Work Worth Insights — by Katarina Rak

Tag: jobloss

  • Fake Recruiters and Fake Job Postings on LinkedIn: A Growing Problem

    Fake Recruiters and Fake Job Postings on LinkedIn: A Growing Problem

    LinkedIn has become the primary job-search platform for professionals across industries. Recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates all meet there with one shared goal: finding the right match.
    Unfortunately, alongside real opportunities, fake recruiters and fake job postings are becoming increasingly common— and they are getting more sophisticated.

    I want to write about this topic not as an abstract problem, but from personal experience. In the past two weeks alone, I was contacted three times by fake recruiters on LinkedIn. And each interaction followed a familiar pattern.

    How Fake Recruiters Operate

    Fake recruiters rarely look “fake” at first glance. Their profiles are often polished, with professional photos, impressive job titles, and company names that sound credible — sometimes even identical to well-known firms.

    Typical red flags include:

    • Very generic outreach messages
      Messages like:
      “We reviewed your impressive profile and believe you’d be a perfect fit for an exciting opportunity.”
      No job title, no reference to your actual background, no personalization.
    • Urgency without process
      They push for quick replies, same-day calls, or immediate interest — often without a proper job description, interview steps, or hiring manager details.
    • Off-platform communication
      Very quickly, they try to move the conversation to WhatsApp, Telegram, or private email addresses that don’t match the company domain.
    • Vague or copied job descriptions
      When you ask for details, you receive a poorly written description that feels copied from multiple sources or doesn’t match the role they claim to be recruiting for.

    In my case, all three contacts showed several of these signs. Different profiles, same tactics.

    Fake Job Postings: A Different but Related Problem

    Not every fake job posting is a scam in the classic sense. Some are posted by:

    • Companies collecting CVs without an active opening
    • Recruitment agencies building talent pools
    • Organizations testing the market or benchmarking salaries
    • Or, in the worst cases, actors attempting data harvesting or fraud

    These postings can stay online for months, receive hundreds of applications, and yet no one is ever hired.

    For job seekers, this is emotionally exhausting. You invest time, energy, and hope — and receive silence.

    Why This Is So Dangerous for Job Seekers

    Fake recruiters don’t just waste time. They can:

    • Collect personal data (CVs, phone numbers, addresses)
    • Create false expectations during an already stressful job search
    • Exploit vulnerable candidates who are unemployed or under pressure
    • Damage trust in legitimate recruiters and companies

    In a job market that is already competitive and uncertain, especially in sectors like tech, pharma, and life sciences, this adds another unnecessary layer of stress.

    How to Protect Yourself on LinkedIn

    Based on experience, here are a few practical rules I now follow strictly:

    1. Check the recruiter’s profile history
      Look for real career progression, connections, and activity — not just a job title.
    2. Verify the company independently
      Does the role exist on the company’s official website?
    3. Be cautious with off-platform requests
      Legitimate recruiters don’t rush to WhatsApp before a proper introduction.
    4. Never share sensitive data early
      IDs, full addresses, or documents should never be shared at first contact.
    5. Trust your intuition
      If something feels rushed, vague, or inconsistent — it usually is.

    LinkedIn Needs to Do Better

    While responsibility also lies with users, LinkedIn must improve how it monitors recruiter activity and job postings. Reporting fake profiles helps, but prevention should not depend solely on candidates already under pressure.

    Final Thoughts

    Being contacted three times by fake recruiters in just two weeks was a wake-up call. This is no longer a rare occurrence — it’s becoming part of the modern job-search landscape.

    If you are actively looking for work, stay alert, stay critical, and remember:
    A legitimate opportunity will stand up to scrutiny.

    You deserve transparency, respect, and honesty — especially when it comes to your career.

  • Why Layoffs Feel Personal — Even When They Aren’t

    Why Layoffs Feel Personal — Even When They Aren’t

    Most people understand layoffs intellectually.

    They know restructurings happen.
    They know markets shift.
    They know decisions are often financial, not personal.

    And yet, when it happens to you, it rarely feels neutral.

    It feels like rejection.

    The Illusion of Individual Evaluation

    We like to believe work is a meritocracy.
    That effort leads to security.
    That performance protects us.

    Layoffs shatter this belief.

    In reality, most layoff decisions are made at a level far removed from individual contribution. They are driven by:

    • budgets,
    • forecasts,
    • shareholder pressure,
    • or strategic pivots.

    Individual performance is often secondary—or irrelevant.

    But psychologically, the mind fills in the gap:

    If I was good enough, this wouldn’t have happened.

    This is not logic. It’s identity protection gone wrong.

    Work as a Source of Self-Validation

    For many adults, work becomes the primary source of:

    • structure,
    • social validation,
    • and self-respect.

    When employment ends abruptly, it doesn’t just remove income.
    It removes a framework.

    That’s why layoffs trigger reactions similar to personal loss:

    • rumination,
    • shame,
    • anxiety,
    • and a compulsive need to “explain” what happened.

    The brain is searching for control in a system that didn’t offer any.

    The Economic Reality We Ignore

    From an economic perspective, layoffs are often a risk-management tool, not a verdict.

    Companies reduce uncertainty by reducing headcount.
    They optimize balance sheets, not lives.

    Understanding this doesn’t erase the emotional impact—but it reframes responsibility. The job market is not a moral system. It doesn’t reward fairness or punish incompetence consistently.

    It rewards adaptability.

    Why Silence Feels Worse Than Termination

    One of the most destabilizing aspects of layoffs is the lack of explanation.

    No clear feedback.
    No closure.
    No narrative.

    Humans are meaning-making creatures. When meaning is withheld, we supply our own—and it’s rarely generous.

    This is why people replay conversations, performance reviews, and emails long after a layoff. The mind is trying to reconstruct a story that makes sense.

    Detaching Without Disengaging

    Detachment doesn’t mean indifference.
    It means understanding the rules without internalizing them.

    You can:

    • take feedback seriously,
    • improve strategically,
    • and remain committed to growth,

    without equating market outcomes with personal value.

    The healthier question after a layoff isn’t “What’s wrong with me?”
    It’s “What changed in the system I was part of?”

    A Different Kind of Resilience

    Resilience isn’t bouncing back instantly.
    It’s resisting false conclusions about yourself.

    The job market is unstable by design.
    Your identity doesn’t have to be.

    At Work Worth Insights, this is the line I’ll keep returning to—because crossing it is where burnout begins, and staying on the right side of it is how people recover without hardening.