The number of job scams posted on career search websites has qaudrupled in recent years. Job Scams are realizing record profits by capitalizing on our high unemployment rates. As a result, job boards are overly saturated with entry level job scams. Nobody has felt the impact more than marketing, sales and public relations professionals. The odds of securing a job in these fields are already very low and there is no time for wading through hundreds of entry level job scams.
According to an economic news release, published by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the average length of time it takes to find a job is 37.1 weeks. Companies that seek to profit from desperation, only cause more hardship to those who are suffering in these difficult economic times. So, it’s time for marketing, sales and public relations professionals to use their communications skills to disrupt the progress of these entry level job scams.
Know Your Target
Whether your preparing for a client appointment, writing a marketing plan or developing a communications strategy, it’s always important to know your target. The same skills you use to conduct research can be used to gather information about entry level job scams. These companies change their names often and therefore, time is of the essence. Search engines are an easy way to gather information quickly. Here are a few tips that will make your online search successful.
- Open Notepad (not MSWord) so you can paste all of your findings. It will save you time later.
- Scan the ads of entry level job scams to find a website, phone number, email address or street address. (Paste your findings in Notepad)
- Search for entry level job scams phone numbers, email addressses and street addresses (individually), with and without the company name (with and without quotes). Use Google, and Yahoo.com because you will get different results (Bing.com & Yahoo.com are a team).
- If their email address has a domain name (not a free one) then search for the domain.
- Search whois.net to see who is registered to the domain.
- Search for “employment scam forum” or “scam alert” or “ripoff” along with different combinations of the information you have.
- Use the bbb.com search tool to see if the company name, phone number, email address or physical address yields results.
- Search craigslist.com and Indeed.com. (paste all of your findings in Notepad)
Hopefully, your search efforts yielded enough information about your entry level job scams. If not, just apply for the entry level job scams and gather the information when they call you. Always act excited about the opportunity. They are trying to sell you on their entry level job scams, so they will give you the information easily. Be sure to ask them what their initials stand for because they abbreviate their name to avoid exposure.
Piggybacking for Exposure
The key to your successful online campaign is gaining search engine exposure. This process involves a little more than just posting your findings to a website (still very easy). It’s important to understand that search engines rank pages based on the content quality and the density/location of key words and phrases. A recent white paper, written by Beth Hrusch, Chief Content Officer for Interactmedia.com, includes several case studies on search engine optimization (SEO) writing and content management if you want to learn more. However, these proficiencies are simplified through a technique I call piggybacking (no need to study).
Piggybacking is a simple way of leveraging the search engine ranking of popular websites, combined with basic SEO writing. This sounds hard, but if you follow the easy steps below, optimal search engine exposure is almost automatic.
- Write a question, but leave out any punctuation other than the “?”.
- Write an accurate 300+ word synopsis, but make sure the first sentence includes the company name, city & state.
- Be sure to include the company name, city and state abbreviation at least 2-3 more times without sounding weird. Once within the first two sentences, once in the middle and once at the bottom. (include every company name they have ever used at the bottom as well)
- Write a title for your piece that includes the company name, city and state abbreviation. You can also create a title for each individual name they have used and/or a title that includes every name.
Question: Has anyone ever heard of BS Consulting in Nashville TN or Franklin TN?
Title: BS Consulting told me they had a management position, when it really was just entry level marketing scam that wants me to work for nothing.
First Sentence: BS Consulting jobs are a waste of time and money. They operate in the Nashville, TN area out of a make shift office in Franklin, TN.”. (I used the closest big city and the city where their office is located).........................................................
Body: Within 20 minutes of submitting my application, BS Consulting called to schedule an interview. They are obviously more concerned about quantity than they are about finding quality talent"………………………………………..
End: Company Name & AKAs
Address, email address, phone number, web address
(Include Reference Links)
Use Social Media
Now that you have arranged your findings in a way that is easy to understand, feel free to post it on social media websites. If you have the time, create a fan page about entry level job scams like, “People for the Ethical Treatment of Job Seekers”. Invite friends, solicit likes, and don’t be afraid to ask your friends for help. (you may need it for the next steps).
Putting It All Together
You are now ready to copy and paste your work to websites with a proven track record of obtaining top ranking. The best part is that most entry level job scams leverage the ranking of popular job boards, instead of having a website of their own. Ironically, you will be using this same technique to gain search engine exposure for your complaints against entry level job scams. Start by posting on these key websites:
Answers.Yahoo.com - It literally takes one minute to start asking and answering questions. You will need a friend to ask and answer the questions you prepared earlier. Once the question has been posted on Yahoo Answers, you can log in and search for the question and post your Answer. Within a few hours your posts will be on the first page of Yahoo, Google and Bing.com search results (when searching for the company name and city, state).
Answers.com – If you really want to capture multiple slots on the first page of search results, you can follow the above steps, but on Answers.com. However, you must change your summary so it doesn’t look like a duplicate from Answers.Yahoo.com. The moderators will quickly find and disable your post if they find out (and they normally do).
Ripoffreport.com & Rippedoffonline.com – Both of these websites are easy to post your content if they do not already have a previous complaint filed. If a complaint already exists, add it to your references and update your summary. You can even add legitimacy to the existing post by commenting. (chances are you already found it)
Glassdoor.com – If you are in the zone and have extra time you can go through the process of posting to Glassdoor.com. There registration process is segmented, and confirmation emails take over an hour to receive, but ranking is almost guaranteed.
800notes.com & whocallsme.com - Both of these sites only take a few seconds to register for, but the payoff is huge. When anyone searches for the entry level job scams phone number, your comments will be ranked at the top.
Enjoy Your Success
The process of gaining optimum exposure in search engines is normally an exercise in delayed gratification. However, when you use the piggybacking technique, you can secure a slot on the first page of search results within a few hours. Sometimes it can take up to a few days, but it’s well worth the wait. Just knowing that your campaign against entry level job scams has a great chance of causing a comparable level of frustration to yours, is enough. Finding that your efforts have prompted another name change is worth it's weight in gold.
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Sources:
- Economic News Release - Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Table A-12., Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment , 02/01/11
- SEO Article Writing- How to Use the Power of Content to Attract Customers – Beth Hrusch, Interactmedia.com, 2010, www.interactmedia.com
Matthew Council - Matthew Council is a refined communicator who possesses a natural gift to immediately connect with readers on a personal level and build ...
