Glossary
JobSpy Icon Definitions Assessing Corporate America's Selection Process
Age Discrimination
Scenario: Applications that require candidates to submit their date of birth and/or college graduation dates.
Problem: Such required questions force candidates to tip off their age and set themselves up for potential age discrimination.
Application Hoarders
Scenario: Companies that don't close job ads in a timely manner and often accrue unnecessary amounts of applications per position. Unbeknownst to candidates, sometimes they're wasting time applying to a job that was filled!
Problem: If there are too many applicants per position (>30), the chances of your application being reviewed by a live person is minimal. Thus, applying to such companies is usually a waste of time and requires persistent follow up to get your application on the recruiting team's radar for review.
Bait & Switch Jobs
Scenario: Companies that utilize duplicitous tactics to trump up an undesirable job as something more palatable. Other employers write deceptive ads to disguise their bogus commission-only sales jobs as marketing jobs.
Problem: A fraudulent waste of time and energy that gets your hopes up for nothing.
Cattle Call Interviews
Scenario: This is an employer that schedules multiple candidates concurrently for a group interview, typically for entry-level marketing, recruiting, non-profits, or sales jobs - without warning.
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Problem: Often, this group interview setup is not disclosed upfront in the job advertisement and candidates are uncomfortably pitted against each other.
Cold Call Jobs
Scenario: Typically, these are jobs that require you to call random strangers for the lion's share of your day and convert them into customers. These are often sales jobs, but could be entry-level marketing, non-profit, or recruiting jobs as well. Often, the cold calling aspect is downplayed or disguised as
"sourcing" or "lead generation".
Problem: If you don't sell, you will get fired. Many employers downplay the difficulty of converting leads into sales, setting up new hires for frustration.
Credit Checks
Scenario: Many finance, accounting, high-level IT, and C-suite jobs require good credit as a job requirement because of the restricted access to very sensitive financial data such positions inherently have.
Problem: Some consider this requirement classist or judgmental. Regardless, if you have poor credit, outstanding judgments, or negative financial entanglements, consider saving your time in applying until your credit is clear.
Cool Culture Bias
Scenario: Many competent candidates get rejected due to the dreaded "culture fit", as the gatekeepers feel such cast-offs won't mesh with the present team. Basically, one's perceived likability and coolness factor, is as relevant as their skills and experience in being selected for the position.
Problem: When unquantifiable social factors affect hiring decisions, it could be a smokescreen to maintain the prevailing identitarian, gender, orientation, age, or socioeconomic hegemony in the office. This leads to a culture of conformity and sameness at best - while veering into subtle bias and discrimination at worst.
Drug Tests
Scenario: While recreational marijuana usage is increasingly becoming legal, it's not legally federally. Also, personal marijuana usage can be a conflict-of-interest (ex: cop), unlawful for many federal jobs (ex: pilot), or disqualifying for certain licenses (ex: commercial bus driver).
Problem: If you are a marijuana user, do your research before applying for such positions with stringent standards, so you don't waste your time in applying.
Free Consulting Work
Scenario: Companies who require candidates to do unpaid analytical work, such as: scrutinizing the company website, performing a case study, or suggesting detailed improvements on a lagging vertical - in order to move forward in the selection process.
Problem: Your consultation work as part of an application process can be stolen. Nefarious companies can use a fake job posting to glean free work from candidates or use interviewees as a proxy focus group to uncover novel solutions. Even if the job is real, they can use your idea and still not hire you anyway!
Fake Marketing Jobs
Scenario: Companies know most people hate sales jobs. Ergo, unscrupulous companies will disguise such jobs as lucrative marketing positions with easily achievable commission-based benchmarks or as worthwhile nonprofit opportunities that exploit a candidate's sympathies for a particular cause.
Problem: Invariably, these employers refuse to answer direct questions about this type of job. Instead, they prefer to shepherd candidates into the office for a high-pressure, glossy presentation that panders to your materialism - designed to lure you into their covert, heavily-commission based sales job.
Fake Woke
Scenario: Companies that tout progressive values, but don't apply such principals to upper management or their business practices.
Problem: Who wants to work for a hypocritical company that pretends to be something they are not? Also, some companies will pay you less than your market rate by playing on your progressive passions to work for a cause.
Ghosting
Scenario: Companies that don't even bother to send an automated rejection email to candidates, don't respond to candidate follow up inquiries, or never provide candidates who interview with a final status determination.
Problem: Theses companies are rude, disrespectful, and treat candidates disposably. Imagine how they will treat you as an employee!
Invasive Background Checks
Scenario: Some companies and industries require a comprehensive credit, criminal, driving record, drug, educational, employment, reference, and/or social media checks as part of their selection process.
Problem: Companies are not transparent about what background checks are part of their selection process. As such, many candidates feel pressured to comply with these demands after investing so much time in the selection process.
Patriotic Pimp
Scenario: Some companies pretend to promote "Made in America" or tout conservative values that don't apply to upper management or business practices.
Problem: Unfortunately, some flag bearing companies cut product and/or labor costs via globalist practices that undermine the American worker. Others, don't live the conservative values they promote by not treating workers or jobseekers fairly.
Pipeline Collectors
Scenario: This employer is cultivating a large, passive talent pool to fill future workforce gaps with fake jobs. Typically, the same vague job is "always open" on job boards because it's either unreal, an undesirable job with high turnover, or management is unbearable to work for. An opportunistic, deceitful practice.
