Should I be wary of job ads without actual addresses or company names?

May 10, 2011

Should I be wary of job ads without actual addresses or company names?

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Q: Over the years, I have noticed that many companies/businesses have classified ads for jobs and only put a fax number or PO box for applicants to apply. There is no business, company, doctor or dentist listed. I find this very frustrating. We own a business and put our name and address on the ads. With our son applying for jobs now that he is graduating from community college, this kind of ad makes me nervous. Are they on the up-and-up? I know many businesses don't want to be swamped with applications. What do you think, and how should one apply for a job with this kind of listing? Thanks.
-- SO, Anacortes, Washington

Kristen says: I believe you are right to be wary about such ads. There are a couple of methods your son can use to see if the address/fax numbers belong to a company that is using them. For PO boxes, he can run a Google/Bing search on the address itself, to see if a company uses it as the primary address. He would just type the full address in the search bar. For fax numbers, he can run a reverse number search on a site like The Ultimates for free.

If there isn’t a business name for your son to reference, I would say he would be better off using alternate methods of identifying potential employers. Advise him to work with his career center on campus to identify potential employers that have hired from his program before. He can also use local Chamber of Commerce directories to research companies to see who is hiring. NWJobs.com, Monster, CareerBuilder and other large job boards will probably yield him more targeted results for companies that have their contact information listed on their job ads.

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x05889 on May 10, 2011 4:15 PM | Reply

The Ultimates is a pay site. What little info they display for free - in my case - outdated.

Kristen Fife on May 10, 2011 5:20 PM | Reply

Hi x05889, as a recruiter part of what my job entails is using online tools to find out information. I specifically use The Ultimates for reverse-phone number searches. In the case I mention above, it will tell you whether a number is a cell phone or landline, and if it is a landline it often will give you the owner of the number. Cell phones are more difficult to trace, and usually will need a pay service like Intelius.

I hope that clarifies your question.

Should I be wary of job ads without actual addresses or company names?

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