So, this is it:
I recently got a response to my proposal about a part-time hourly job that would be long term. When they responded, a few things caught my attention.
- The info email they provided had a company name, and that company is based out of Germany. Googling this company and some research shows that the actual company has a slightly different email for info requests. Not good.
- The person who is to interview me has no linkedin account that is fleshed out. I can't really find him anywhere. Usually this wouldn't be the case with a hiring manager.
- They want to take me to google hangouts to do the interview. I am aware this breaks ToS and for this reason and for protection (after all, I might as well use that protection since im paying 20% of my earnings to UpWork for their platform), I asked them to switch to UpWork. They agreed initially, and when they said that the google chat would be used (apparently they didn't remember agreeing to use UpWork?), I responded asking that we use the UpWork chat. I know he read the message, but has failed to respond, even though he has quickly responded just a few messages before. Again, not good.
- This one is kind of funny. The only real contact i have had outside of upwork has been on google hangouts, where I suggested we switch to upwork for my safety. When I went to send this message to the person, I noticed his picture is very stock-photoish. Like, REALLY stock-photoish. I google image searched it, and, unless this guy does stock photos as a side job, i'm pretty sure he isn't using his real image.
- They mentioned they didn't want a video call, so they can 'forward the convorsation to HQ'.
- The response to my proposal was very fishy. It seemed to be completely automated.
I will probably commence the interview, as long as they don't ask for personal info and they stay within UpWork for messaging. What do you guys think?