Problem: Beware of applying to any job on an aggregator site (ex: Indeed) that has more than 50 applicants. Not only are you mathematically unlikely to even get an interview, but good recruiters close job ads that draw well to work qualified candidate leads.
Privacy Invaders
Scenario: Companies that require candidates to supply an intrusive amount of personal and professional information up front , before they are even under serious consideration. Ex: Professional references, previous employer logistical data, unnecessary and excessive biographical information.
Problem: Who knows what this company is doing with all your listed reference contacts? Are they selling your data? Why force candidates to divulge all of their personally identifiable information, just to initiate an application process? It's an unnecessary, time-consuming, and insensitive practice.
Pro Bono Work Required
Scenario: These employers require you to shadow a trainer for a day as part of a "working interview" without compensation. In order to continue your application or move forward in the selection process, they want to test drive your skills and abilities.
Problem: Typically, these jobs are usually tough sales jobs with high turnover rates, so such employers weasel a free day of work out of jobseekers through false pretenses. Even if you don't sell a thing and never return, their bottom line is unaffected. These employers prey on young, inexperienced, desperate jobseekers with limited options.
Pyramid Scheme
Scenario: Companies that lure you into their office to seduce you with their allegedly glamourous marketing jobs with fancy titles and lucrative commission enticements. Instead, it is a glorified multi-level marketing scheme, where you buy company products to hawk and become a de facto supplier. You only make money when you sell products directly to customers or con a team to distribute and sell for you - and earn a share of their sales.
Problem: Typically, these jobs are simply commission-based sales jobs or offer minimum wage salaries (at best) with near impossible benchmarks. You quickly burn through your personal network trying to sell products that nobody really wants as a glorified door-to-door salesman.
Resume Black Hole
Scenario: You diligently complete an application, but never even receive an automated rejection email. You wonder if you ever applied at all.
Problem: These employers don't respect your time and energy - and consider you disposable.
Salary History Invaders
Scenario: Companies that require you to submit your salary history as part of their application or when interviewers ask you directly about how much you earned for previous employers.
Problem: This practice unfairly compromises your negotiation power, as the employer knows what salary you have been willing to work for. This tethers you to what previous employers paid you, instead of what you feel your market value is. Some of these one-sided employers even have the nerve to withhold what salary they are offering in the job ad.
Salary Transparency
Scenario: Companies that don't list their salaries in their job advertisement or intentionally obscure their salaries on their websites.
Problem: Such companies hope you will ask for a salary way lower than they budgeted - and want to save money at your expense.
Salary Undercutting
Scenario: Unscrupulous companies compel candidates to list their "required salary" upfront, often before interviewing for the role - and even prior to learning about the entire scope of the position. Worse, some companies who don't even list their salaries, expect you to divulge your minimum acceptable salary or target salary first - before you can even submit your application!
Problem: Disreputable companies will often "hold" candidates to the target salaries they initially indicated in their job application to hurt their bargaining power and to subtly box candidates into taking a subpar offer. This results in candidates leaving money on the table unknowingly.
Scammers
Scenario: Entities that are fronts for legitimate employers, who blatantly try to steal your financial information. Some are foreign con artists pretending to be affiliated with reputable multi-national companies to dupe you.
Problem: These entities should be avoided at all costs, so avoid their web of deceit. Always ask to speak to an American affiliate of this company to verify legitimacy.
(Secretive Gatekeepers) - No HR Contact Info
Scenario: Companies that don't list phone & email contact information or encourage receptionists screen out candidates who are trying to follow up.
Problem: This "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" mentality is representative of how little respect this employer has for you - even after investing an hour of your life submitting the perfect application for earnest consideration.
Shady Negotiators
Scenario: Interviewers who ask inappropriate or even unlawful questions to your disadvantage. They count on you not knowing labor laws or being timid.
Problem: Some employers will try to ask you about your salary history to lowball you. Others try to figure out your age, marital status, familial obligations, religious beliefs, and where you live - to determine if you are a likely risk to use excessive health benefits, sick leave, or paid time off.
Skills Test Required
Scenario: After spending copious time in optimizing your resume and completing a redundant application, you learn that you need to do a lengthy and cumbersome skills test.
Problem: Companies know they will have less applicants to choose from if they disclose upfront that a skills test is required. Thus, they prefer to be shady and compel you to participate - after you very invested in their selection process.
Social Media Police
Scenario: Applications that require you submit access to your social media accounts in order to proceed. Companies want to see how you carry yourself online.
Problem: You lose your privacy and set yourself for companies to spy on your personal life. Worse, this gives employers the opportunity to judge your personal and political opinions in a manner that works against you
Time Waster
Scenario: Applications that are too long and/or redundant.
Problem: These companies are unconcerned with wasting candidates time by asking unnecessarily comprehensive information too early in the selection process.
Unpaid Internships
Scenario: These employers attempt to pass off unpaid internships as paid opportunities OR are abusive bosses who ask you to perform personal errands for them - that are far outside your professional job description.
Problem: Habitually line-crossing boss intimidate concerned employees to perform free personal labor. Others, oversell soft benefits like networking and prestige or trick workers into "free probationary" periods to avoid paying them.