A few of the prime "job" examples:
- Take surveys, get rewarded!
- How I made over 1 million dollars working at home last year
- Earn $25 per email you process
- We're transferring money to your account!
- Commission payment, attention, you MUST call your bank!
- Guide to $400,000 your first year, with no start-up costs!
- Just 30 clicks using single software, thousands of dollars per day!
From what I can see based on the subject lines of the emails, these supposed work-at-home jobs consist of this: Spamming people with every type of spam imaginable and then earning a few cents each time some moron clicks through the link. I say moron because only someone lacking functioning brain cells would actually click a link that advertises "Jackass Sweepstakes" and "Pay off your house in 5 years!" Clearly, by signing up for this "opportunity" I ended up on the idiot list, as I don't get these kinds of spam messages in my other email accounts.
The spam poured in at such an alarming rate, that I racked up 287 messages in my spam filter in the first 48 hours. Um, that's a lot of cyber junk mail. Imagine what that volume would look like in my real mailbox. That's the kind of volume the post office needs to stay in business!
So, when I say I'm looking for work-at-home or telecommuting jobs, what I really mean is "I'm looking for legitimate work with a legitimate company that doesn't involve spamming inboxes of stupid people with promises of meeting big, beautiful women online, free trips on luxury private jets or inflated credit scores." Oh, and don't even get me started on the number of times I've won the South African lottery. And, if you're wondering, "do people actually fall for that?" I'm here to tell you that yes, they do. I saw it on Dateline. Chris Hansen got tired of catching child predators, so he started looking for the brains (yes, brains!) behind the fake lottery scams. And we all know that you don't mess with Chris Hansen!
On the serious job front, the job search has come to a screaching halt. I haven't had a credible lead since late 2010. I haven't worked on a project since the week of Christmas. While I'm not going to panic, I am going to think of more creative ways to market myself. I'm working on a web site and a few other things, so hopefully something will turn up soon. In the meantime, I think I'll buy a lottery ticket. And I'm entertaining the idea of becoming a day trader. But I won't, under any circumstances, resort to spamming people for a living. So, I can promise you that the next email that guarantees instant wealth or an outrageous limit on your credit card didn't come from me.
Here's my favorite subject line of the last week: "Affordable forklifts to fit any workload!" Because you just never know when you might need a forklift, especially an affordable one...
5 comments:
Good post, Scoots.
I love this! And for what comfort it offers, I'm in the same boat. I haven't had a job lead since Christmas and have almost stopped looking. It's discouraging!
It was pointed out to me that I'm not even competitive in the retail market because I've never worked retail. Everything I've done has been publishing.
So I'm doing the obvious thing: I'm writing a book. Try it?
I read further down -- yes, I'd read "Corporate Brat!" : )
Your post reminded me of a 9News segment on www.flexjobs.com. It's a job search site started by a lady in Boulder. There is a subscription fee, but all job posts are hand-researched by a small staff and proven to be legitimate. The site is good whether you are looking for part-time, full-time, work-from-home, etc. Might be worth taking a look!
Amber, I've belonged to FlexJobs for the last 2 years and it's yet to produce a successful job lead for me. It is legitimate, but they don't really have any jobs in our field.
Colleen: Thanks for reading! I love you blog. I hope your car is running again and I hope we both find jobs soon. In the meantime, writing seems to be getting me through!
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