Strange recruitment situation/possible scam - what to do?

[blueceramicplate]

Dream role came up for me a few days ago. Without meaning to boast, it's the perfect match for my experience and I tick every box on the job spec. Because my background is very niche, I know that I'm one of only a handful of people in the UK who would be qualified for the job, if that makes sense.

Unfortunately, it's the kind of role that a lot of people would want, and might think they are be able to do without the required experience - so I knew there would be lots of applicants. As expected, the linkedin ad - that was only posted on Monday - now states there have been 150 applications (aware this isn't always entirely accurate though).

I sent my application through earlier this week. Called up the named recruiter yesterday and left a message, no response. I've seen the job has now disappeared from their site.

The recruitment outfit looks legit - they are a global company with names/contact details of the consultants. HOWEVER, there's also stuff online about them being associated with scams - ie recruiters pretending to work for them, and jobs not actually being real.

Has anyone come across anything like this before? Also - if it IS genuine - I know which company they are recruiting for, so I am considering reaching out to them directly. That seems very pushy I know...but I just wouldn't want to get lost in the 100s of applicants.

I have no experience of this, but maybe the role was removed due to the person no longer leaving, being filled internally, role no longer required etc. I have no idea.

Is there anything on the companies website advertising the role, rather than linkedin? No harm in contacting them directly- worse case they just say no I guess.

I don’t see why you wouldn’t proactively contact this company’s own HR department and ask if the advertised position is legitimate as you are (a) qualified and interested, and (b) unsure about its status given its disappearance from LinkedIn.

You are simply asking for information.

And yes, scams exist. My adult DC when job searching last year came across an obvious one and a not-so-obvious one.

@AutumnyCrow - thank you. I guess I will reach out to the company directly because there's nothing to lose, as you say. If it is a scam, I can't quite see what would be in it for them? Just a load of CVs from people? Odd.

@JDM625 - the role was on a recruiter's website. The company who I'm 100 percent they are supposedly recruiting for isn't advertising the same role themselves. But given it's a job that would attract a lot of interest, it's possible they would prefer to outsource finding candidates...

If it is a scam, I can't quite see what would be in it for them? Just a load of CVs from people? Odd.

Once they've got all these names and contact details, along with employment histories, they can then run semi-personalised recruitment scams on WhatsApp, offering people fake jobs.

Scammers conduct fake interviews, and then as part of the "on-boarding" process for the non-existent job, they ask targets to make advance payments to them towards compulsory work equipment before their first day, such as safety shoes for a warehouse role. Or they may ask targets to download apps for the new job, i.e. malware that will compromise their banking security on their phones.

Some one called me about something similar that had happened to their son. They had given passport details, national insurance number and had paid them £150 for training for a non existent job.
I asked them to contact police as very personal information had been passed on to scammers.
I also notified the company concerned as they were not aware this was being done by an individual using their information

With LinkedIn, whenever someone clicks Apply it registers it as a count there. Doesn’t mean that many have actually applied. I sometimes click Apply to be taken to the recruiter’s website to get more info.