Earlier this morning, I received three emails from three different recruiters regarding a job opportunity with AT&T. I have actually seen this position advertised on numerous job boards over the last couple months and found it hard to believe that they still hadn’t filled it. As it turns out, my skill set is actually a very solid match for the position and I was slightly curious to learn more, so I gave the recruiter a call during my lunch break.
Other than the fact that he was very inquisitive about my dog (which I’m sure he saw pictures of on my personal website and was using to establish rapport with me), the conversation was nothing out of the ordinary. He gave me a high level overview of the position and we discussed my relevant qualifications. We even discussed salary requirements and he was very receptive and positive about my prospects. After that point in the conversation however, a giant red flag went up.
He asked me for my social security number. I was so dumbfounded that I was practically speechless and had trouble gathering my thoughts. He explained that candidates are required to provide social security numbers to AT&T as a means of ensuring that they don’t receive duplicate resume submissions.
Seriously? You mean to tell me that one of the world’s largest telecommunications conglomerates can’t devise a better and more secure method for deleting duplicate resume submissions from its databases?
When I regained my composure, I politely declined to provide my social security number until I was further along in the screening or hiring process. In my opinion, the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft greatly outweighed the benefits of being considered for this position. In all honesty, I was ready to pass on the opportunity altogether, but then I had an idea.
My plan
I’m going to move forward with the screening process, but I’m not going to provide my actual social security number. Instead, I’m going to give him a completely arbitrary number and see what happens. Obviously, I’ll write it down in case it’s needed for future reference, but there’s just no way that he’s getting my actual social. I can’t believe that anyone would give out that information, no matter how hard up they were for a job.
Your thoughts?
What do you guys think? Is this legit or is this “recruiter” trying to pull a fast one on me? Would you move forward with the screening process or run like the wind? Let me know in the comments below.
Image courtesy of Dustin Diaz
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I think you’re on the right path with not giving out your SSN. After all, you are not formally applying for the job and you’re certainly not authorizing them to perform a background check just yet.
The likelihood of your fabricated 9 digit number matching something in their recruiting database is very slim. If the recruiter calls back and says, hey your social is wrong, it’s time to contact the authorities.