 90%.
Freelancer
“Freelancer.com is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and projects. We connect over 60,498,092 employers and freelancers globally from over 247 countries, regions and territories. Through our marketplace, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, writing, data entry and design right through to engineering, the sciences, sales and marketing, accounting and legal services.”
Specialty Sites
Suppose you have a specialized skill like accounting, project management, WordPress development, graphic design, etc., and are looking for freelance jobs. In that case, searching for a site specializing in remote freelance jobs in your skill family is best.
These sites typically have better projects and clients and better tools to feature you and your work.
In addition, look for a site that protects you by ensuring that you get paid for your work, and that has an excellent reputation with reviewers.
Conclusion
There are plenty of people working remotely nowadays and that number will only increase over the years.
The remote jobs are out there – Taking your time and doing your research are usually all you need to avoid remote job scams and find legitimate remote jobs.
Have a wonderful day!
