Virtual interviewing during the pandemic: How to seek your next role with peace of mind

At Cardinal Health, we aspire to be healthcare’s most trusted partner. We continue to transform our business through growth, innovation and technology to better serve our healthcare customers and the patients who rely on them. What we do matters, and the pandemic illuminated the vital role we play in the healthcare supply chain.

Throughout our 50 years in business, we’ve developed an inclusive culture and we’re constantly searching for great talent to join our team. At the moment, we’re actively recruiting to fill positions in sales, software engineering, finance, logistics and distribution center and manufacturing facilities operations – and many more areas of the business. If you’d like to learn more, I encourage you to see available opportunities here.

Since the onset of the pandemic, we and many other employers have adapted our search and hiring strategies to include online recruiting, virtual interviews and increased opportunities for remote work. These industry changes have also led to an increase in online recruiting scams.

In April, the FBI issued a press release warning that technology makes these scams easier and more lucrative than ever. “Scammers advertise jobs the same way legitimate employers do –?online,” the FBI release said. “They promise you a job, but what they want is your money and your personal information.” According to the release, in 2020, more than 16,000 people reported being victims of recruiting scams – with collective losses amounting to more than $59 million.

This has become a personal issue for me: Over the past year, I’ve received emails and calls from job seekers who’ve been tricked by cyber criminals pretending to be me. Those who’ve reached out to me have wanted additional information. Most of them shared that something in the process didn’t feel right. Some are distraught; some even have lost money to the scams.

The scammers pose as employers by creating phishing websites that replicate trusted websites, with legitimate-looking logos and domain names similar to those of legitimate companies. They post fake job openings on sites like LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor, and conduct fake interviews. Most troubling of all, the people running these scams ask for some of the same kinds of information that employers do. But they also ask for information that employers would never ask for via email or third-party chat room, including credit card or banking information.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when pursuing your next role in today’s virtual world:

1. First, compare any job listing you find with the hiring company’s careers page. All Cardinal Health jobs are listed on our careers page (www.cardinalhealth.com/careers). If you find a posting for a job at Cardinal Health that isn’t on this page, it is NOT a legitimate posting.
2. Scrutinize job postings carefully, looking for typos and other errors and terms like “wire transfer.” Never transfer money.
3. Review emails about positions carefully:

• A legitimate recruiter will email you from a business email address, not from a Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook account.
• Any legitimate email from a company’s Human Resources or Recruiting department should address you by name and include a signature line with the sender's name, title and contact information.
• An email about a legitimate job offer will be sent only to you, not to multiple people at once.

4. During the recruitment process, be wary if you are not asked to complete:

• An online application on the company’s website. In order to be considered for any legitimate job, an employer will require you to complete an online application.
• A phone, video or in person interview. All Cardinal Health open positions always require at least one phone interview with a recruiter and a video or in-person interview with the hiring manager. We do not conduct interviews via WhatsApp, Google Hangouts or any other third-party messaging platforms.

Protect yourself and your privacy:

• Never pay to start a job. According to the FTC, one of the common elements of an online job scam is a request for payment to begin working. Legitimate companies will not ask you to send money or purchase cryptocurrency.
• ?Never provide any personal information, including your date of birth, passport details, bank account information or social security number, over the phone or via email. During the application process for positions at Cardinal Health, we will never request or solicit money, bank or credit card information or tax forms, or require applicants to purchase equipment. Bank-routing information for direct deposits should be shared only after you’ve met an employer in person, or, for remote work, after you’ve received a signed offer.
• Never agree to a background check until after you’ve met the employer in person or via video call.

Like all legitimate employers, we’re working hard to prevent scammers from succeeding with recruitment scams. We investigate all reports of recruitment scams that we receive. If you have any questions about whether a job advertisement or solicitation is a legitimate Cardinal Health job opening, please email us at [email protected].

Note: If you have been the victim of a recruiting scam, please report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and learn what you can do to help protect yourself here.

?

?

?