Stay Cyber Safe on the Job Hunt!

2021 was dubbed the year of The Great Resignation as 33 million Americans quit their jobs since the spring of last year. This can sound like an intimidating statistic, but there are quite a few reasons as to why this happened. Some individuals have chosen to opt for early retirement or quitting work altogether for whatever personal reasons they may have. Other have discovered a passion, followed their lifelong dream, or earned the degrees necessary to change the career trajectory. For many of the millions who resigned from their previous positions, the increase in remote and hybrid options for work at many employers has made a prospective employee's reach a bit larger, thus providing them more options when seeking jobs. Whatever the reason for the change, it has become apparent that employees are taking their careers into their own hands and changing the dynamic of the employment landscape for the better.

If you are one of these individuals looking to make a change in 2022, it is important to be sure to be aware of the risks out there because so much of the hiring process is online today.

Use unique passwords for company logins -- Many companies today require job seekers to create a login in order to upload their resume and ask the initial screening questions required by HR. If you come across a site that requires you to create an account to apply, use a unique password that you haven't used for any other sites. Be sure that the company is trusted and the site is legitimate before entering in your email address and other necessary sign-up information.

Beware of phishing scams -- Phishing emails are rampant on the Internet and job seekers are among the most highly target segment of those online. These are those pesky emails from scammers who are looking to trick you into either clicking a malicious link to gain access to your devices or networks or dupe you into providing private information. Clicking on a link in one of these emails or providing the crooks with personally identifiable information could spell disaster for you, your devices, and your job hunt.

You can identify a phishing email typically by odd grammar within the email message, a time-sensitive threat, or mention of clicking a suspicious link soon. In addition to the content of the email, it is a good cybersecurity best practice to check the sender as being someone you recognize. This is where this becomes difficult for a job seeker because while you are searching for a new job, you are more than likely emailing with individuals from different companies who you have not encountered previously. In an attempt to verify the identity of the recruiter or interviewer you are speaking with, be sure to do some extra research before replying to them or clicking any links.

First, check the website following the @ in their email address -- this typically will be the company website, but scammers may attempt to make an email address that looks very close to this site to try and trick an unobservant recipient. Additionally, try to find another way to contact the individual in order to verify their identity. This is a similar concept to multi-factor authentication where websites ask you for both your password and a code that they text/email to you. By contacting the person you are speaking with in multiple ways, you can verify that they are legitimately who they say they are. You can sometimes find contact information on a website, you can also call the directory of a company and ask for the individual you are speaking with. You can also search on LinkedIn for their profile and look for the company. Some scammers go as far as to make a false LinkedIn account, so be sure to look at some of the details on the page to be sure.

Be careful with the information you divulge and the access you allow -- Once you verify that you are speaking with a legitimate individual, be sure that you only provide relevant information to them and do not divulge too much information. A recruiter does not need to know your address or social security number in an email before interviewing you and you should never send something that private online. Additionally, a recruiter or interviewer does not need to remote into your laptop for any reason to start an interview -- someone requesting to do this is a malicious scammer and you should not trust them or communicate with them any further.

Create a separate email account just for your job search -- To add another layer of protection to your job search, it is recommended that you create a separate email address from your personal-use email address. This not only helps you to organize your emails so that any email you get to that inbox is relevant for your job search, but it helps to direct any spam tied to your job search away from your own email address.

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