Not a Job Scam, but a Big Mistake

Amy Shopshire was excited when a nonprofit that she had been doing contract work for invited her to apply for a full-time position that had become available. And when she was hired for the position, she couldn’t have been happier. But it didn’t take long for her to rethink her decision.

Shopshire was hired for a project management position by the Columbus, Ohio, arm of a national nonprofit organization. “The posting was pretty vague, and I did ask for more information,” she recalled. “They told me that they were splitting the duties of the person who was leaving, and they wanted to give me one set of responsibilities. I thought those duties fit well. They told me the salary, and they showed me where my office would be.”

A couple of weeks later, when she came in to begin her first day, she learned that because of a budget shortfall, her salary would be $4,000 per year less than had been promised. “The office wasn’t available, either,” she said. “They didn’t have a desk, a chair or a computer for me to work at. I spent my first day sitting in the lunchroom.”

And while her duties started with some training for project management work, eventually she was asked to put those duties aside in order to type something for someone else. “It turned into a secretarial job,” she said. And a little later they hired someone for the other half of the job – her half, as it turned out. That person ended up doing the project management.

Shopshire wouldn't call the experience outright fraud, but it felt like a scam.

She wasn’t in a position to be able to quit the job. So she tried to make the best of it. “I did two things,” she said. “I went back to school part time, and got a certificate in nonprofit management. And, I collaborated with another department, asking them if I could help on their projects. They agreed, and I was able to take on their overflow.”

Within a year, Shopshire went back to school to get her master’s degree. In her exit interview, she laid out her concerns about the job, the organization and the swindle she felt she was subjected to during the hiring and onboarding process. She left with some valuable lessons learned.

“Now, when I’m looking at positions, I look at the job description, and I quiz the employer. I ask if this is a new position, or did someone have it before me. I want to know what I am getting into.

“I had been so excited to get that job, I didn’t think to speak to people about the agency,” she said. “And I knew people there. Now, I know that it’s useful to talk to people who are employed at a place where you are considering working.”

Shopshire is philosophical about the experience. “I’d rather make those mistakes early in my career.”