Safety with Online Job Searching

[cblim]

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong area, but I would like some feedback and advice.

I'm currently job searching as a new grad. The market is very competitive right now and I want to keep an open mind while looking for a job. I'm in a Facebook group called "New Grad RN" in which members post about things such as current job listings. For home care positions, in which you're contacting a person who needs help for someone they know, how can you know that that job is legitimate? I've sent out my resume on faith twice that the positions were legitimate, but I realized - maybe in my strong desire to find a job and get experience - that my decision may have been dangerous as my resume has personal information, such as my address and contact information.

Does anyone have any experience in contacting people about these kind of positions? It's easy enough to look up a hospital to make sure it's real, but when it's a mother who needs help with her son who has said disease, how do you look into it? I don't want to be scammed or put in any danger.

[delphine22]

I would never take a home care assignment on word of mouth. Especially as a new grad, you need to go through an agency, where you would get support, steady assignments, billing and payroll, and possibly educational support.

Think about it: If the child has a serious medical condition, requiring home care, in most cases they are covered by Medicaid if not private insurance, so why are they not working through an agency? Sounds super sketchy to me. Stick to established routes of employment, especially for your first job.

[caliotter3]

Families frequently obtain caregiver leads and interview before referring to their agency. They do this because they do not want their time wasted by the agency sending out obvious "non-candidates", or they are not satisfied with the agency's efforts in finding someone at all, or they just want to talk to the person first. Although against my better judgment, I answered an ad on CL recently that was placed by a mom, by responding to the CL ad with an email. I received an answer from the mom and we set up an appointment time. The interview was slightly creepy and although she promised to follow up, yes or no, I never heard from her again. Since I had provided her with my phone number, I considered changing it after this. Normally, I will never respond to a blind ad on CL, or anywhere else. I look for an employer name, website link, phone number, or other identifier, so I can at least do the minimum of an internet search on them. I would not provide a resume to a stranger. Instead offer to bring the resume to the interview. Tell them on the phone or in the email, that it is for safety purposes. I have also obtained a "burner" email address for such a situation in the future. I advise the same to others.

[Libby1987]

How do you work as a home care nurse without going thru an agency? You're not working independently, are you?

[caliotter3]

Nurses work private duty home care without going through an agency when the client is self pay or arranging direct pay from the payor insurance company. As I stated in my post, families often interview a potential nurse first before referring that nurse to the agency. Many times the ad will actually state that pay will come from an agency.

[cblim]

Thank you so much for your comments.

I've talked to the mother whose son is the patient a few times, but I don't know whether she's working through an agency or not. She very well could be but I haven't talked to her in-depth to discuss it more. I think I'll be sticking to places I can do further research on and who can offer clear benefits and protection, just to be safe.

Since I already sent out my resume twice, there's nothing I can do about that sadly. I just hope that everything will be OK. But I have removed my address from my resume and I won't be sending it out blindly anymore. The burner email sounds like a good idea, too.

Thanks again.