The single safest habit in a job search is to reach the company yourself instead of following the link you were handed. It takes a minute and skips most scams.
The rule
A real role lives on the company's own careers page, on its real domain. If a job exists only in a message, a DM, or a forwarded link, confirm it on the company site before you apply or share anything.
How to do it in five minutes
- Do not click the link in the message.
- Open a new tab and type the company name into a search engine.
- Go to the company's official site, then its careers or jobs page.
- Find the same role and the same title, and apply there.
What a scam does instead
It pushes you to a link or a portal you did not reach yourself, often on a lookalike domain that imitates the real company. The application form then asks for your bank or Social Security details before any interview. Read the domain in the address bar slowly on any page you are asked to apply through, and if it is a near-miss of the real company, or a page you reached only by clicking a link in a message, do not enter anything. A real careers page sits on the company's own domain and links from its main site, so you can always get there by going to the site yourself.
What to do
If the role is on the company's real careers page, apply there. If it is not, treat the message with suspicion and verify the company, as in how to check if a company is real. Report a fake listing to the FTC. To confirm a posting fast, paste it into the free checker, which looks for the company's own official listing.