Random question: I get solicitations all the time for paid interviews saying they want to learn more about the industry I’m in. This happens far too often (2-4 a month) to be legitimate but, I am curious what their angle is?
I would just be cautious. Research to ensure they are a legitimate firm, and do not provide them your banking information. Worst case, they may be phishing for financial or related info. Best case, you are getting paid for something many of us do for free.
This is a big trend for investment companies - "expert advice" is the new "AI" startup.
The best part is it's a write off! Because "consulting" is a write off, so why not build an entire business model on soemthing you can legally claim as a loss?
Oh yeah i knew it was a scam of some kind but that makes a lot of sense!
I have a lot of experience in this area lol
I’ve done a number of these interviews, specifically about Assembled and Zendesk. Agree that you should make sure they are real. I put my rate at $250/hr and had several calls, so when it works it’s nice!
These can definitely be legit but most people I’ve spoken with have found that the volume isn’t there combined with expertise fit for it to be worth their time. I’ve know a couple people that do them a few times a year though.
Interesting. Maybe I’ll give it a whirl but I genuinely think some of them at least are fishy
oh yeah BE SKEPTICAL
if in doubt post the company name here to see if anyone has worked with them. people do that in fractional united and a CTO group I'm in semi regularly
Yessss we love backchanneling!
Yep. Just seconding Henry and Erica.
One note, if you’re a freelancer, there’s little risk, beyond them stealing your identity. However, often this is done to gain competitive information. The research is conducted on behalf of a company trying to understand what their competitors do and glean some otherwise unavailable info. Tread carefully.
Some people get their identity stolen by doing these calls???
Yeah when they pay you and want your banking info 🥲 hasn’t happened to me but def almost happened a couple times
Good lord. People these days smh
It’s happening out in the regular job market too.
Follow up on this. How do you all feel "safe" getting paid from these sorts of things? Old school check? Venmo/Cash App? I have an offer for $400/hr so I'm at least going to explore it.
It definitely sounds like a competitor wanting to know what folks in the industry do (for the place I just left) so, I don't mind answering generic questions but nothing that would get me in trouble as my old company seemed very very litigious.
DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BANK INFO
They should be using tremendous or a similar service for payment
yeahhhhh. They said they either have a direct deposit form or can mail me a physical check
I will absolutely not give my bank info
no way
they did say they could send an invoice?
i dunno. this just feels anxiety inducing lol
I don't even want to give out my address. Am I too paranoid?
Look it doesn’t hurt to be skeptical, imo
Don’t think of it as paranoia. Anyone who is legit will understand and not be weird about it. If you ask for a more secure form of payment and they’re weird about it then you have your answer
ok. The company is this: https://www.alphasights.com/
My take, sign a contract (esig), then use something like email transfer for payment. Just make sure you understand the terms. You can always start a consulting company and use email as your “address”. At some point you do have to trust.
Did a bit of reading and Alphsights is a real org that does pay. Saying that, there probably are some scams impersonating them.
Alpha sights is legit. I have two close friends who work there and run the teams who organize the calls. I just have them send me a check tho
Look that this feedback looooooop
This is awesome! Thanks everyone!
One more question: I worry about inadvertently disclosing something confidential. I wouldn't do it purposefully of course, but what if I accidentally did without realizing it? How would my previous employer know? The guy I spoke with said they have the client and me both sign contracts with terms of engagement that would keep me as an anonymous contributor, but since this is my first time, I just want to be sure I'm not wandering into something dumb.
They don't want you do divulge something confidential either and in my experience say so explicitly. I see it as looking for someone who will speak to industry trends in broad strokes and may know a lot happening that is public info and can bring it all together in a way someone just googling would struggle to do.
ok thank you both. I'm reading through the terms now and it seems to coincide with what you both are saying.
I say go for it! Let us know how it goes
Will do 🙂